Chaffee County, Colorado, COGenWeb Project

BUENA VISTA AND MT. PRINCETON

CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO GENWEB PROJECT

Hello and Welcome!

We're Gail Meyer Kilgore and Michael P. Irwin, your County Coordinators for Chaffee County, Colorado. Maintaining a county web page is not an easy job. Prior coordinators were Doug Cullen, Nadine Hielscher and Shelly Barnes. Thank you for your work on this pages - you did a great job!

HISTORY OF CHAFFEE COUNTY

Chaffee County was formed in 1879 from Lake County. Chaffee was named for Jerome Chaffee, a U.S. Senator and local investor. Early in its history the area experienced an influx of explorers, miners, railroad, farmers, and ranchers. The influence of each has dwindled over the years but their mark has left their place in the history of the valley. Originally the county seat was Buena Vista. After a contentious election in the early 1930s, the county seat was moved to Salida and the lovely courthouse in Buena Vista was converted into a school. The new courthouse was completed in Salida in 1932, while the old courthouse in Buena Vista is now houses the Chaffee County Historical Society Museum. The City Clerk has birth, marriage and death records, some from 1879. The land records from 1879 are with the Chaffee County offices. Chaffee County is located in central Colorado within the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The Arkansas River runs north-south through the center of the county, which is surrounded by the Collegiate Peaks to the west, the Mosquito Range to the east and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the south. The economy is based on tourism. River-rafting and fly fishing are quite popular. Monarch Ski Area lies along the western border with Gunnison County.

CHECK OUT

Colorado Gravestones

http://coloradogravestones.org

and

Colorado Obits

http://obits.coloradogravestones.org

We welcome any submissions you may want to share.

Places to Start your Search

	Archives - CO GenWeb	Some biographies and cemetery records.
	Bibliography	For further reading on Chaffee County
	Biographies	*Judy Crook* has kindly transcribed Progressive Men of Western Colorado. c. 1905 and has posted the biographies pertaining to Chaffee County here for the following persons: Charles Ankele, George W. Armstrong, D.H. Craig, Charles F. Johnson, William W. Roller, and Gilbert A. Walker
	Cemeteries & Funeral Homes Unknown Graves near Granite	Excellent list. Shows transcriptions.
	1870 Colorado Census	Now online
	Cities, Towns and Places	A list of past and present places in the county.
	GenConnect Boards	These are new and improved. They have been combined with Ancestry.com message boards. Post/view queries, bible records, biographies, deeds, obits, pensions, and wills here.
	Links	Other places to search
	Mailing List	Join the Chaffee County Mailing List - it is a great way to get help from other researchers who are familiar with this county.
	Map s	All kinds
	Migrations	Migrations into and out of Chaffee County
	Photos of Buena Vista	New!
	Photos of Chaffee Pioneers	New!
	Photos of Iron City	New!
	Photos of Chaffee Scenes	New!
	Photos of Salida	New!
	Photos of Burbridge and Day Families	New!
	Resources	Recorder's office, Library, historical societies, etc.
	Salida High School	1894 Commencement Exercises, courtesy of Emily Helton
	Misc. Death Records
	Surnames	Surnames being researched in Chaffee County.

Links to Surrounding Counties

Park County - to the East
Fremont County - to the Southeast
Saguache County - to the South
Lake County - to the North
Gunnison County - to the Southwest
Pitkin County - to the Northwest

Chaffee County Volunteers
Would you like to help? We need you!

Do you have any Local History books that you would be willing to use for an occasional lookup request?
Would you be willing to transcribe local cemeteries or photograph local historical buildings?
Do you visit the local library occasionally? If so, could you do a lookup while you are there?
Do you have any old Chaffee County High School yearbooks you could use to index names?
Do you have access to some other historical records, such as wills, diaries, census returns, etc. that you would be willing to transcribe?

If so, email the County Coordinator!!

You are our [an error occurred while processing this directive] visitor since 2/5//99 - thanks for stopping by!

Copyrighted 1999/2008, all rights reserved.

Should you feel like helping out in COGenWeb please contact the State Coordinator, Gail Meyer Kilgore or the Assistant State Coordinator, Ann Allen Geoghgan