Monthly Meetings

The Society meets the third Thursday of each month at the HCGS Research Library, 611 N. Davis St., Sulphur Springs, TX, 75482, at 7:00 p.m.

Programs during these meetings are free and visitors are always welcome.

The Society does not meet in June or July.  The August meeting is usually a joint meeting with the Hopkins County Historical Society at Heritage Park.

Live too far from Sulphur Springs to come to the HCGS monthly meetings?

Join us via Zoom! Registration in advance is required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. HCGS members and supporters who are on our email distribution list already receive our monthly meeting notices. If you are not currently on our distribution list and would like to receive the monthly meeting notices, please send an email to hcgstx@suddenlinkmail.com

2023 Speakers List

September 21st – Bill Covington

Our speaker for September is Bill Covington, a public-school classroom teacher by profession, having spent 31 years in the classroom where he taught Social Studies and English as a Second Language (ESL). He taught in Dallas ISD and Waxahachie ISD. For the last 13 years, he was an instructor of Dual Credit US History, World History and Government/Economics at Waxahachie Global High School, in Waxahachie, Texas. Concurrently, he also served as an adjunct instructor of Western Civilization, US History, Texas History and World History at Navarro College, also located in Waxahachie, Texas. He is married to June Renee Jacobsen Covington and they both reside in Cedar Hill, Texas. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Bill was the TXDAR State Winner of the 2017 Outstanding Teacher of US History Award.

Mr. Covington will be speaking on the “Early Anglo-Americans in Spanish Texas”.  This is a particularly interesting  subject for native Texans, but native Texan or not we hope you will join us at 7:00 p.m., 611 N. Davis St., Sulphur Springs, TX.   Hand-outs to accompany this informative talk will be provided.

If you cannot join us in person, we invite you to join us via Zoom:

When: Sep 21, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpce-sqz8uHdB9NIrZTFni55LnEPdrFD2Z

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  Hand-outs will be emailed to you the day of the talk.

August 24^th – Paula Altenbaumer

The Hopkins County Genealogical Society’s annual joint meeting with the Hopkins County Historical Society was held Thursday, August 24, 2023, at 7:00 p.m., in the Winifred Building at Heritage Park.   Paula Altenbaumer portrayed Hopkins County historical pioneer Mary Ann Hargrave McLaughlin.

Paula, a member of both societies, presented a historical portrayal that was informative and entertaining for the 50 or more members and guests attending the meeting.  Her depiction was of Mary Ann Hargrave McLaughlin, a descendant of one of Hopkins County’s earliest settlers’ families.  Her first-person delivery illustrated how as a 6-year-old child along with around 18 other family members traveled from Indiana to Texas by ox wagon and arrived in the Sulphur Bluff area in 1842.

The next year about two dozen more of the Hargrave family arrived and settled, along with their offspring, in what is now the Nelta and Birthright areas in the northern part of the county.

Paula who has portrayed numerous colorful figures of the past wanted everyone to know that the Hopkins County Genealogical Society Research Library offers an incredible amount of information for those interested in doing historical or genealogical research.