About Us
"A lifetime's study will not make accessible to us more than a fragment of our own ancestral past, let alone the aeons before our race was formed. But that fragment we must thoroughly possess and hand on."
- A.S. Byatt, Possession
In 2026, the Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society will celebrate 50 years of research and documentation of not only Hemet and San Jacinto, but the entire Riverside County area. Established in 1976, HSJGS is a non-profit 501c3 organization whose purposes and objectives are:
- To establish and maintain common interest in fostering research programs.
- To promote public interest in family history.
- To uphold high standards already acknowledged in the field of genealogy affairs.
- To encourage active participation in community and cultural affairs and to strive for the preservation of historical records.
With 40 charter members, the first formal meeting of the HSJGS took place on the 1st Tuesday of December,1975, at the Crocker National Bank located on 1840 E. Florida, in Hemet, California. The by-laws were approved on the 1st of June, 1976. According to Article 1- Section A, the name of the organization was "Genealogy Club of Hemet-San Jacinto".
Installation of the board took place on December 18, 1975, the members being:
- President - Mrs. Jeanne Cooley
- Vice President - Mrs. Anna Hoover
- Secretary - Mrs. Isabelle Jesson
- Treasurer - Shaller Arnold
Past Presidents of the HSJGS:
- 1976 - Jeanne Cooley
- 1977 - Anna Hoover
- 1978 and 1979 - Glenn Smith
- 1980 - Carol Sigsbee
- 1980 thru 1982 - Mary Allred
- 1983 - Jean Heath
- 1984 - Carol Waldrup
- 1985 - Glenn Smith
- 1986 - Gloria Eshom
- 1987 and 1988 - Rosa Wlilson
- 1989 - John Webb
Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society Presidents, Left to Right: Jeanne Cooley, Marianne Barrett, Anna Hoover, Jean Heath, Carol Sigsbee, Carol Waldrup, Mary Allred, and Glenn Smith
The 1st quarterly "Valley Genealogist" was published in January of 1980. By March of 1980 the club was exchanging quarterlies with over 100 other clubs.
During the summer of 1980, the club changed it's name to "Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society, Inc." and was incorporated as a non-profit 501 (3)c corporation.
In 1982 HSJGS joined the Hemet Museum Association, with the shared purpose of preserving the history of the city Hemet.
1987 saw the beginning of a monthly newsletter under the direction of Stanford “Bob" Evans.
