CompuGen Systems was founded by Stuart Harter in 1983 to market the FamilyFile genealogy program and printed publications. FamilyFile was one of the first genealogy programs available for personal computers.
Within a year, several other genealogy programs appeared on the market. These programs were supported by genealogical organizations and the Mormon Church. This competition, as well as the high cost of producing printed publications, led CompuGen Systems to become a "specific research on demand" organization.
In the mid 1980s, CompuGen began building large databases of Indiana land records and vital records from Indiana newspapers. CompuGen Systems began offering searches of these databases. For a nominal fee, a researcher could request printed reports for the specific surnames or full names they were researching.
The Indiana newspaper database grew tremendously during the 1990s with millions of records being added. The newspaper database was also expanded to include Ohio newspapers. The land records and newspaper search reports continue to be quite popular with genealogists today.
In October 2008 CompuGen introduced the Genealogist's Newspaper Search which expanded the newspaper database to include vital records from three more states (IL,VA,WV) and allow online searching. In 2015 and 2016 records from newspapers in another three states (FL,KS,MO) were added to the database. Now you can now order Genealogist's Newspaper Search reports for Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Also, members can search the entire newspaper database of over TEN MILLION vital records from ten states.
CompuGen Systems is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana.