Genealoger

Genealogical Societies

• Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. (AAHGS). Has local chapters around the country to give advice and assistance in researching African-American roots.
   
• Board for Certification of Genealogists
   
• Continental European Family History Association
   
• Federation of East European Family History Societies (FEEFHS) Is an umbrella organization that recognizes and promotes family history research in Eastern and Central Europe without any ethnic, religious, or social distinctions. Its objective is to provide an opportunity for researchers focused on a single country to exchange information and be updated on developments in the field. The Web site includes several searchable databases, a map room, and links to member society Web sites.
   
• Federation of Genealogical Societies - The Federation of Genealogical Societies, founded in 1976, has three major purposes: serving the needs of its member societies, providing products and services needed by member societies, and marshaling the resources of its member organizations.
   
• Historical & Genealogical Societies of the U.S.
   
• Meyer, Mary K. Meyer's Directory of Genealogical Societies in the U.S. and Canada. 9th edition. Mount Airy, Maryland, 1992.
   
• National Genealogical Society - Founded in 1903 as a non-profit organization, the National Genealogical Society is a dynamic and growing membership of individuals and other groups from all over the country—and the world—that share a common love of the field of genealogy.
   
• National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Provides resources for genealogists including an online catalog.
   
• New England Historic Genealogical Society. Located in Boston, the Society provides information on events, tours, and research.
   
• The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Aims to preserve and publish genealogical data on New York State families.
   
• Palatines to America. Palatines to America (Pal Am) is a German genealogy society dedicated to the study of ancestors from all German speaking lands. The society takes its name from the fact that some of the earliest German-speaking immigrants to the American colonies came from a region in present-day Germany known as the Palatinate (Pfälz) and were called Palatines (Pfälzers). The founding members of Pal Am all had ancestors from this area of Germany.
   
• State Genealogical Societies - Listing of most of the state genealogical societies compiled by the Illinois State Genealogical Society.

Hereditary / Lineage Societies

• Children of the American Revolution. C.A.R., the nation's oldest, largest, patriotic youth organization, offers membership to anyone under the age of 21, lineally descended from someone who served in the Continental Army or gave material aid to the cause of freedom in the American Revolution.
   
• Daughters of the American Revolution. This group is open to women (over 18) who can show lineal descent from someone who aided in the cause of American independence.
   
• General Society of Mayflower Descendants
   
  • Giddings, Bland. Some Mayflower Families. Mesa, Arizona: The author, 2005.
     
• Hereditary Societies with Functional Websites.
   
• Hereditary Society Blue Book. Lists hereditary societies.
   
• Hereditary Society Precedence. The rule of precedence for hereditary societies is based upon the chronological order of the date of founding of each society.  The site includes a comprehensive list of all current hereditary societies (those which qualify for an HSC listing based on membership and longevity), in the appropriate order of precedence.
   
• Huguenot Society of America. The Huguenot Society of America was founded in 1883 by the Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer, Rector of the French Huguenot Church in New York City, l'Eglise du Saint Esprit, for the following purposes: (1)To promote the cause of religious freedom and to perpetuate the memory of the Huguenot settlers in America; (2) To commemorate the principle events in the history of the Huguenots, and to this end.
   
• Jamestowne Society. Jamestowne Society members trace their ancestors back to qualifying members of the Jamestowne colony.
   
• Magna Charta Barons.
   
  • The Baronial Order of Magna Charta (BOMC). Founded in 1898 as the Baronial Order of Runnemede. Its purpose is the promulgation and support of the principles set forth in the world-pervasive document, the Magna Charta. Incorporated in 1945, the BOMC considers for membership people of good character who can proved descendancy from one or more of the 25 Sureties who were responsible for holding King John to the terms of the Great Charter signed on 15 June, 1215 at Runnemede Meadow in England.
     
  • Browning, Charles H. Magna Charta Barons 1898. Together with the Pedigrees of the Founders of the Order of Runnemede. Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Co., 1898, 2004 reprint.
     
• Mayflower Society. the General society of Mayflower Descendants is a group who trace their ancestors back to persons who made the voyage in 1620. Any person able to document his or her descent from one or more of the Mayflower Pilgrims is eligible to apply for membership.
   
• Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters. Members of this Order are people who trace their ancestor back to someone who arrived in Virginia prior to 1616, remained for at least three years, survived the massacre of 1622 and were granted the first land patents in the new world.
   
• Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States. Historical and genealogical research and to perpetuate the memory and to honor the name of Emperor Charlemagne; to bring into one group the descendants of his successors and heirs; to maintain and promote the traditions of chivalry and knighthood; to recognize acts of merit; to recognize achievements in the Arts, Sciences and Letters; to inspire patriotism and loyalty to our country; and for such other lawful and proper purposes as the Executive Council of the order may from time to time decide upon. To collect and preserve books on genealogy, family history, heraldry and general history. To collect and preserve documents, manuscripts, relics, records and traditions relating to Emperor Charlemagne and his successors; to create a popular interest in ancient history and genealogy. The Order is non-political and non-sectarian.
   
• Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Their purpose is to promote patriotism, and respect for the founders and patriots of America. Any man of the age of eighteen years, of good moral character and reputation and a citizen of the United States, who is lineally descended in the male line of either parent, from an ancestor who settled in any of the Colonies now included in the United States of American prior to 13 May 1657 and one or all of whose intermediate ancestors in the same line who lived in the period of the Revolution, from 1775 to 1783, adhered as patriots to the cause of the Colonies, shall be eligible for membership in the Order.
   
• Society of the Cincinnati. The Society of the Cincinnati was founded at the close of the Revolutionary War by the officers of the Continental line and their French counterparts, who had served together in the struggle for American independence. They wished to preserve the rights and liberties for which they had fought and to foster the bonds of friendship that had been formed among them during the long years of war. The Society's founding document, the Institution, was adopted on May 13, 1783. The Society took its name from the Roman hero Cincinnatus, the citizen-soldier who was twice called to lead his country in war and, after each each victory, declined offers of power and position to return to his home and plough. George Washington, known as the "Cincinnatus of the West," was elected the Society's first president general, a position he held until his death in 1799.
   
• Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.
   
  • Pyne, Frederick Wallace. Signers of the Declaration, Index and Images for the Applications to the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books, 2004.
     
• Sons of the American Revolution. Any man shall be eligible for membership in this Society who, being of the age of eighteen years or over and a citizen of good repute in the community, is the lineal descendant of an ancestor who was at all times unfailing in loyalty to, and rendered active service in, the cause of American independence, either as an officer, solider, seaman, marine, militiaman or Minuteman, in the armed forces of the Continental congress, or of any one of the several Colonies or States, or as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, or as a member of a Committee of Safety or Correspondence, or as a member of any Continental, Provincial or Colonial congress or legislature, or as a recognized patriot who performed actual service by overt acts of resistance to the authority of Great Britain. The applicant must also be personally acceptable to the Society.