Membership

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Society insignia worn by members at meetings and when officially representing the Society

IN ADDITION

No person shall be eligible for membership in this Society who is pledged to or advocates the overthrow, by force or violence, of the government of the United States of America, or any state or territory of the said United States of America ; or anyone who has been guilty of other treasonable practices.

The Society shall have the right to dismiss from its membership any person who is guilty of any of the foregoing and question in relation thereto shall be determined by this Society in accordance with the procedure in Article XV of the Bylaws.

Membership in the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century is open to women eighteen years of age or over. Members must prove direct lineal descent from an ancestor who lived and served in one of the Original Colonies of the present United States of America prior to 1701. A lineal descendant means that the member must be of direct blood descent.

The acceptable service categories are:

1. Historic Founder of Jamestown or Historic Founder of any of the Original Colonies.

2. Member of the London, Plymouth or Virginia Companies who came to the colonies to

live.

3. Colonial Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Deputy Governor, or Colonial Officer.

4. Member of the House of Burgesses.

5. Member or Delegate to the Council of the Assembly.

6. Deputy or Representative to the General Court.

7. All civil and church officials and services.

8. Founder or Trustee of any College or School.

9. Minister of the Gospel or Commissary of the Bishops of London.

10. Member of the Council of Safety of 1689.

11. Signer of the Mayflower Compact.

12. Member of the House of Deputies.

13. All Professions, Trades and Crafts.

14. All Military and Naval services of the Colonies.

15. Any person who furnished funds or supplies.

16. Member of Provincial Congress.

17. Landowner or Planter.

18. Freeman

a. applies to the New England Colonies only as an official service;

b. applies to a person given the right of suffrage or right to hold any public office by the general or quarterly court;

c. requires person to produce documentation individual was a member in good

standing of some Congregational church;

d. the Freeman's Oath was the first paper printed in New England at Cambridge by

Stephen Days in 1639.

19. Headright

a. applies to a head of household to whom land was granted on condition that the

settlement by such individual would be made upon the

b. applies to a person named in a land grant or other official record.

20. Transportee

a. applies to one who was conveyed from another country to the American Colonies;

b. requires proof stating individual transported into the colonies;

c. requires historical documentation submission.