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How to Join The Jamestowne Society and First California Company

While Jamestown served as Virginia’s colonial capital through 1699, tens of thousands immigrants landed there for a variety of reasons. The Society has established that many settled in Jamestown for a while before moving on farther in the colony. Then, for two centuries beginning in the late 17th, people became Virginia’s most important export. Many of our friends and neighbors don’t realize that they are descendants of those settlers. Our mission also includes helping them explore whether they are.

The Jamestowne Society’s mission is “To unite descendants of Jamestown settlers prior to 1700…”

Membership in the Jamestowne Society is by invitation. Unlike many other lineage organizations, applicants must first join the national Society with sponsorship by a member. The process starts with a recommendation by a current Society member (a “sponsor”) to our headquarters requesting that an invitation be issued.  

An applicant for membership must document a line-of-descent from one qualifying Jamestown ancestor and present it to the Society’s registrar-genealogist. The application and documentation must use the Society’s software package and be completed within a year.  

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    A compelling program about our ancestors complells the audience at one of our meetings

    Qualifying Ancestors

    All members must be descendants of of Qualifying Ancestors. The following criteria are used to determine who may be included as a Qualifying Ancestor for purposes of membership in the Jamestowne Society: The individual (1) was a stockholder in the London Company or the Virginia Company; (2) owned land on Jamestown Island or lived on the Island prior to 1700 (owning land in a neighboring area or neighboring county does NOT of itself qualify an individual; (3) was a resident in Virginia at the time of the 1624/25 Muster; or, (4) served as Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, Clerk of the General Court, Member of the Council or House of Burgesses prior to 1700; (5) was an Anglican Church [Church of England] minister in Virginia prior to 1700; or (6) served as an Indian Interpreter in Virginia prior to 1700; these persons shall be conclusively presumed to have had their domiciles on Jamestown Island during their terms of office. The names that appear on the Index are of those ancestors that have met those criteria and from whom descent has or can be proven.

    Reference for the Qualifying Ancestor’s service must be cited from court records, or from one of the following acceptable published sources: THE JAMESTOWNE SOCIETY REGISTER OF QUALIFYING SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ANCESTORS; Leonard: THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA, 1619-1976; Stanard: THE COLONIAL VIRGINIA REGISTER; Dorman: ADVENTURERS OF PURSE AND PERSON, 4th Edition; or Brown: THE GENESIS OF THE UNITED STATES.

    Membership in First California Company

    The First California Company is one of the Society’s 44 Companies. Most of our members live in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial and San Diego counties.

    Helpful Tools

    PLEASE NOTE: The Jamestowne Society and First California Company do not provide genealogical research for individuals. Genealogical research to establish membership qualification and lineage is the sole responsibility of the applicant.

    Legacies and Family Lineage Papers

    A candidate (applicant) related to a member who was admitted to the Society since 1995 may be able to use a streamlined process.  This will only refer to legacies: parent, child, grandparent, sibling, niece, nephew, uncle, aunt, or first cousin.  The candidate will still be required to fill in all generations back to the common ancestor being used. Documentation is necessary for generations through the point where he/she connects to the relative’s application. Supporting documents filed with a relative’s application, which have in past years been acceptable for proof of eligibility, may not conform to current requirements. An applicant’s reliance solely on these materials could result in rejection of the application. (As a general rule, papers for member numbers 4400 and higher are acceptable as reference.)

    Qualified individuals (i.e., those who know that they are related to a Society member) seeking membership may be assisted in their ancestor search process by written request for special Family Lineage Papers. To be of any benefit, the request must be specific to an individual who is known to be in a prospective member’s line. Approved applications may be purchased from the Society.  Please click on the link to find a paper and for information on purchasing approved applications.

    Unacceptable documentation

    Family information (printed, published or otherwise) and family group sheets are NOT acceptable proofs. Membership in, or lineage forms of, other societies are NOT acceptable as proof. Printed genealogies and county histories are secondary sources and MUST be supplemented by acceptable primary source [original record] documentation.

    Getting Genealogical Help

    It is critical to begin your search with a plan that starts with one’s parents and works backward rather than starting with the ancestor.

    Recommended Research Libraries in Southern California

    Census records may be used as documentation when they are clearly legible and contain STATED relationship information. Generally, 1850 and later census records list names and those from 1880 state relationships.

    For other sources of early Virginia genealogical research and history, including use for a Jamestowne Society application, you might use the Library of Virginia; its Virginia Memory site that includes those for Using the Collections; Historical and Genealogical Societies in Virginia;  City and County Research: Chancery Records; and, City and County Research: Records from Burned Counties in Virginia.

    One of the major problems in researching Virginia genealogy before 1865 is that many of the official colonial records were then destroyed by fire. The Library of Virginia offers guidance about those lost records. The University of Pittsburgh also holds some valuable colonial records, including the minutes of the First Assembly in 1619 and rosters of those who survived and died from the March 22, 1621/22 attack.

    In addition, the Library of Virginia’s collections include a large variety of information under Military Service (including Dunsmore’s and the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, through Confederate pension and other records), Historic Virginia Government, Photograph Collection for historic buildings, and Land Office Patents and Grants (including a database including patents and grants from the crown and commonwealth from 1623 to 1992 and database of grants in the Northern Neck Proprietary from 1692 to 1862 (images available online).

    Other unusual sources include online books that are out of copyright and often include family histories, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Interactive Map of the James River’s historic areas.

    The most popular and standard reference books and online links for researching settlers and residents of  early Virginia include the following:

    Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary; by Martha W. McCartney; (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 2007);

    Jamestown People to 1800; Landowners, Public Officials, Minorities and Native Leaders; by Martha W. McCartney; (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 20012).

    Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5, Fourth Edition, a three-volume set compiled and edited by John Frederick Dorman. Volume One, Families A-F, has 1248 pages including index; Volume Two, Families G-P, has 1094 pages including index; Volume Three, Families R-Z, has 1089 pages including index.

    Historic Jamestown offers a link to biographies of early settlers (1607-1624.)

    The John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg offers resources for researching seventeenth century Virginians, which include citations for a variety of records, including some online links.