Membership Information and Applications

OBJECTIVES:

"To perpetuate the memory of our Mayflower Ancestors, and to preserve their records, history and all facts relating to them, their ancestors and their posterity. To maintain and defend the principle of civil and religious liberty as set forth in the Compact of the Mayflower, "For ye glorie of God, and advancement of ye Christian faith, and honor of our ...Countrie."

"To cherish and maintain the ideals and institutions of American freedom, and to oppose any theories or actions that threaten their continuity.

"To transmit the spirit, the purity of purpose and steadfastness of will of the Pilgrim Fathers to those who shall come after us, an undiminished heritage of liberty and law.

"To secure united effort to discover and publish original matter in regard to the Pilgrims, together with existing data known only to antiquarians. and to authenticate, preserve and mark historical spots made memorable by Pilgrim association."
—Article II, Constitution of Society in Pennsylvania

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS:

Proof of lineal descent (a "blood line") from a passenger of the voyage of the Mayflower which terminated at Plymouth, New England, in December 1620 shall be eligible for membership.

Descent from passengers Allerton, Billington, Brewster, Chilton, Cooke, Eaton, Edward Fuller, Hopkins, Mullins, Rogers, Tilley and White includes descent from their wives or children who were passengers aboard the Mayflower.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Preliminary application- Proposal for Membership

Every applicant shall complete in full a Proposal for Membership (see below for downloading instructions). Detach and email pages 3 and 4 to the State Historian whose email address appears on page 1.

The State Historian will have the Plymouth General Society find the closest approved membership record which follows the Proposal for Membership. Plymouth will indicate how far the lineage of the approved member record matches the applicant.

The State Historian will inform the applicant of the findings from Plymouth. The applicant will need to provide documentation from the last generation matched by Plymouth down to themselves.

Final Application Procedure

The State Historian will email the applicant a Worksheet. The applicant will use the worksheet as a guide to assure that all generations are completely documented.

Throughout the search for documentation the Historian and the assistants to the Historian will be available to give the applicant ideas where various pieces of information can possibly be found.

Acceptable Information:

Complete documentation (primary evidence) is a birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate mentioning parents names for the line carrier and the spouse. This is required for all births, marriages and deaths after 1900.

Prior to 1900 secondary evidence is acceptable.

Examples of secondary evidence are Bible records, transcriptions of town records, Federal Census Records, published family histories, town histories, church records, etc.

When the applicant has obtained the necessary documentation the Worksheet and documentation can be emailed or hard copy sent to the Historian for review.  Do not send original copies of documentation as these documents will not be returned.

The Historian or the assistants to the Historian will review the Worksheet and documentation.  If any additional information is needed the applicant will be informed what is needed.

When all necessary documentation is complete a final application will be completed.

The applicant will need to inform the Historian at this time if the application is for an Annual Membership or a Lifetime Membership.

The completed Mayflower Application will be sent to the applicant for signature.The signed application and a check for the appropriate amount will be returned to the Historian.

Application Fees of the Society in Pennsylvania are as follows: General Society Examination Fee (original and supplemental)* $75.00* Membership Certificate (original and supplemental)* $15.00 Annual Dues $35.00 * = Not applicable to Transfer or Dual Memberships TOTAL=$125.00 Dues for Regular (Senior) Members (18 years of age and older) Life (one-time single payment) $1020.00 to $700.00 Annual $35.00 Dues for Junior Members (must join before 18th birthday) Junior Annual (no documented lineage papers filed and not recognized as members by the General Society) household dues. $10.00

Plymouth Review

When the application has been approved a copy of the application will be emailed to the approved member. The application returned is a corrected form of the application. Use the corrected copy for all future applications based on this approved member.

If Plymouth requires additional documentation, the applicant will be notified.

If the application is rejected the applicant will be notified and why.

Certificate

The applicant will need to inform the Historian how he/she would like the certificate to read.

The approved member’s name will be read at the next Board meeting.

The Registrar will mail the new member the Mayflower certificate.

All Fees and Dues are established by the SMDPA Board of Assistants & are Subject to Change

To download the membership application in Adobe Acrobat™, follow these instructions:
1. CLICK HERE for the application in Adobe Acrobat (PDF 179KB).
2. Print the membership application.
3. Complete the application, and be sure to sign the appropriate lines and mail it in.

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader™ on your computer,
click here to download it for free.