Update: General Society of Colonial Wars Membership Applications, 1893-1949

Photo of the Color Guard of the Sons of the Society of Colonial Wars and the 9th and 7th regiments, N.Y.N.G., parading in New York City, 1918. (Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.)

Today we have added five new volumes to our General Society of Colonial Wars Membership Applications, 1893-1949 database. These volumes include application numbers 2630-3469 and contain 136,367 records, 316,653 names, and 14,244 pages. This database is searchable for given names and surnames, and includes records for provided births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials listed for persons in the line of eligibility for membership on the application forms.

This database will eventually include all original and supplemental applications to the General Society of Colonial Wars starting from their formal founding in 1893, and currently includes applications 1-3469. Material is not included, however, for individuals listed in the applications who were born after January 1, 1950. If an application in the current range is excluded, it is either due to the privacy policy, or it has been deemed as missing from the archive.

This database was created through a partnership of the General Society of Colonial Wars and American Ancestors.  The Society of Colonial Wars was founded in New York in 1892 (the General Society was founded a year later in 1893) for the purpose of furthering the interest in, and study of, America’s Colonial history for the period between the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia on May 13, 1607 and the battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.

Through the years, the General Society of Colonial Wars has established a large network of Colonial War descendants all over the United States. For more information about this society, visit the General Society of Colonial Wars webpage here.

This update is made possible by the efforts of our volunteer, Sam Sturgis. If you would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator, at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.