Membership Eligibility
Any male above the age of eighteen years, of good moral character and reputation, shall be eligible to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars, provided he be lineally descended in the male or female line from an ancestor:
Membership Procedures
Any male above the age of eighteen years, of good moral character and reputation, shall be eligible to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars, provided he be lineally descended in the male or female line from an ancestor:
A member of the Society of Colonial Wars in another state wishing to transfer or hold dual membership with the Connecticut Society shall submit to the Membership Chairman certification that he is in good standing and a certified copy of his proof of descent, together with dues for one year or life membership. Upon recommendation of the Membership Chairman, the Council may then admit the applicant to the Connecticut Society.
Application for Membership
When you have received the Genealogist's approval, he will send application forms to you. Guidelines for preparation of the application are listed below. The primary concern of a society with strict genealogical requirements for membership must be the preservation for posterity of family so your observance of the following requirements will be deeply appreciated and of mutual benefit.
What Happens to All This Stuff?
As all members of the Society are painfully aware, completing the application for membership is an arduous process. But, what becomes of those papers after the candidate has been approved and elected? One set is retained by the member's State Society. The second set of papers have previously been in the custody of the Registrar General, however, in the summer of 1997 these were deposited at the Society's Archive at the Langsdale Library at the University of Baltimore. Col. Ober, a member of the Maryland Society is Chairman of the General Society's Committee on Archives and Records Management. He describes what happens next:
The application papers filed by members for admission to the Society of Colonial Wars contain genealogical information, as well as data regarding the qualifying services of the ancestors under whom they claim, that are not readily available elsewhere and not as well documented. These records are therefore the most valuable records of the Society and their preservation has been, at the direction of the Executive Committee, a major project of the committee on Archives and Records Management.
The first step was to remove 18,828 application papers from 349 over-size hard-back books that were deteriorating with age and file each in a separate archival quality acid free folder, along with supporting documents and supplemental papers, if any, with each document being separated by a slip sheet. These folders are filed by General Society number in archival quality boxes at Langsdale. Intellectual control of these documents is maintained in two sets of card indices, one of members' names and addresses and one of ancestors' names, each cross referenced to the other.
Microfilm copies of all these files, which are kept at locations away from Langsdale, provide security. The Registrar General has the original card files and the library of the Latter Day Saints in SaIt Lake City has microfilms of the papers. Since such film has a limited life, these microfilms will be reviewed and re-filmed when necessary — some years hence.
The final step is to modernize the records by establishing a "digital warehouse" by entering them into an electronic database. In early 1999 a test was undertaken to determine how much data in each paper it would be practical to enter, considering time and expense. It quickly became apparent that to try to include the detailed genealogy of each member as shown in his application would take approximately 12 man-years, so as authorized by the Executive Committee at its meeting in the Spring of 1999, the Roster of members will consist of each member's name, dates of birth (and death when known) and admission to the Society and the name of each ancestor under whom he claims. A Separate Roster of ancestors will include each progenitor's name, dates of birth and death, description of his qualifying services as compiled from all applications naming him, and the names of all members claiming under him. The information in these databases will not be available on the Internet but may be obtained from the Society Archivist at Langsdale with proper authorization. (The genealogical information may be accessed, upon authorization, from the papers themselves or from the microfilmed copies.)