The Colonial Dames of America

The Colonial Dames of America
Name	The Colonial Dames of America
Formation	1891
Type	Lineage-based hereditary society
Headquarters	New York City
Leader title	President General

The Colonial Dames of America is a hereditary society founded in 1891 for women directly descended from ancestors who rendered service in colonial North America. The organization promotes historic preservation, patriotic service, and genealogical scholarship, and maintains historic properties, archives, and collections associated with colonial-era figures and events.

History

The society was established during the late 19th century amid the same revival that produced organizations such as Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, National Society of Colonial Dames of America, Society of Cincinnati, and Mayflower Society. Founders drew on precedents set by Harriet Tubman-era abolitionist networks, Progressive Era philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie, and institutional models including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York Historical Society, American Antiquarian Society, and New England Historic Genealogical Society. Early meetings involved prominent social figures connected to families referenced in documents like the Charter of the Colony of Virginia, Massachusetts Bay Colony records, and proceedings of the Continental Congress. Over decades the society engaged with public debates involving preservation efforts centered on sites associated with George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Samuel Adams, and collaborated with institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Historic New England, and Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

Membership and Eligibility

Eligibility requires documented descent from an ancestor who rendered actual service to a colonial government, military, or civic institution prior to the Declaration of Independence, comparable to criteria used by Jamestown Society and Huguenot Society of America. Genealogical proof commonly references parish registers from St. Paul's Church, Virginia, town records from Plymouth Colony, probate records from Charleston, South Carolina, and passenger lists from voyages like the Mayflower voyage. Applicants often consult secondary authorities such as publications from New England Historic Genealogical Society, compiled family genealogies relating to houses like Mount Vernon, Monticello, Blenheim Palace’s transatlantic sources, and charters issued by monarchs such as King Charles II. Comparative lineage organizations include Order of the Founders and Patriots of America and Society of Colonial Wars; notable eligibility cases have intersected with research connected to families of John Hancock, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton-related archives, and colonial-era documents found in collections at Princeton University, Yale University, Harvard University, and Brown University.

Organization and Governance

Governance follows a structure of officers including President General, Vice Presidents, and state regents, modeled in part on governance practices of National Geographic Society, American Red Cross, and cultural institutions such as Carnegie Institution for Science. National conventions and annual meetings have been hosted in venues like New York Public Library, Metropolitan Club (New York City), and statehouses including Massachusetts State House and Virginia State Capitol. The society’s bylaws and internal committees coordinate with preservation partners including National Park Service, Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, and academic advisory boards drawing scholars from Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University, and Duke University.

Activities and Programs

Programs encompass historic preservation, marker placement, educational lectures, and publication of genealogical research, comparable to initiatives by National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Sites Act advocates, and local efforts from Philadelphia Historical Commission. The society has sponsored exhibits and symposiums featuring artifacts linked to individuals such as Roger Williams, William Penn, Ethan Allen, Patrick Henry, Mercy Otis Warren, John Witherspoon, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Eliza Lucas Pinckney, John Rolfe, Pocahontas, John Smith, James Oglethorpe, Anthony Wayne, Francis Marion, Daniel Boone, Henry Knox, Benedict Arnold, Nathanael Greene, Israel Putnam, Horatio Gates, William Prescott, Fisher Ames, James Otis (colonist), Gouverneur Morris, John Peter Zenger, William Penn, Lord Baltimore, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith, Anne Hutchinson, Roger Sherman, James Otis Jr., and John Hancock. Educational outreach has connected with university courses at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Columbia University, and museums such as Museum of the City of New York, Winterthur Museum, and Historic Deerfield.

Properties and Collections

The society maintains and stewards historic houses, archives, portraits, silver, furniture, maps, and manuscript collections that relate to colonial-era figures and events. Holdings and stewardship activities have overlapped with collections at Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, Drayton Hall, Gunston Hall, Hampton National Historic Site, Philipsburg Manor, Old Sturbridge Village, Stratford Hall, Oak Alley Plantation, Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts Historical Society, New-York Historical Society, Historic New England, Maryland Historical Society, South Carolina Historical Society, Virginia Historical Society, and Missouri Historical Society. Conservation work has employed techniques and standards promoted by Smithsonian Institution, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, Getty Conservation Institute, and documentation through Historic American Buildings Survey records.

Notable Members

Notable members have included women connected to prominent family lines and public life such as descendants associated with George Washington’s extended kin networks, families linked to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Samuel Adams, James Madison, Dolley Madison, Dolley Payne Todd, Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Amelia Earhart-era connections, philanthropists like Julia Ward Howe, Florence Nightingale-related transatlantic kin, social reformers including Harriet Beecher Stowe, artists and collectors tied to John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, writers connected to Louisa May Alcott, scientists with ties to Benjamin Rush’s lineage, and civic leaders associated with Henry Cabot Lodge, Charles Francis Adams Jr., Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Betsy Ross, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Margaret Sanger, Eleanor Lansing Dulles, Katherine Duer Mackay, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Mary Baker Eddy, Jeanette Rankin, Mary McLeod Bethune, Julia Child, Rachel Carson, Betty Ford, and patrons connected to institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University, Smithsonian Institution, The Frick Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum.

Category:Hereditary societies in the United States