IHGS Family History & Genealogy
Family History and Lineage Societies for Those of American Descent
Explore American lineage societies, cultural genealogy groups, and the evidence needed to connect your family history with the past.
Why societies matter
Connect with people who share your history
Lineage societies bring together people who share an interest in a particular ancestry, place, culture, or historic experience. Membership can offer a meaningful way to meet fellow researchers, preserve family stories, and understand how individual lives connect to the wider history of a community.
Depending on the society, members may benefit from lectures, educational programs, publications, research guidance, special events, libraries, archives, and opportunities to collaborate with others who share their interests. Societies can also encourage careful, documented research and help members look beyond unsourced online family trees when verifying a line of descent.
Eligibility requirements and member benefits vary, so always review each society’s current information before applying.
Find your people
Meet researchers who share your ancestry, locality, culture, or historic interest.
Strengthen your evidence
Learn from publications, talks, libraries, archives, and others working on similar lines.
Keep the story moving
Gain encouragement, ideas, and connections that can turn a family-tree clue into a documented discovery.
Who benefits?
A society can support the next stage of your genealogy
For family historians
Turn belonging into better research
Joining a society can give you a community of people who understand the records, places, traditions, and migration stories behind your family. Talks, publications, events, and shared experience can help you test ideas and stay motivated when a line becomes difficult.
- Find specialist communities and research leads
- Learn how others approach difficult evidence
- Share and preserve your family history
For professional genealogists
Grow knowledge, networks, and perspective
Professional researchers can use societies as a route into specialist knowledge, continuing education, local contacts, and wider conversations about standards and sources. They can also better understand the expectations faced by clients preparing lineage-society applications.
- Build subject and regional expertise
- Connect with researchers and potential collaborators
- Support clients with clearer evidence strategies
Membership can complement professional training; it is not, by itself, a professional qualification.
01 / Cultural & ethnic genealogy
Cultural and ethnic genealogical societies
America’s many ancestral communities have their own histories, migration patterns, records, and research traditions. These organisations can help family historians find specialist resources and connect with others researching similar backgrounds.
Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
Focuses on African-descended family history and offers chapters across the United States.
Visit AAHGSAmerican Historical Society of Germans from Russia
Supports research into ancestors who migrated from Germany to Russia before coming to America.
Visit AHSGRPolish Genealogical Society of America
Provides resources for researchers with Polish roots, including databases and specialist guidance.
Visit PGSAGenealogical Society of Hispanic America
Focuses on Hispanic and Latino family history in the United States and Mexico.
Visit GSHAJewish and Sephardic genealogy
JewishGen and Sephardic Genealogy offer valuable international resources for Jewish family history research.
Guild of One-Name Studies
Many surnames have dedicated study groups. The Guild provides a directory of one-name projects and surname indexes.
FamilyTreeDNA projects
One-name studies connected with DNA evidence can often be accessed by joining relevant surname projects.
Visit FamilyTreeDNA02 / American lineage societies
Lineage societies in the United States
American lineage societies usually restrict membership to people with proven descent from historically significant individuals or communities. Applicants are generally expected to assemble and prove the evidence themselves. Some societies maintain libraries or limited research support, but most do not provide a complete genealogical service.
Daughters of the American Revolution
Open to women aged 18 or older who can prove lineal descent from an ancestor who aided the American Revolution.
Visit DARSons of the American Revolution
Open to men who descend lineally from a Patriot who supported the American cause for independence from 1775 to 1783.
Visit SARGeneral Society of Mayflower Descendants
Open to adults who can prove direct lineal descent from one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower.
Visit the Mayflower SocietySons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage
Supports applicants who can prove descent from an African-descended ancestor forced into slavery or indentured servitude in colonial America or the United States.
Visit SDUSMPSociety of the Cincinnati
A hereditary society with membership limited to male-line descendants of officers of the Continental Army and Navy.
Visit the SocietyNational Society of the Colonial Dames of America
Open to women descended from an ancestor who came to reside in an American colony before 1776.
Visit NSCDAThe Colonial Dames of America
For women descended from an ancestor who lived in British North America between 1607 and 1775 and aided the colonies in an accepted capacity.
Visit the CDAOrder of the Founders and Patriots of America
For male U.S. citizens descended from a pre-1657 settler with an intermediate ancestor living during the American Revolution.
Visit OFPAJamestowne Society
For descendants of qualifying stockholders, landowners, and residents connected with Jamestown before 1700.
Visit Jamestowne SocietyGeneral Society of Colonial Wars
For men descended from a person who served militarily or held public office in the colonies before April 19, 1775.
Visit GSCW03 / IHGS expertise
Proving a lineage often requires professional research
Lineage-society applications depend on proving every generation between you and the qualifying ancestor. That can involve birth, marriage, death, census, probate, land, military, church, immigration, and other records held across different jurisdictions.
IHGS has a primary focus on England, Scotland, and Ireland, and can also undertake research crossing national boundaries in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world. The Institute is a not-for-profit educational body established in 1961.
Find expert research help04 / British lineage societies
A British lineage society open to U.S. citizens
The Descendants of the Knights of the Garter, based at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, is open to men and women with established descent from one or more Knights of the Garter.
05 / Evidence-led genealogy
Use online family trees as clues, not conclusions
Free platforms such as WikiTree can be useful for exploring possible relationships and seeing how two people may be connected. However, the quality of information can vary, and no researcher should add someone to a personal lineage without being satisfied by the sources.
When preparing a lineage-society application, work from the known present generation backward. Identify each person correctly, compare independent records, resolve conflicts, and document every parent-child relationship before moving to the next generation.
Your questions answered
Frequently asked questions about lineage societies
What is an American lineage society?
An American lineage society is an organisation whose membership is based on proven descent from a qualifying ancestor, event, community, or historical service.
What records can prove descent for a lineage society?
Depending on the application, useful evidence may include birth, marriage, death, census, probate, land, military, church, immigration, and other records that connect each generation.
Can an American family historian research British ancestry?
Yes. Many American family lines lead back to England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. Research usually requires understanding the relevant British Isles records, places, jurisdictions, and historical context.
Does IHGS help with lineage-society research?
IHGS offers professional family-history research services and online genealogy courses that can help researchers develop stronger methods and investigate complex ancestral lines.
Learn from the experts
Build the skills behind a proven family history
Learn the same evidence-led methods used by expert genealogists: follow records, evaluate sources, solve difficult family-history problems, and build the confidence to research your own ancestry or develop a career in genealogy.