Sign up for Genealogy Pointers »

Patriotic and hereditary societies require that all persons applying for membership to their organizations provide proof of descent from a particular person living at a particular time during a particular event. By virtue of their own stringent requirements, hereditary societies such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne, the General Society of the War of 1812, and the Colonial Dames of America have become repositories of a class of records that document the pedigrees, or lineages, of their members. Over the years these lineage records have grown into a formidable body of genealogical data, much of which has been published in the form of lineage books, pedigree charts, membership rosters, and indexes. In the process of linking society members to a colonial forebear, a Revolutionary War patriot, or a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne, or some similar personage, these published lineage records provide a wealth of detail few other records can rival: name of ancestor, dates of birth and death, name of wife, colony or state of residence, and names of descendants, to mention only a few of the most significant details.

The best of these lineage books have been published by the Genealogical Publishing Company, and they are all now available on this CD, which also contains an electronic index to all 440,000 persons named! Like other CDs, it is designed to simplify genealogical research by combining the images of pages of selected volumes published by GPC with a single name index, which allows you to search all the volumes quickly and effortlessly. A search on a single name will turn up all references to that name found in any of the following volumes:

*Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. 3 vols.
*Lineages of Members of the National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. 3 vols.
*Index of the Rolls of Honor (Ancestor's Index) in the Lineage Books of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 4 vols.
*Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century. 3 vols.
*The Roster and Register of the General Society of the War of 1812. 3 vols.
*Ancestral Records and Portraits: Colonial Dames of America. 2 vols.
*Founders and Patriots of America Index
*Some Colonial Dames of Royal Descent
*The Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry, Lineage of Members
*Ancestor Lineages of Members Texas Society/National Society Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century
*Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service
*Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors
*Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Delaware, Register of Members

System Requirements: You must have a CD-ROM drive, and in order to read the CD you must use either the Family Archive Viewer (version 4.0 or higher), which is available as a free download at http://www.genealogical.com/content/dlfav6.html, or Family Tree Maker for Windows, version 4.0 or higher (Family Tree Maker software can be ordered from www.FamilyTreeMaker.com).

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using the Family Archive Viewer:

1. Install the Family Archive Viewer CD or download it from http://www.genealogy.com/dlfav6.html.
2. Start the Viewer if it is not already running
3. Insert the CD you wish to view into the CD-ROM drive. If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.
4. The CD should open automatically, but users of later versions of the Family Archive Viewer must click the CD/magnifying glass icon in the top toolbar (above the template in some versions) to read the CD.
5. When the screen entitled "About this Family Archive" appears, click OK where prompted.

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using Family Tree Maker:

1. Start your Family Tree Maker and open a Family File. (If the program is already running, skip to Step 2.)
2. Insert the CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive. (If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.)
3. From the View menu, select Family Finder, or select the Family Finder icon from the toolbar.
4. For FTM 2005, FTM 2006, or Version 16, you must go to the View menu, select Data CD, then View CD. For FTM 2008 or higher, you must download the Family Archive Viewer.

To search the CD for names, select the Search Expert button in the top right of your screen, then select "Search this archive for someone NOT from your Family File." You can also search for names by using the Index.

Note: If a window opens that contains a list of files on the CD, simply close it.