How to Join...
Why Join The Mayflower Society?
Once you have been approved by The Mayflower Society, you are a member of that group, as well as ours. Congratulations! We hope you choose to join us in our mission to educate the people of Idaho about the Mayflower through volunteer service and good works.
This is followed, of course, by Step Six: Thank Your Historian! They are essential to helping us come together!
When you join The Mayflower Society (our national parent organization), you preserve your family’s genealogical history. You document, for generations to come, the legacy of your courageous Mayflower ancestors and the generations that followed, many who continued to demonstrate a brave and trailblazing spirit by forging paths westward to and throughout our nation. For the amateur genealogist, you can take pride knowing that the gold standard in lineage societies has thoroughly reviewed and verified your family’s lineage.
The Idaho Mayflower Society is a chartered member society of The Mayflower Society. All individuals interested in membership in the Idaho Mayflower Society will work with us to document their proposed lineage and—hopefully—submit an application to The Mayflower Society. Once your application is approved, you become a member of the Idaho Mayflower Society, as well as The Mayflower Society.
Step 1 - Research Your Mayflower Lineage
Build your family tree one generation at a time, being careful to confirm the link to parents as you go. This can be especially challenging for women whose maiden names were not recorded on Census records or other documents. The use of a pedigree chart (sample below) can be helpful.
Please refer to the Idaho Mayflower Society Documentation Types document (below) for types of acceptable documents to verify your proposed lineage. Good news--we do not need certified vital record documents. A genealogical or informational copy is acceptable. Many acceptable documents may be downloaded directly from genealogical websites.
Idaho vital records can be obtained by following the directions online:
https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/services-programs/birth-marriage-death-records
Step 2 - Let Us Help! Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review
Fill out the Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review Form (below) to start the verification process for your proposed Mayflower lineage. Verification means that at least one document has been found to connect each generation back to the Mayflower passenger. This lineage verification is not an application for membership. The cost of the lineage verification process is $50.00 (non-refundable).
Send the filled out Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review Form (in MS Word format) to the following email address: historian@idahomayflowersociety.org.
You have two options to pay the $50.00 fee:
1. Electronic payment using the link or QR code:
https://square.link/u/F83a7md8
Once you have paid electronically, please email us at historian@idahomayflowersociety.org that you have paid and previously sent in the Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review Form.
2. Postal mailing a check.
Write a short note that you would like to start the lineage verification process and that you electronically submitted a Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review Form to us. Postal mail the note along with a non-refundable check for $50.00 made payable to SMDID (Society of Mayflower Descendants in Idaho) to: Idaho Mayflower Society, 3888 S. Twilight Rise Way, Meridian, ID 83642 Attn: Historian.
Once your filled out Preliminary Mayflower Descendant Review Form and payment of $50.00 have been received, we will start reviewing your proposed lineage and submitted documents to determine if sufficient original documents exist to verify your proposed lineage is viable. If verification is not fully documented, we will work with you to (hopefully) find verification documents for each generation.
Step 3 - Prepare Your Application
If we can verify your proposed lineage, the next step is to fully document your Mayflower lineage. Documentation means that you have documents for each individual in a generation (both blood line and spouse) using originals for every vital event. Full documentation is completed during the membership application process. Our national organization now requires documents submitted with the application form to be images in .jpg/.jpeg format (photo). We will provide you with parameters for acceptable images during steps 2 and 3.
Step 4 - Submit Your Application to The Mayflower Society
Once you and the Idaho Mayflower Society historian have gathered all the required documents, a final application package will be assembled. The historian will submit the package to The Mayflower Society for review. The Mayflower Society will review your package and provide a response.