The Society was organized on December 21, 1908, by Dr. Thomas W. Bicknell, and incorporated one year later under the laws of the Commonwealth of Rhode Island, as a National Society empowered to form subordinate Branches within the various states.

Dr. Bicknell applied the term Pilgrim broadly to all those who arrived in the American colonies prior to 1700 as "emigrants from restricted rights and privileges to a land of large opportunities and larger freedom."

Through the years Branches have been formed in thirty States and the District of Columbia, each with its own officers, and governed by By-laws modeled after those of the National Society. Since organization in 1908, the Society has had over 10,200 members, with current membership being approximately 1,500.

Eligibility

For the purpose of this Society, the term “Pilgrim” shall denote any immigrant who settled before 1700 within the territory which became the forty-eight contiguous states of the United States of America.

Any adult of good character, having attained the age of eighteen years and endorsed by two members of the Society, may be eligible for regular membership provided the application and required documentation are approved by the Society’s Registrar General.  Membership includes the semi-annual Pilgrim News-Letter.

A non-voting Junior Membership is available to those of good character under the age of twenty years and of Pilgrim ancestry and with approved documented application.  Branches may allow spouses of Regular Members to be received as Associate Members.

Objects

• First - To perpetuate the memory and to foster and promote the principles and virtues of the Pilgrims.
• Second - To commemorate publicly, at stated times, principal events in the history of the Pilgrims and to erect durable memorials to historic men, women and events.
• Third - To encourage the study and research of Pilgrim history, especially as related to the foundation of civil government on the principles of religious freedom.
• Fourth - To foster and establish such departments of study and organizations as shall seem best to promote social rights, civic virtue, industrial freedom, political equality, the supremacy of just laws, the value and sacredness of the ballot, the purity of the home, temperate and godly living, and the dependence of individuals, communities, states and nations on the guidance of Almighty God, as taught by the Pilgrims.
• Fifth – To the above objects stated by the Founder has been added another interest, that of work in reforestation. 
  

Projects

The major projects of the Society are:

• Support given to the General John J. Pershing Memorial Fund and Museum, Laclede, Missouri
• Support given to the Cathedral of the Pines, Rindge, New Hampshire, a National Memorial to all American War Dead
• Aid through scholarships and awards to the Cook College & Theological School, Tempe, Arizona
• Bicknell Scholarship Award for outstanding graduate students in the field of Colonial History, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

The Society has published eight volumes of lineages, which include basic data and principal references for over 10,000 primary and supplemental lines of descent from qualifying ancestors.  These volumes can be found in many libraries, and recent volumes may still be available for purchase from the Membership Chairman.

Motto

Land of our Fathers! Ours to Preserve, Ours to Transmit. Liberty in Union; Now and Forever.

Insignia

The Official Seal of the National Society provides the model for its Insignia, which depicts John Alden and Priscilla Mullins on their way to be married at Olde Forte Church on Burial Hill. The design is depicted in royal blue and gold, the Society's colors, and appears on the membership certificates. Rosettes, in the Society's colors, identify members.

[The Eligibility, Objectives and Projects sections above have been revised to include the wording requested by the National Society. - S. Lawson 5/8/04]

Since any person arriving in the American Colonies prior to the year 1700 is a qualifying ancestor for membership in the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, the number of surnames of qualifying ancestors must be in the tens of thousands. The estimated non-Native American population of the Colonies in 1700 was just over 250,000. Logically, each of these individuals either was an immigrant or descended from an immigrant, and therefore could be in the line of a qualifying ancestor.

The Society has published eight volumes of lineages, which include basic data and principal references for over 10,000 primary and supplemental lines of descent from qualifying ancestors. These volumes can be found in many library, and recent volumes may still be available for purchase from the Registrar General.

If you have any question as to whether you have a qualifying ancestor for the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, contact the Society.

It is estimated that Freeman Family Lines identifies around 150 immigrants to the American Colonies prior to 1700, all of whom would be qualifying ancestors for the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. Many of these individuals can be found in the Surnames List.

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