... to introduce to you this hereditary society that acknowledges, confirms, and records the existence of our early Shenandoah Valley Ancestors.

September 5, 2009, is the official date of commencement of the society. It is on this same month and day that such purported FIRST SETTLERS, the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, reached the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains and peered into the Shenandoah Valley. After a day's descent into the Valley, these discoverers spent the night of September 6, 1716, beside the Shenandoah River. It is legendary that Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party of government officials and gentry, Native Americans, soldiers and servants crossed into the beautiful Shenandoah Valley with dreams of growth and settlement.

As a genealogist who appreciates our fore-founders’ contributions to the Valley, I am pleased to create an online genealogical, educational and historical assemblage of records of the early Shenandoah Valley FIRST SETTLERS in the 18th century.

You are invited to join First Settlers of the Shenandoah Valley if you have a direct ancestor that can be documented as having arrived in the Shenandoah Valley prior to 31 December 1799. A copy of a previous society application such as the DAR, Colonial Dames, etc. may be used as proof. Upon approval by the Genealogist General, current applicants will receive a stunning commission-designed, colorful certificate denoting you as a CHARTER MEMBER. The first 100 approved applicants were noted as ORGANIZING CHARTER MEMBERS. Application Fees are at a reduced price during this Charter period of $70. See the online application and instruction sheet for convenience; then upon approval, you will receive a Welcome Letter, a beautiful certificate mailed, and your ancestor listed among the FIRST SETTLERS on the official website.

If you have an early ancestor who resided in The Valley of the Daughter of the Stars, he or she is most deserving to be included in First Settlers of the Shenandoah Valley ancestry. For an application please click here to contact me via email.

From the heart of the Shenandoah Valley,

Janie
Elizabeth Jane "Janie" Sherman,* Governor General
701 Donaghe Street
Staunton, VA 24401-2838
societydame@verizon.net
* Professional Genealogist
* Author of "Augusta County, Virginia, Earliest Will Index, 1745-post 1900," published by Gateway Press, Dec 2008.

Term (2020-2025)

Governor General/Founder - Elizabeth Jane “Janie” Sherman

Deputy Governor General - Reagan Elizabeth Deitz

Secretary General - Autumn Churchwell Dooley

Treasurer General - Robert Cameron Jordan

Registrar General - Whitney S. Jordan

September 4th, 2010: 1st Anniversary FSSV