... to introduce to you a new 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 arriving 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 with your name beautifully hand-lettered denoting you as a CHARTER MEMBER. The first 100 approved applicants will be noted as ORGANIZING CHARTER MEMBERS. Fees will be at a reduced price during the Charter period- $50. This fee includes an online application and instruction sheet, genealogist fee, a single mailed certificate, 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, CG*, Governor General
701 Donaghe Street
Staunton, VA 24401-2838
societydame@verizon.net
*CG -- Certified Genealogist is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. -- Author of Augusta County, Virginia, Earliest Will Index, 1745-post 1900, pub 2008.

Term (2009-2013)

Governor General - Elizabeth Jane “Janie” Sherman, CG^SM

Deputy Governor General - Whitney Suzanne Deitz

Secretary General - Autumn Churchwell Dooley

Treasurer General - Robert Cameron Jordan

Registrar General - Terry R. Mitchell, (ret. USAF)

Gardens General - Carolyn Mae Rowland

Plantations General - Barbara DeLois S Hillman

Library General - Charlotte Elaine S Churchwell

September 4th, 2010: 1st Anniversary FSSV Membership Luncheon at the Belle Grae Inn, Staunton, VA Guest Speaker: TBA