How to Apply
Membership Procedure
• Identify a Pennsylvania ancestor.
• Complete the application form.
• Assemble the supporting documentation.
• Prepare a check for the fee of $40 per application payable to GSP-FFP ($40 to be submitted with each individual application).
• Keep a complete copy of your application materials.
• Mail your application to:
First Families of Pennsylvania
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
2207 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Once an application is received in the GSP office, it is assigned to a Membership Committee volunteer for review. The volunteers are all trained in verifying lineage society applications. After completing their review, they notify the applicant with review results. If additional materials are needed, applicants are given the opportunity to submit it.
Applications may be submitted at any time during the year. However, only those received by 30 October are guaranteed to be reviewed before the next Annual Meeting in March of the following year. The submitted application and all supporting documents become the property of GSP.
Application Forms
The form is designed to present lineage information and source citations on the same line. Note that the final application form must be computer-generated or typed for legibility. Working versions may be handwritten if desired.
You have two choices to print the First Families application form:
1. The first is a PDF document and can be opened and downloaded.
You may save the form from your browser (use "Save Page"), if desired.
This form can be displayed and printed by most browsers and by Adobe Reader. To use the form, print a blank copy, then fill it out by hand or typewriter. You cannot save additions to the .pdf form.
2. The second form is a RTF document which can be downloaded, and which allows you to type directly onto the form once you have saved it on your computer. If your word processor tells you that this form is read-only, save it under a different name.
The .rft form makes it easier to update your application, for example to replace one source with a better one, because you may save information added to the form and later revise it if needed. The form will print correctly in most word processing programs except WordPad. To use the .rtf form,
• Start your word processing program.
• Use the File menu to open a blank copy of the application form.
• Save the file with a new name, such as the name of the ancestor.
• Complete the form.
• Save and print the completed form using the File menu.
Guidelines for Documentation
1. In all cases the best possible documentation should be submitted. Official civil records of birth, death, and marriage should be submitted whenever possible.
2. Documents must state the fact they are documenting. Information should not be “added” to a document. For example:
a) an individual named as “heir” in a will is not necessarily related to the deceased.
b) The 1850–1870 census records suggest, but do not prove family relationships.
c) A birth date calculated by subtracting age from the date of an event (such as age 23 at marriage in 1870) can only be considered an approximate date and should be indicated as “about.”
d) A cemetery record proves the place of burial but not necessarily the place of death.
e) If the record gives only a county name, don’t add the city or town unless it appears on another submitted document.
3. Family Bible records may be considered primary evidence if event dates are contemporary with the publication of the Bible. A copy of the title page should be included along with the current location of the Bible if known.
4. County histories and undocumented family histories, whether published and unpublished, are secondary or corroborative evidence.
5. Documented family histories, both published and unpublished, vary greatly in the quality and amount of source information they provide. Therefore their acceptance as documentation is at the discretion of the First Families committee.
6. Letters, diaries, and family records are acceptable if they state facts the writer could have known “first hand.” The identity of the writer and date of the document are necessary.
7. Lineage papers from other societies are not considered documentation.
8. Photocopies of documents are acceptable.
9. Transcriptions of documents must be accompanied by a copy of the original document.
10. Foreign language documents may be included only with a translation signed by the translator.
11. All documents must be legible.
12. Tombstone photographs must be legible and accompanied by a transcription of the stone that includes the name and location of the cemetery.
13. Avoid highlighting parts of a document. Highlighting obscures the very words that are important when the document is copied. Emphasize pertinent portions by underlining or placing arrows in the margin.
14. Avoid over-documenting. It's not necessary to include every document you have for an ancestor. Select those that provide the best quality evidence.
Documenting Descent and Residence
Documentation must be sufficient to prove generation by generation that the applicant is directly descended from the claimed ancestor by blood line. The evidence must prove residence of the ancestor by the claimed date and it must substantiate all the names, dates, and places presented on the application. It must also be sufficient to differentiate between any two persons of the same name residing in the same area at the same time.
Primary evidence found in original records or actual copies of original records is always the strongest proof. Examples include vital, court, probate, and land records. Also acceptable are baptismal and marriage certificates, obituaries, cemetery, and school records, among many others.
Secondary evidence such as census records, newspaper accounts, etc. are generally considered corroborative evidence and rarely are sufficient alone.
Quality of evidence is more important than quantity. It is not necessary to submit a baptismal record and hospital birth certificate in addition to a government-issued birth certificate unless the second document is being used to establish another fact.
The applicant’s name and address should appear on the reverse of every piece of paper submitted.
Each document submitted should carry a complete citation on the front of the document. Examples of proper citations may be found in Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007). Each document should also carry a generation reference on the front.
Married female applicants must include a copy of their marriage record if they use their husband’s surname.
(Photo courtesy of Shamele Jordon; her Great-Great-Grandparents, Bertha and Henry Toomer.)
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