Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors

The Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors is a hereditary society composed of men and women who can prove their descent from a colonial-era governor. Founded in 1896 Miss Mary Cabell Richardson of Covington, Kentucky, the Order’s is to “commemorate the services of those men who, prior to July 4, 1776, singly exercised supreme executive power in the American colonies and who laid in them the foundations of stable government and of the respect for the civil law and authority which made the maintenance of their future independence possible.”

History of the Order

The first two Governors General served the Order for the first decade of its existence and in 1907 the Order was incorporated in New Jersey and Miss Gail Treat became the new Governor General of the Order. Miss Treat would serve as Governor General from 1907 to 1944 and upon her death all of the records of the Order vanished and the group entered a period of dormancy.

In 1954 a group of members reorganized the Order and sought to preserve whatever records and information they could locate. The Order published a Register of known members in 1980 and in 2004 Lineage Book II was produced. In 2006, the Order published a comprehesive list of the Colonial Governors Prior to 4 July 1776. The Order presently consists of over five hundred members throughout the United States of America and overseas and has its annual meeting in April of each year in Washington, DC at the Metropolitan Club.

Governors General of the Order

* Miss Mary Cabell Richardson (1896)
* Mrs. Henry Whipple Skinner (1897-1907)
* Miss Gail Treat (1907-1944)
* Mrs. Hermann August Knorr (1954-1961)
* Mr. William Young Pryor (1961-1963)
* Mr. Grahame Thomas Smallwood, Jr. (1963-1967)
* Mary Genevieve Forbes Morse (1967-1970)
* Mr. Warren Smith Hall, Jr. (1970-1973)
* Mr. John Frederick Dorman (1973-1976)
* Mrs. Russell Francis Barker (1976-1979)
* Mr. Charles Owen Johnson (1979-1981)
* Mrs. Clyde Davis Martin (1981-1983)
* Mr. Nicholas Donnell Ward (1983-1985)
* Gilberta Wood Westbrooke (1985-1987)
* Mr. J. Orton Buck (1987-1989)
* Barbara Wilson Haupt Loucks (1989-1991)
* Rev. Dr. Dixon Barr (1991-1993)
* Mr. Judson Philip Mason, Sr. (1993-1995)
* Mrs. Hans Bielenstein (1995-1997)
* Joan Claire Hodgkinson Orton (1997-1999)
* Dr. Hardwick Smith Johnson, Jr. (1999-2001)
* Mr. Timothy Field Beard (2001-2003)
* Betty Jane James Bernstorf (2003-2005)
* Charles William Neuhauser (2005-2007)
* Michael Harrison Charles (2007 - Present)

References

Thurtle, Robert Glenn, ed. Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors, Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, 1980.

Bernstorf, Mrs. Philip and Mrs. George S. Orton, compilers. Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors Lineage Book II, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 2005.