Puritan Heritage Society
Descendants of the Great Migration to Massachusetts Bay, 1629 to 1640
Twenty thousand English Puritans crossed the Atlantic in eleven years. Their descendants founded Harvard, wrote the town meeting into American life, and carried New England across a continent. Tens of millions carry a line today. Few know it.
Six of thirty-three. The rest are below.
Send a descendant
The Arbella Pilgrimage takes young people of Puritan descent to the places their families began. Five days through Boston, Plymouth, Salem, Cambridge and Concord. Each one ends at their own ancestor's town, and at the grave if we can find it.
They travel with others their age who are building things now, in technology, robotics and research. Most have never learned much about the culture they come from, and are eager to.
Tell us what you would give and we will come to you first when giving opens.
No payment is taken here and none is requested. The Society is being incorporated in Florida. Once the 501(c)(3) is granted and our charitable registration is complete, gifts will be tax deductible and you will hear from us first.
Stay connected
We will write when there is something real to say. Chapters, the Forefathers' Day dinner, and help tracing your line.
Your email stays private. We never sell or publish it.
Where we meet
Chapters
San Francisco
Founding chapterMeets monthly. Hosting the first Thanksgiving gathering this November.
Start one where you are
A chapter is a handful of descendants in one city who agree to eat together now and then. If you would host one, write to us and we will help you find the others.
The year ahead
Gatherings
Thanksgiving Gathering
November 2026 · San FranciscoReadings from the founding documents, and thanks given together.
Reserve a place →
Forefathers' Day Dinner
22 December 2026 · By chapterPlymouth has kept the date since 1769.
The Arbella Pilgrimage
June 2027 · Massachusetts BayFive days to the towns your family began in.
Trace your line
Where to look
The lineage societies preserved the records. Start with the free ones and work backwards from yourself.
Start here, free
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FamilySearch
The largest free record set there is. Build back from yourself, one generation at a time.
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WikiTree
A single shared tree. Colonial New England lines are often already built out.
The authority on the Great Migration
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Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration series
Sketch by sketch, every documented settler of 1620 to 1640. If a line is real, it is here.
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American Ancestors, NEHGS
Founded 1845. The databases, the journals, and the staff genealogists.
Societies that will test your line
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The Winthrop Society
Descent from the Winthrop Fleet or the Bay Colony by 1640.
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General Society of Mayflower Descendants
Plymouth 1620. A different migration, and good neighbours.
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Order of the Founders and Patriots of America
Colonial ancestor plus a patriot descendant in the same male line.
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Sons of the American Revolution
Often the easiest first proof, and the paperwork carries over.
What counts as proof
Every generation needs a record: a birth, a marriage, a death, a will, a deed. The societies will not accept DNA results, an online tree, or the older printed compilations such as Savage, Banks, Virkus and Cutter. Anderson is the standard for the Great Migration itself.
If you get stuck, write to us. Helping members document a line is free and it is the thing we are best at.
The line, in order of birth
Descendants of the Great Migration
Portraits reimagined from public-domain originals. Not photographs.