Welcome to First Maryland Company, Jamestowne Society.
The Jamestowne Society, is a national organization of descendants of the first permanent English settlement in America. The First Maryland Company, located in the state of Maryland, was chartered on November 8, 2014.
Founded in 1936, the National Society was organized for educational, historical, and patriotic purposes:
To discover and record the names of all living descendants of those early settlers who made the great sacrifice to establish our English-speaking Nation; and to unite these descendants to honor the memory of our settler ancestors; and to record their deeds, and to do homage to the birthplace of Virginia and the Nation.
To associate those descendants as members of the corporation.
To bring the members into closer association through activities revolving around matters of common historical and genealogical interest.
To promote the restoration of historical records, documents, objects, and edifices which are of lasting cultural value to the people of Virginia and of the Nation.
First Maryland Company Membership
Members of the Jamestowne Society are warmly invited to join the first Marlyland Company.
We conduct one or two programs a year at varying locations across Maryland. To initate membership, please click the link below, print the form, and follow the instructions contained on the form.
For a membership application, please click on the link below.
For additional information, please email us.
History
The English first settled the colony of Maryland in 1634. King Charles I granted the land south of the 40th parallel to the Potomac River to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. The 1st Lord Baltimore died before settling the colony. His son Cecilius Calvert, the 2nd Lord Baltimore, organized the expedition of colonists. His brother Leonard Calvert served as the first Governor of Maryland.
Two small ships, the Ark and the Dove, set sail on November 22, 1633. The Ark measured about 100 x 30 feet, and Dove about 76 x 17 feet. The ships carried about 140 people and their supplies on a 4-month voyage across the Atlantic. The majority sailed on the Ark, the larger ship. The Dove would remain in Maryland for the colonists to use for transportation and trade. The colonists planned to trade with the Jamestowne colonists for cows, pigs and horses, so they brought other items to trade, such as cloth, sugar, spices, and other items that could only be gotten from England.
Lord Baltimore established Maryland as a colony where people of all Christian religions could practice their faith, grow wealthy, vote, and hold public office. Lord Baltimore enacted the law, A Law of Maryland Concerning Religion. Source: Maryland Historical Society.
