Apply for Membership

General: The Articles of Incorporation provide that the Board of Directors shall determine the eligibility of applicants for membership in the Society. Any descendant of Richard Lee and his wife, Anne Constable, shall be eligible, provided that the applicant established his descent from them to the satisfaction of the Board. In all cases, the burden of proof is on the applicant, and the proof must be positive, not conjectural.

All prospective members shall return the completed application form along with the required documents to the Society Genealogist with a check for $400.00 made payable to the Society of the Lees of Virginia. This fee is for full Life Membership in the Society and includes a non-refundable, initial research fee of $50. The Society only accepts Life Memberships. In accordance with the By Laws, Life Membership fees will be applied to the Society’s permanent fund.

If the application fails verification or if the applicant fails to provide subsequently requested information after a reasonable time, the application will be returned with a check for $350.00.

Documentation: Applicants must provide acceptable documentation that links them with: 1) a living or passed member of the Society or 2) a descendant of Richard Lee and his wife, Anne Constable as listed in LEE OF VIRGINIA as published by Edmund Jennings Lee in 1895. Acceptable documents are: birth records, marriage records, death records/testamentary records, census records, bible pages, land records, tombstone photos, genealogical texts, newspaper clipping and DNA. Refer to the Acceptable Proofs for Establishing Ancestry page for details. Family histories written by family members, which do not meet the standards of documentation, are not acceptable. In addition, memberships in other societies are not acceptable as primary evidence.

Application Form: Use the Contact Us page to initiate the application process. Please indicate that you are requesting an application form and include your basic Lee Line.

You are here: Home About The Society Apply for Membership