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 of Covington, Kentucky, the Order’s mission 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.”