[1] The Order is made up of "Associates" who trace their ancestry back to colonists who settled between May 13, 1607 to May 13, 1657, and who also have ancestors in the same male ancestral line who served in the American Revolution.

Established in 1896, the Order has relatively strict bloodline mandates that have earned it a reputation as the most exclusive lineage society in the United States.

[5] Membership in the OFPA is open to male U.S. citizens age 18 or more of "good moral character and reputation" who are directly descended in the male line of either parent from an ancestor who settled, prior to May 13, 1657, in the territory that would become the Thirteen Colonies and one or all of whose intermediate ancestors in the same line, who lived in the period of the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783, adhered as patriots to the cause of the colonies.

The OFPA and its member societies fund the erection and installation of monuments and markers at the sites of historical occurrences in early United States and colonial American history.

Additional records curated by individual societies are stored elsewhere, including Rutgers University, and the Connecticut State Library.

[13] Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this General Court was moved to The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and held on June 10–12, 2020.