Annual Meeting 2025

Members attended the Order’s 114th annual meeting, held at the 3 West Club in midtown Manhattan. The meeting was devoted to exploring the Seigneuries of New France, and our speaker was John Petrie, OBE, who represents two 17th century Canadian Seigneuries, both new to the order:

1. Michel Messier, the Sieur de St. Michel (1640–1725) whose Seigneurie was granted in 1668.
2. Mathieu Amyot de Villeneuve, the Sieur de Bonsecours (1627/9–1688) whose Seigneurie was granted in 1672.

Mr. Petrie is Windsor Herald at the College of Arms, which is the official heraldic authority for most of the Commonwealth realms. He runs an independent heraldic and genealogical practice acting for private clients and organizations wishing to obtain new coats of arms or establish a right to existing arms and crests. He and his staff undertake heraldic and genealogical research for a wide variety of clients in the College’s historic records and elsewhere, including in Canada and the United States, and they specialize in cases dealing with the succession of British dignities and noble titles. He, along with fellow heralds, also participate in great ceremonies of state.

Mr. Petrie is an adviser to the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda and volunteer for the Order of St. John (also known as the St. John Ambulance), for which he serves as Director of Ceremonies in Wales. Mr. Petrie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2021 for services to Antigua and Barbuda and is a Commander of the Order of St. John (CStJ) in 2023. He is also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey, as well as being a Liveryman of the Drapers’ Company and a Freeman of the International Bankers’ Company. His interests lie in late medieval history and genealogy, the European colonization of North America and the American Revolutionary War.

The winner of the Timothy Field Beard award was announced at the meeting. Sutherland McColley is retiring this year as the Genealogist for the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America. From organizing materials after the untimely death of our late president Timothy Field Beard, to managing the enormous project of digitizing the extensive archive of applications, he was always on hand to guide the board with his historic expertise, wisdom, and advice.

Before he became a major force in the world of Hereditary Societies, Mr. McColley enjoyed an extensive artistic career, managing art collections for major museums and private galleries including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and M. Knoedler & Co. in New York City. He was Curator of Art at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers N.Y., as well as the Director of the Dulin Gallery of Art, now the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Later in life, Mr. McColley became a much sought-after landscape and garden designer on Long Island and Connecticut, and is considered the founding father of the Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons. He was also an original board member of the Hamptons Festival of Music.

Mr. McColley has received numerous accolades from, among others, the City of Knoxville, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to being on the board of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America, Mr. McColley is a member of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York, and the Order of First Families of Virginia. He is also a member of the Pilgrims of the United States and the University Club of New York, and a board member of the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America.