Swanström Arms

Swanström Arms

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Traditional arms, assumed about 1918
(Design by Magnus Backmark)

Descendants of Adolf Swanström

The Swanström arms were assumed (I believe) during or shortly after World War I, perhaps about 1918, and certainly before 1942 by my great uncle Hugo Ferdinand Swanström (1886-1971). The arms might be older than I know. No records exist of the arms assumed and borne by Swedish commoners, so the arms could have come down to Uncle Hugo from previous generations. However, the arrangement of three charges is so typically an English form that I doubt these arms came from Sweden.

In heraldic blazon, the arms are described as:

Azure two bars wavy Argent between three swans rising Argent beaked and membered Or, wings elevated and addorsed. Crest: Issuant from a crest-coronet Or a demi-swan as in the arms. Motto: Sans Tache.

In Swedish: Sköld: I blått fält två av vågskuror bildade bjälkar av silver ovan åtföljda av två inbördes frånvända och nedan av en svan, alla av silver med beväring av guld och med lyftade vingar. Blått hjälmtäcke fodrat med silver. Hjälmprydnad: En dylik svan uppstigande ur en hjälmkrona av guld.

Jeanne Swanström registered a version of these arms with the American College of Heraldry in 2005, and I registered another version with the Bureau of Heraldry in South Africa in 2006. The arms are also included in the database of the Svenska Heraldiska Föreningen.

Symbolism

The Swanström arms are canting arms, meaning that they are a picture of the surname. In Swedish, svans-ström means “swan’s-stream,” or more poetically, “river of the swans.” The arms show three swans beside a stream.

Most stories about symbolism in heraldry are fantasy, but I find it interesting that a swan is said to denote a music, poetry, and harmony. For more information on the symbolism of swans, see my Swan Lore pages.

Sources

  • The Augustan Society, The Augustan Society Roll of Arms, 52-53 (Justin Durand, 5 March 1983).
  • Magnus Bäckmark, Gröna Stubbens Vapenrulla (Hugo Swanstrom, 1999).
  • Svenska Heraldiska Föreningen, Heraldiska Källan, No. 1646 (Hugo Swanstrom, 1999).
  • American College of Heraldry, No. 2793 (Jeanne Swanström, 17 November 2005).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204E (Jeanne Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204F (Hugo Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204G (Justin Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
 
Arms of Jeanne Swanström

(click to enlarge)

Other Svanström Families

The American Swanströms are not related to the Svanström family who were untitled nobility. Augustin Larsson Svanström (1600-1658) was ennobled by Queen Christina in 1647 (No. 397). His father Lars Michelsson was Governor of Helsinski Castle. The family became extinct in the male line with the death of Capt. Frans Ludvig Svanström in 1678. Their arms are illustrated below.

 

Arms of the Swanström family (No. 397)

Other Swedish Families

The Laxmand family in Sweden bears arms that would have been equally appropriate to a Svanström family. Their arms are illustrated below.

Arms of the Laxmand Family

 
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Laxmand

Similar Arms

Because of the inherent difficulties of creating a unique design, families separated by time and distance occasionally choose identical designs. I have not discovered any other families that bear the same arms as the Swanströms, but following are close:

Swan, of Badwinstown Castle, co. Wexford. Azure on a fess wavy Argent, between three swans displayed Proper crowned Or, a trefoil Vert. Crest: a swan Proper crowned Or charged with a trefoil Vert. Motto: Sit nomen decus. (Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1864), 989.)

Waters, of Lenham, co. Kent. Sable three bars wavy between as many swans Argent. (John Woody Papworth,  Ordinary of British Armorials (1961), 44.)

A black swan is the badge of Western Australia, which has for its motto Cygnis Insignis (Distinguishged by Its Swans).

 
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American Heraldry Society

American Heraldry Society

Back in 2003 I was one of three founding members of the American Heraldry Society, with David Boven and Cory McHenry. Those were the days.

As I recall, the Society grew out of discussions in an online forum. One of the usenet groups, I think. Probably rec.heraldry. In the beginning David was our President, I was Vice President, and Cory was Secretary. As with many new groups, the way we arranged ourselves into the choice of offices was something that didn’t take much thought. It was just obvious. Later, I was happy to disappear into the background and leave the politics to new members with more ambition and higher social needs.

The Society was originally incorporated in the state of Colorado in 2003, but was dissolved and re-incorporated in Texas in 2007. I still have some of the original records. Succeeding corporate officers have never asked for them but in our modern world I doubt they need them.

Our little group attracted a lot of attention and eventually became the premier society for American heraldry in a very crowded field. (It seems every amateur heraldic enthusiast in America wants to preside over his or own society.)

I’ve always been very proud of what the Society has accomplished, growing out of the original vision and working with a core group of very dedicated members.

Now the Society is having some growing pains. The website (AmericanHeraldry.org) has been offline for months. The official explanation seems to be that the site was designed by amateurs. (Oh yes, it certainly was.) So we need professional help. (Yes, everyone needs professional help.) Which is just another way of saying it was working when the amateurs were running things, but the pros broke it and they’re having trouble fixing it.

I’ll just leave that train of thought there and hope the people involved can see the humor in it.

I hope they’re back soon. For now the only way to contact the Society or participate is through its Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/theamericanheraldrysociety/

My Coat of Arms

My Coat of Arms

Arms of Justin Place

Place Arms 1969
My first design, 1969

In 1969 I was just learning about heraldry. I knew my step-father had a coat of arms and my mother’s father had a coat of arms, but I hadn’t yet discovered a coat of arms for my paternal ancestors. So, I designed my own. Frankly, they’re still my favorite.

The blazon is Per pale Argent and Azure, in dexter chief a cornflower Azure and in base two bars wavy counterchanged.

Arms of Justin Howery 

One of my earliest attempts to define and register my arms was in 1983.

Howery Arms Augustan Society 1983
Augustan Society Roll of Arms, 1983
Howery Bookplate
Bookplate by Richard Crossett.

By a custom of heraldry, the undifferenced arms belong to the heir of the original bearer. So, I differenced the original Hauri arms by adding a chief that draws from the arms of my step-father, Carroll Arthur Place. I also altered the original Hauri crest, which was “a dove, as in the arms.” And, I used the motto traditional in my branch of the family, Hora e Semper, which is said to mean “Now and Always.” It is probably a pun devised by my great grandfather, Rev. Elmer Phillip Howery, whose wife was an Alloway. In local records her maiden name was sometimes recorded as “Always.”

I recorded the resulting arms with the American College of Heraldry in 2000:

Howery Arms ACH 2000
American Heraldry Society, 2000

Azure a dove roussant Argent beaked and membered Gules, and for difference on a chief Argent three chaplets of roses Gules leaved Vert. Crest: A pair of wings conjoined in lure each charged with a rose Gules. Motto: Hora e Semper (Now and Always).

Arms of Justin Swanström 

By heraldic custom, arms should correspond to a person’s surname. So, when I changed my surname to Swanström in 2002, I dropped my paternal Howery arms and adopted a version of the Swanström arms. Such changes were common in the Middle Ages when men who adopted their mothers’ surnames also adopted the arms of their mothers’ families.

To avoid infringing on the rights of my Swanström uncle and cousins, I needed to make some changes to personalize the arms. Swedish heraldry was much influenced by German heraldry, so I adopted a German form of differencing, in which a man uses his father’s shield unchanged but substitutes the crest of his mother’s father. Because I was adopting the arms of my mother’s family, I reversed the rule, adopting the unchanged shield of my maternal grandfather, and substituting my paternal crest. I also changed the motto.

Swanstrom Arms South Africa Preliminary Design 2006
Preliminary Design by South African Bureau of Heraldry, 2006.

I registered these arms with the South African Bureau of Heraldry in 2006:

On a shield Azure two bars wavy Argent between three swans rising wings elevated and addorsed Argent beaked and membered Or; for a crest, upon a helm mantled Azure doubled Argent, issuant from a crest-coronet Or a pair of wings conjoined in lure Argent each charged with a rose Gules; for supporters, two swans rising wings elevated and addorsed Argent beaked and membered Or ducally gorged and chained Or; and for a motto, Be Just & Fear Not.

My bookplate shows an elaborated version of these arms, with decorative supporters, in accordance with Continental custom. The supporters are not intended to be insignia of rank, as they would be in the British systems of heraldry. (My paternal ancestors used supporters — two bears salient — in the same way.)

Swanstrom bookplate by Daniel de Bruin
Bookplate by Daniel de Bruin.
  • The Augustan Society, The Augustan Society Roll of Arms, 52-53 (Justin Durand, 5 March 1983).
  • American College of Heraldry, No. 1943 (Justin Howery, 29 February 2000).
  • State Herald of South Africa, No. 3578 (Justin Swanstrom, 7 July 2006).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204G (Justin Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
Luce coats of arms

Luce coats of arms

I’ve been compiling a list of Luce, Lewes, and Lewis coats of arms (and crests) in hopes we might find a clue to the origin of Henry Luce (c1640-1689), an early Massachusetts immigrant.

Henry Luce has been speculated as a member of the Luce family at Horton in Gloucestershire. The Luce family of Horton is often said to be a branch of the Norman family de Lucy, although there is no evidence other than a similarity of names. The relationship is unlikely but not impossible. One branch of the de Lucy family lived at Newington in Kent, just 9 miles from Horton. However, Henry Luce, the immigrant to America belonged to a y-chromosome haplogroup that originated in the British Isles, suggesting a Welsh, not a Norman, descent.

Coats of Arms

Arms of Lewes, of Hedon (near Hull, Yorkshire?): Gules a bend ermine between six owls Argent (Morant’s Additions to Burke, citing Glover’s Ordinary, a roll or arms created about 1308-1314).

Arms of Lewes, of London and Wales: Unknown. Crest: An eagle displayed Sable the claws resting on the wreath, holding in the beak a snake around the body proper (Fairburn’s Crests: Lewes of London; also William Price Llywelyn Lewes, Llysnewydd, Llandyssil, South Wales).

Arms of Lewis, of Mardy: Unknown. Crest: An eagle displayed Azure charged on the break with a bee volant Or, holding in the break a scroll of paper (Fairburn’s Crests: Sir William Thomas Lewis of Mardy, Aberdate, South Wales).

Arms of Lewis, of co. Monmouth: A griffin segreant Sable. Motto: Ha persa la fide, ha perso l’honore (Fairburn’s Crests: Charles Edward Lewis, of Saint-Pierre, co. Monmouth).

Arms of Llys, of Llysnewedd: Gules three serpents nowed in a triangle Argent (Burke’s General Armory).

Arms of Luce: Azure a crescent Argent (Burke’s General Armory). See also the 1782 grant of arms to [. . .] Lewis of Plymouth, co. Devon and Wales (Harl. MSS. Vol. 68 (1917), citing Grants of Arms XV, fo. 18).

Arms of Luce, of London, Antwerp and Channel Islands: Azure a crescent Argent. Crest: an eagle wings displayed regardant in the dexter claw a sword erect (Burke’s General Armory: Luce and Lucie or Lucy, Antwerp and London, 1730; Fairburn’s Crests: Luce, England). Woodward (p. 306) notes these arms also used by Lucy and says that they are allusive (Luce = Latin for light).

Arms of Lucie, of London: Unknown. Crest: a crescent Argent (Fairburn’s Crests).

Arms of Lucy, co. Dorset: Gules a pike hauriant Or.

Sources

Revised July 11, 2025.