A genealogical journal
Do a Google image search on “county seals” and you’ll see that they (and state seals) are usually poorly designed. I would venture to guess that most were thrown together over lunch by some of the folks in the back office. Every now and then one stands out, either because it uses legitimate heraldry or…
An heraldic sandbox. The following coats of arms have been used by, claimed by, or attributed to various ancestors. Alloway Crest: An anchor in pale Proper. Source: Fairburn’s Crests: Allaway and Alloway, England and Scotland. Crest: On an anchor a dove with an olive branch all Proper. Source: Fairburn’s Crests: Allaway and Alloway. Allsop Arms:…
The Swanström coat of arms was 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. No records exist of the arms assumed and borne by Swedish commoners, so the arms could have come down…
Although coats of arms originated in Europe and customarily follow European forms, there has been some movement toward adapting the emblems of indigenous people to heraldry. My father, Ridge Durand (1933-2002) was a Lakota pejuta wikasa (”medicine man”) and a member of the Spotted Eagle Medicine Men’s Society. He was a hunkpa (”blood brother”) of Pete Catches (Petaga Yuha…
The earliest record of the Hauri coat of arms is an illustration in the early 15th century Liber Vitae of the collegiate church of Beromünster, Canton Luzern, to memorialize an undetermined member of the Hauri family. The drawing at right was taken from the Liber Vitae. These arms would be blazoned as: Azure a dove rising wings…