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http://www!.college-of-arms!.gov!.uk/Faq!.ht!.!.!.
This is an opportunity to educate the educator!.
PLEASE do not use places that sell such things as a valid source, because they are not!.
the College of Arms in the UK is the legal authority on what a family crest is, and more important!.!. who has the legal right to use them!.
They DO NOT BELONG to a family or surname!.
Your teacher needs to understand how to be knowledgeable on the topic before giving such homework!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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"MY FAMILY CREST"

First, that is a bogus phrase!. The "crest" is the decoration on the helm, but "family crest" refers to surname coats of arms!. Surname coats of arms do not exist!. Just because someone is named "Smith" does not mean he can look up the arms on the internet and use the first "Smith" arms he finds!. The arms are owned by someone else!. Arms are owned by individuals, and passed down to their ancestors, usually in the male line!.

YOUR TEACHER

You teacher is asking you to do something that is akin to plagiarism!. If you go to a bucket shop (a place that sells surname coats of arms) or find arms that belonged to someone with your surname, then they are not yours! So don't STEAL someone else's coat of arms and call it your own just because that person had your surname!!!! Explain this to your teacher!.

ASSUMING ARMS

In some countries, such as England and Scotland, you need a grant of arms to legally use a coat of arms!. The British heraldic laws only apply in Britain!.

In the USA, most of continental Europe, and the Nordic countries you can assume a coat of arms and register it with a private or public registry!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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There is no such thing as a family crest!.! A crest is only part of a coat of arms!. Coats of arms DO NOT belong to surnames and they actually don't belong to families!. Most are aggravated at nitwit teachers who give assignments like this!. They are encouraging people to patronize bucket shops that are nothing more than merchants of deceit!. The family history that comes with them can be very misleading as that particular family history will not be the family history of everyone with that surname!. Today my patience is short for teachers who give assignments like this!.

People in Europe did not have surnames until the last millennium!. Most coats of arms were granted before men had a surname!. Surnames were based on a)being the son of someone b)their occupation c)where they lived d)some characteristic about them!. When they got through taking or being assigned a surname it wasn't impossible for letigimate sons of the same man to have a different surname and still each could have shared their surname with others with whom they were not related!. Some will say we are all related if we go back far enough!. However, the root person of your surname might not be the same as the root person of someone else with your surname!.

Coats of arms were and are granted to individual men in most countries!. An exception might be France and Poland!. In Poland they belong to everyone of a dynastic house!.
Otherwise only the legitimate direct male line descendants of the man granted a coat of arms are entitled to a coat of arms!. Now a direct legitimate male line descendant is not necessarily a direct male descendant!. In other words, if you are a male, you are a direct male descendant of your mother's father, her grandfathers and her greatgrandfather but they are not your direct male line ancestors!. All sons would obtain one with some differences!. However, his nephews and cousins wouldn't be entitled to one at all!. Only the oldest son would be entitled to his father's upon his father's death!. Sometimes a daughter might inherit a coat of arms if there was not male heir!.

Peddlers who sell coats of arms on the internet, at shopping malls, in airports, in magazines, at fairs, or solicit by mail are sometimes selling valid coats of arms but what isn't valid is they sell them like they belong to everyone with a particular surname and they don't!. In many cases more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, were each granted their own coat of arms, all different!. No one peddler will have all of them!. They don't need to in order to sell to the gullible!. The only time they will have more than one is if more than one man with the same surname from different national origins were granted one!. Then they will have one of each and there might have been others!. Most men with that surname were never granted a coat of arms!.

Now, it is quite possible for you to have more than one in your family tree!. That doesn't mean you are entitled to any one of them!. It just means that after doing family research you find more than one ancestor that was granted a coat of arms and if you have a book printed or even published, it is quite legitimate for you to put pictures of your ancestors' coats of arms in your book!. It would not be legitimate, however, for you to put in your book pictures of coats of arms that just happned to be granted to someone with the same surname as your ancestors!.

If you are an American, even of humble means, and you have any English lines that goes back to early colonial days in the American South, you have an excellent opportunity of finding several in your family tree!.
Actually, some in the South have the one, their ancestor brought over from England 300-400 years ago!. They aren't those dinky little walnut plaques either!. As a rule, they don't display them!. They aren't the least bit good for buying groceries, gasoline, nor will Walmart take them as a credit card!. I had a distant cousin in North Carolina who heard me say that!. He decided there were a few things he needed at the store!. He went up into the attic and drug down his old coat of arms and took it with him!. When he handed it to the grocer(another distant cousin), he was told, "I don't want that!. I already have one of those in my attic!."


See the links I am furnishing you and please print them off and give them to your teacher!. also give to him/her a copy of what I am posting her if you have to put it on his/her desk while he/she is out of the room!.

http://www!.college-of-arms!.gov!.uk/Faq!.ht!.!.!.
The above is to the British College of Arms who grants coats of armss!.

http://www!.heraldry!.ws/info/article10!.ht!.!.!.
The above is regarding Irish heraldry

http://www!.bothwell!.cx/arms!.shtml
The above is regarding Scottish heraldry

http://www!.regalis!.com/onom!.htm
The above is regarding Italian heraldry

http://www!.ngsgenealogy!.org/comconsumerp!.!.!.
The above is from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U!.S!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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http://www!.allfamilycrests!.com/ there is a link to look up your family crest It also gives some basic meanings of the symbols found on your family crest!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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