How do you go about finding your coat of arms(crest/escutcheon)!. There are a million crests for Johnson!. How can you find out which one applied to your family name!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Genealogy> If your surname is something like Jones, Smith or Johnson....?Question: If your surname is something like Jones, Smith or Johnson!.!.!.!.!? How do you go about finding your coat of arms(crest/escutcheon)!. There are a million crests for Johnson!. How can you find out which one applied to your family name!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: There is no such thing as a family crest!. A crest is part of a coat of arms!. Coats of arms do not belong to surnames!. They were and are granted to individual men and only their direct legitimate male line descendants can inherit a coat of arms!. The oldest son gets his father's when he dies!. The other sons are entitled to one with differences!. also, there can be more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, that were each granted their own coat of arms, all different!. Some with that surname were never granted one and their descendants are not entitled to a coat of arms at all!. Most people aren't!. No one peddler who sells them on the internet, at airports, in shopping malls, in magazines or solicit by mail 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 person with the same surname from different national origins were granted one, then they will have one of each when there might be others!. See the links under sources, one from the British College of Arms(they grant coats of arms and are the ultimate authority) and the other from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U!.S!., The National Genealogical Society!. Real coats of arms will not be mounted on a walnut plaque!. They won't have a name over, under or across it!. Frequently, they are a copy of a valid coat of arms for someone with the surname given, but what isn't valid is they are sold like they belong to everyone with a particular surname!. also, the family history that comes with them will not be the family history of everyone with that particular surname!. Now, it is possible you have more than one in your family tree!. That doesn't necessarily mean you are entitled to any one of them!. It just means that after doing research, you find more than one ancestor that was granted a coat of arms and if you have a book printed or even published on your family history, it is quite valid for you to put pictures of your ancestors' coats of arms in your book!. It would not be valid, however, for you to put in your book those that were granted to someone with the same surname as your ancestor!. If you have any English lines that goes back to early colonial days in the American South, your chances of finding more than one in your family tree are very good!. Actually some in the South have the one their ancestor brought over from England 300-400 years ago!. They usually don't display them!. Afterall, they aren't the least bit good for buying groceries or GASOLINE!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You trace your family back to the man who was awarded a coat of arms!. C of A were given to individuals, not families!. Even then, it isn't "yours"; it belongs to the eldest legitimate son of the eldest legitimate son of the !. !. !. You can display it, much as you can display a picture of a castle that your 6th great grandfather owned, even though the castle is now the property of your 5th cousin twice removed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The only sure way to find out which is your coat of arms or crest, is to trace your family!. Remember the crest is given to a family not to a name!. This means that you have to belong to an armorial family (one that has its own crest) in order to be entitled to use a family crest!. Don't be tempted by the companies that say they can find your family crest!. Most of them will provide a crest that some people bearing that name are entitled to use, but they won't know whether you are unless they've actually researched your family tree!. So, no short cuts I'm afraid!. You'll have to trace your family tree!. Start off by talking to as many family members as you can (especially the older ones who remember further back than you do)!. You need to find out names, approximate dates of birth/marriage/death!. Where they lived is also useful!. Try this website - it may give you some pointers!. http://www!.uk-genealogy!.org!.uk/Www@QuestionHome@Com You don't!. That is because they are not/ were not awarded to A FAMILY!. They were awarded to individual persons!. If they were "passed" down, it would only be to the heir (eldest son, in almost all cases!.)!. Just because you can find them for "sale" on the internet, does not make them valid at all!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I guess you'll have trace the geneaology!. FQ : Does everybody have a crest !? or is it now just a tourist type trap !? PS!. I'm a Johnson, and my great aunts have traced the family tree down over a millennium - but I haven't seen any mention of a Johnson crestWww@QuestionHome@Com True Coats of Arms are not applied to a family they were bestowed to an individual in medieval times for services to the crown!.Www@QuestionHome@Com i dont get your questionsWww@QuestionHome@Com |