Quote Originally Posted by Cygnus View Post
The only way for someone who is not a Scottish citizen to register arms with the Office of the Lord Lyon is to find an ancestor or living relative who lived/lives in Scotland and who is armigerous. If such a person can't be found, you can petition a grant for your deceased Scottish ancestor (emphasis mine - JCS) and, if you're not the direct heir of those arms, petition a cadet matriculation of those arms (with suitable difference).
That's my understanding as well, after speaking with members of the SSA.

If you have to, you can go all the way back to ancestors who lived in the American Colonies prior to September 3, 1783 (the date the Treaty of Paris - which officially ended the Revolutionary War - was signed). The presumption is then that the person was a subject of the Crown, and therefore (barring any legal issues to the contrary) eligible for the grant of a coat of arms.

That's what I'll have to do, once I can determine which one of three individuals of the same name I'm descended from. I'll also have to apply for a cadet matriculation, since not all of my paternal line were first-born sons (all of the first-borns in question did survive to adulthood).

You need to fully document, to the best of your ability, your lineage and the marital status of each set of parents back to the Scottish/British subject. Try to get a certified copy of the birth, death and/or marriage certificates. (Marital status has a bearing on whether a 'bordure compony' - alternating silver and blue, or argent and azure - is merited. Under modern usage, the bordure compony indicates an illegitimate offspring.)