Post Your Granted, Assumed or Desired Arms

[Cygnus]

Very nice, SlackerDrummer. Great design and execution.

I'm curious to know about your crest and the reasoning behind it. Care to share?

[Bugbear]

Mike_Oettle and I had discussed designing a shield with a "demi-zebra issuant," based on a picture he had. We never really got around to working on it, which is probably best...

[Teufel Hunden]

Edited

[ThistleDown]

EDIT: Now I wish I had included assumed arms in the title - since those who, for whatever reason, have assumed arms ought to be included in this as well!

Fixed the title for you Mr Swan.

[Cygnus]

Fixed the title for you Mr Swan.

Thank you, good sir; I appreciate it!

[Tartan Tess]

As a lass of 19 years of age,....i was invited to one of those SCA things, being my "coat of arms" this was 1979 blah blah woof woof...Now in the twentyfirst century it is a lot more trouble than it is worth. I see my device out spoken without my imputt.
I was a female "professional" Jugglur year ago. Perhaps they follow historic thread

[EagleJCS]

If I were to petition a grant of arms from Lyon for my 5xg-gf (that's how far back I have to go to get to a subject of the Crown, much less Scotland), he would likely start with the Scott coat of arms, thus: "Or, on a bend Azure a star between two crescents Or". That's the blazon for the Scott coat of arms on the Buccleuch line (Chief of the name). You can see it here.

Since I can't trace back definitively to the chiefly line or to a cadet branch of known armigers, in order to distinguish between the chiefly line and mine, we could discuss different things to include on the shield. I think a long rifle or something to represent the Bluegrass would be appropriate, since my family settled on the VA frontier in the mid-1770's and were among the first to settle in KY in the 1790's.

Lyon would then difference the arms accordingly for each succeeding generation:

• my 4xg-gf, the second son (under Stodart's conventions probably a bordure, possibly azure)
• my 3xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
• my 2xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
• my g-gf, the third son (either a change in the patten of the bordure or a change in color)
• my gf, the eldest, would probably be undifferenced (although his parents didn't marry until later. Depends on how strictly Lyon interprets the rule of illegitimacy. At times, the birth was later deemed to be legitimate if the parents wed.)
• my f, the eldest, would be undifferenced
• me, the eldest, would be undifferenced (except for a label of three points until my father passes)

It's a moot point for now, as I don't have the funds to continue my research, much less the petition and subsequent matriculations for my father and myself.

[KiltedSergeant]

When my oldest son was about 9, I was stationed in England, and became interested in heraldry and coats-of-arms. We designed this, to avoid the cheesy (and I'm sure unauthentic) one the "Family Heritage" vendors had.

It has gone through a few iterations. This latest version was created at The Treemaker (http://www.thetreemaker.com/design-c...ms-symbol.html). One can create their own, or they will provide varying levels of assistance, depending on your budget.

[Cygnus]

If I were to petition a grant of arms from Lyon for my 5xg-gf (that's how far back I have to go to get to a subject of the Crown, much less Scotland), he would likely start with the Scott coat of arms, thus: "Or, on a bend Azure a star between two crescents Or". That's the blazon for the Scott coat of arms on the Buccleuch line (Chief of the name).

Since I can't trace back definitively to the chiefly line or to a cadet branch of known armigers, in order to distinguish between the chiefly line and mine, we could discuss different things to include on the shield. I think a long rifle or something to represent the Bluegrass would be appropriate, since my family settled on the VA frontier in the mid-1770's and were among the first to settle in KY in the 1790's.

Lyon would then difference the arms accordingly for each succeeding generation:

• my 4xg-gf, the second son (under Stodart's conventions probably a bordure, possibly azure)
• my 3xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
• my 2xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
• my g-gf, the third son (either a change in the patten of the bordure or a change in color)
• my gf, the eldest, would probably be undifferenced (although his parents didn't marry until later. Depends on how strictly Lyon interprets the rule of illegitimacy. At times, the birth was later deemed to be legitimate if the parents wed.)
• my f, the eldest, would be undifferenced
• me, the eldest, would be undifferenced (except for a label of three points until my father passes)

It's a moot point for now, as I don't have the funds to continue my research, much less the petition and subsequent matriculations for my father and myself.

That sounds about right - except I believe the difference accorded to you fourth-great grandfather would be a bordure Argent (I'm fairly certain that the no metals-on-metals convention doesn't apply to bordures - if I am mistaken and it does, it would probably be a bordure chequy Argent and Azure). With a bordure Azure people would think he was the fifth son.

And good luck with your research!

[Joseph McMillan]

My arms are assumed, designed by me with the help of members of the now vanished Scots Heraldry forum several years ago.



The blazon is "Or a lion passant Sable between in chief three stars Azure voided Argent and in base on a bar wavy Azure a barrulet wavy Silver." The crest is "a dexter hand proper brandishing a Creek Indian atassa (war club) Gules." The motto, Caelum non animum mutant, means "They change their skies but not their souls." A cousin and I recorded the arms with the NEHGS Committee on Heraldry in 2005 in the name of my great-grandfather (my cousin's grandfather) Rustem Warthen McMillan.

The arms were designed to conform with Scottish design practice even though they weren't granted by Lord Lyon. The earliest I can trace my McMillan line thus far is to my great-great-great grandfather Daniel's birth in South Carolina in 1808. (I don't think I'd apply for a Lyon grant anyway, but in any case I can't unless I can push the genealogy at least one more generation back.)

The arms of the chief of the clan, MacMillan of MacMillan and Knap, are "Or a lion rampant Sable in chief three mullets Azure." I turned the lion from rampant to passant and hypothetically assigned my unknown pre-Revolutionary ancestor an additional difference of a bar wavy Azure in base. These would be appropriate arms for an indeterminate cadet.

Then I charged the bar wavy with a barrulet wavy Argent, since I don't know whether Daniel was the eldest son.

My great-great grandfather Jesse was Daniel's fourth son, so we need another difference. This was to void the three stars in chief with Argent.

Rustem was Jesse's only son. My grandfather was Rustem's second son, but the eldest leaving issue. My father was a first son, as am I, so Rustem's arms would descend to me under Scottish rules as the heir male.

As for symbolism:
- The bar wavy in base represents Tallasahatchee Creek in Alabama, where Daniel McMillan established the family farm in the 1830s.
- The voiding of the stars comes from the white stars on blue from the U.S. flag.
- The crest is based on that of the chief (two hands holding a claymore), replacing the characteristic Scottish weapon with the characteristic weapon of the people from whom Daniel "acquired" his land.
- The motto comes from a Latin poem that goes "Those who travel across the seas change their skies but not their souls." I see this as a reference to the Scottish immigrant experience, and the lion sable passant over the water with the stars differenced for cadency can be read as a graphic expression of this motto.