Post Your Granted, Assumed or Desired Arms

[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.

[Joseph McMillan]

[*]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.)

By rights, he should determine legitimacy according to the laws of the place and time where they lived. Under Scots law, children have always been legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the parents.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Arms: Sable, a vacuum chamber passant regardant proper, flanged or, on a viewport of the first a mullet of eight points purpure.

Crest: A mullet of eight points purpure.

Motto: A potentia astrali ad astra.

[JSFMACLJR]

Quarterly, 1st, Argent, a rock Gules; 2nd, Or, a dexter hand fesswise couped Gules holding a cross crosslet fitchee in pale Azure; 3rd, Or, on a sea undy Azure and Argent a lymphad sails furled oars in saltire Sable flagged Gules; 4th, Argent, in chief two eagles' heads respectant erased Gules beaked and eyed Azure, in base a salmon naiant Proper, overall a cross raguly Sable charged at the centre with a maple leaf and in chief and in base with two fleurs de lys Or and in the flanks with two salmon naiant Argent, a bordure indented Vert. Above the Shield is placed an Helm befitting his degree with a Mantling Gules doubled Argent, and on a wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest a beaver sejant erect holding- in its dexter paw a Lochaber axe Proper, and in an Escrol over the same this Motto "SEEK HONOUR BY DOING GOOD."

[EagleJCS]

By rights, he should determine legitimacy according to the laws of the place and time where they lived. Under Scots law, children have always been legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the parents.

I suspected as much. I suppose, then, I should get used to the idea of a bordure compony ... I'm not ashamed of my g-grandfather (I never knew him, and my Dad barely remembers him), but I am of his behavior - long story short, he was a cad. My gf tried to obfuscate the facts, but with a little digging and some simple math, it came out (just a few years ago, but well after he passed).

I suppose I (or a lawyer) will have to research the case law of the time for the jurisdiction(s) in question (US, KY, IL) to determine his legitimacy. There was/is no question of paternity, just whether or not his birth was made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of his parents at a later date.

Thanks for the responses, Cygnus & Joseph!

[creagdhubh]

Quarterly, 1st, Argent, a rock Gules; 2nd, Or, a dexter hand fesswise couped Gules holding a cross crosslet fitchee in pale Azure; 3rd, Or, on a sea undy Azure and Argent a lymphad sails furled oars in saltire Sable flagged Gules; 4th, Argent, in chief two eagles' heads respectant erased Gules beaked and eyed Azure, in base a salmon naiant Proper, overall a cross raguly Sable charged at the centre with a maple leaf and in chief and in base with two fleurs de lys Or and in the flanks with two salmon naiant Argent, a bordure indented Vert. Above the Shield is placed an Helm befitting his degree with a Mantling Gules doubled Argent, and on a wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest a beaver sejant erect holding- in its dexter paw a Lochaber axe Proper, and in an Escrol over the same this Motto "SEEK HONOUR BY DOING GOOD."

And your arms are quite superb Sandy!

[Cygnus]

And your arms are quite superb Sandy!

I agree - I've always been fond of them, especially your crest.

[WVHighlander]

Those are fantastic Coats of Arms. I have the ones I designed which are ok, simple. I will apply to the Lyon soon and I am curious what he will come up with.

I tried using the bit map but it didn't work for me, or I would have posted my creation up here.

[Cygnus]

WVHighlander, don't let my crude attempt at making a template stop you - do you have the blazon or a description? Those are good enough for me!

[WVHighlander]

If I could have my druthers...

Coat of Arms: Azure, a fess raguly gules between in chief, a cross moline sable between two ravens observant of the same, and in base a bear rampant of the third.

Crest: A gryphon passant sable, holding a sword proper

Motto: Ego planto mea fortuna (I make my own fate.)