My familt coat of arms/crest?

Question

I know I am a descendant of reverend william worcester but am struggling to find and know for sure which coat of arms/crest display is my own. There are several different worcester ones out there but how do i find out which one is the right one?

Answer 1

Except for a few cases, there is really no such thing as a catch-all "coat of arms" for a surname. BUT, you will find literally hundreds of web sites on the Internet that will tell you otherwise. In actuality, "coats of arms" are usually granted only to a single person ... and NOT to an entire family or to a particular surname. Coats of arms are inheritable property, and they generally descend to male lineal descendents of the original arms grantee. So, you will know if you inherited a "coat of arms" ... because if you did, you'll already have it! The caveat to this paragraph is that "rules" and traditions regarding Coats of Arms vary from country to country. So, be certain to research the heraldry traditions of your ancestor's home country.



There are many links to articles about Coats of Arms and heraldry, at Kimberly Powell's About.com genealogy site.



A newsgroup devoted to heraldry has posted some very good explanations regarding a coat of arms and family crests. It explains what they can mean, and it even discusses software available for heraldic studies.



Legitimate Arms

If you'd like to read more about true coats of arms then these websites are good places to start:

The Baronage Press

American College Of Heraldry

Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies



Arms for Entertainment or Decoration

If, for the sole purpose of fun and entertainment, you still want to see some coats of arms associated (loosely) with your surname, then you can read through the below linked websites. Some of them have free "coats of arms" images. Bear in mind, though, that for most all of us, viewing these coats of arms, or buying mugs, t-shirts or plaques bearing these images is really just for fun or decoration.

Free Coat of Arms

Free Coat of Arms Search (Extensive Site!)

Coats of Arms Designs of Wonder

Coats of Arms on the Internet

Fleur-de-Lis Designs

http://www.progenealogists.com/coatofarms.html



The family crest is typically a figure and generally a beast of some kind. It can be found "atop the helmet placed above the shield." Traditionally the crest has been used primarily by men. However, some queens of England of Britain have been treated with crests. In the early history of the family crest, its issuance was usually confined to people of rank, but later the crest was included in nearly every grant of arms.

Answer 2

William Worcester didn't have a coat of arms association

Answer 3

(Crests are the top part of a Coat of Arms.)



House of names -

http://www.houseofnames.com

will probably show you a Coat of Arms / Crest that was (probably) once issued to someone with the same surname as yours, BUT:



Coats of arms started so knights could tell each other apart when they were buttoned up in their suits of armor. They were given to individuals, not families. If, for instance, every knight named Smith used the same coat of arms, there would be a small army riding around with identical shields. It would be as confusing as a basketball game where both sides wore blue and every player was number 12.



The eldest legitimate son inherits his father's Coats of Arms. He passes it on to his eldest legitimate son, and so on; that's where the myth of a "Family" Coat of arms comes from. Only one person can PROPERLY (See below) have a given coat of arms at one time. People who sell T-shirts and coffee mugs, however encourage the gullible to believe Coats of Arms are for a surname. (The Irish and Scots have clans, which have badges, which are different.)



Below:



If your surname is Smith and you come from Shropshire, you may find that Sir Albert Smith, Sir Bruce Smith and Sir Charles Smith, all from Shropshire, all had C of A. If you do your research, you may find you descend from Sir Charles, but you are nowhere close to being the eldest son of the eldest son of the . . .. Now comes the question - Is using his coat of arms proper? Opinions differ.



Some say it is like demanding "your" room in the ancestral Smith estate in Shropshire, from the current owners - ridiculous and illegal.



Some say it is like wearing a Regimental tie if you didn't serve in that regiment. (Land's End sells those by the thousands to Americans. I would never buy one.)



Some say it is like wearing a Scotch Plaid shirt when you don't belong to that clan. (LL Bean sells tens of thousands of those; I have Lindsay myself.)



Some say it is as harmless as wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball cap when you didn't play for the team, or a UC Berkeley T-shrt when you didn't attend the University. (Or an Ohio State one, but as long as you're going to wear a University T-shirt, why not the finest?)



So, there's the facts and three opinions about using a "Family" coat of arms. You can make up your own mind, after you do your research.

Answer 4

A crest is merely part of a coat of arms. Coats of arms do not belong to surnames and in England they don't belong to families but to individual men. Frequently more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, were each granted or they assumed their own coat of arms, all different. No one peddler who sells them on the internet, at shopping malls, in airports, in magazines will have all of them. They don't need to in order to sell. The only time they will have more than one associated with the same surname is if more than one man with the same surname from different national origins were granted a coat of arms. Then they will have one of each and there might have been 50 others. Most men with the same surname will not be entitled to a coat of arms at all as they have no direct male line ancestor that was ever granted one. So all the coats of arms you have seen probably are valid but for different persons named Worcester.



http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.htm

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/About/12.htm

The College of Arms grants coats of arms for England and Wales.



A coat of arms that has been validly passed down from father to son will not be on a walnut plaque. It will not have a surname over, under or across it. The surname product business is a scam. Not too long ago there was an ad running on TV for a company selling framed surname histories which is rather shady as not everyone with the same surname will have the same family history as they will not share the same root person of their name. When surnames were assigned or taken in Europe during the last millennium it wasn't impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to wind up with a different name and still each could have shared his surname with others with no known relationship. In England most had one by the end of the 14th century. Still in many cases it was a couple of more centuries before the same surname was passed down to subsequent generations. The man in the ad selling framed surname histories stated "a" coat of arms would be on it not "your" coat of arms. You see on TV the FCC can whack a company hard for fraudulent advertising. They have no control over the internet or some merchant in a shopping mall.



If you would like you could send your family tree to the American Heraldry Society and they can do a search to see if you are entitled to a coat of arms. If they can't find one you can have your own designed and made and registered with them.



http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php

Answer 5

it particularly is obtainable a coat of palms exchange into granted to a minimum of one in all yourr family contributors. in spite of the undeniable fact that, you'll be very careful. There are not any rules interior the U. S. related to heraldry and there are organizations everywhere in the internet which I call Coat of palms peddlers. They sell them to human beings based fullyyt on a surname, without documented evidence that a individual is entitled to them. now and lower back greater desirable than one coat of palms has the comparable call. in spite of the undeniable fact that they are in basic terms going to have one with any particular call as they are in basic terms drawn to making a sale and that they understand many interior the U. S. do no longer understand the regulations of heraldry. in case you go into somebody's residing house interior the U. S. and that they've a coat of palms of their den, they probably are no longer entitled to it. There are Anglo Saxon human beings interior the yank South that have those an ancestor delivered over from England 3 hundred-4 hundred years in the past yet they do no longer demonstrate them. residing house of names is a variety of peddlers.The obscure family contributors historic past could be or is probably no longer the family contributors historic past of somebody that buys one in all their coats of palms. I understand a number of those organizations will do "study" and could "link" you to a individual granted a coat of palms. The crest exchange into the plume on a knights helmet. In England, crest have been further to coats of palms for some deed attractive to the crown. Then I understand with reference to the Elizabethan era all coats of palms granted had crest. i can understand that if one exchange into granted on your grandfather, great grandfather and so forth, you may desire to confirm what curiously like

Answer 6

http://www.worcesterfamily.com/crest.htm

I'm really not sure, but this website gives several. In one it mentions rev william worcester. hope this helps!