Family crests...?

ALL crests / Coats of arms were given to specific indivuals, not families. The oldest legitimate son inherits it.

Supose Larry Smith, Moe Smith and Curly Smith all get C of A in 1512. By 2006 there is one legitimate eldest son of eldest son of eldest son each, unless someone dies before they got married and had a son.

BUT - there are 3 million Smiths in the US, not to mention England, Canada, Australia and the branch of the family in Argentina started in 1912, after the trouble with the bank auditors in Philadelphia.

You are a merchant, selling plaques, coffee mugs, t-shirts and so forth with coats of arms on them. Hmmmm. Which would be smarter - to sell them to those three eldest sons of eldest sons . . ., or to the four MILLION Smith people, including some who were "Schmidt" or "Smithkowski" or "Wojohosmitz" before they came through Ellis Island? (Not more honest - smarter.)

What you get with a "Family" coat of arms is a C of A that was once awarded to someone with that surname, usually. If they get an order for 50 t-shirts for a reunion and can't find a C of A that had ever been awarded to someone of that surname, you get the best guess of the guy in the graphics department, who uses a lot of lions rampant on a crimson field with verdant argules.

If you are truly entitled to a C of A, you are probably living in Europe and it is engraved in the stone above the mantle of the country home. If not, take your pick from the web sites; they are all equaly false for you, and you might as well pick one whose colors you like.

You need to check a good book on Heraldry, Coat of Arms and Family Crests. Depending on which country your ancestors are from, there may still be organizations of the Noble families or Registration Organizations for the Crest in that country. Also, the Sir Names can give you clues. Check the genealogy sites for that particular Sir Name.

Remember, just because a family uses a Family Crest, or Coat of Arms, does not make you have that pedigree. Some people who have stories about a relationship with a particular family - but can not prove it, still use the Family Crest of that family.

Some people may have a Family Crest because they are related by marriage to the family. Others may have just bought one so they could show a relationship to that family and rise on the social scale of the community - especially when it came to arranging marriages between economically well off people.

Try using the Mormon Family Search to first find the surname. From there, if you are lucky, you might be able to find the family tree already done, or at least part of it. Many times families post their crest. If not successful there, try to Google the name to see if there is something. I have found that a crest can change just a little bit with each passing generation adding or subtracting.

Be careful. The family crest business is a rip off business.

The best way to find out if your family did have a crest, is to

do proper genealogical research. That will prove or disprove

that your family had a crest at one time. Just because someone

in your family had a certain surname proved nothing about

being entitled to a crest. Be careful. Do the research.

The problem with many crests were rewarded to a particular family,not everyone with that last name. You would have to prove your relationship to that particular family in order to claim the crest as your own.

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