Fred, if you'll ask me again this summer, I'll try to dig out the article and post it, along with a translation if I have one. I'm currently a student, guiltily stealing a few minutes here and there for genealogy. As much as I'd like to respond immediately, I just don't have time to dig out the article, type all that German, and try to polish up my translation for publication right now. Also, I do have information on several other Hauri coats of arms as used by different branches of the Swiss family in later generations (but not all of them!). I don't know what else to add, except that by far the majority of them were from the Reinach family, which provided so many Untervoegts [approx = deputy bailiff] to Reinach that they had more need of heraldry than the family in other villages. One major exception to the dove theme is the family at Zofingen, which used an owl perched on a demi millrind (bottom half of a mill-wheel). If anyone wants to see an illustration of the arms as taken from the Liber Vitae - albeit an extremely poor illustration - visit http://members.tde.com/jhowery/howery.html I apologize in advance for anyone who looks there and is disappointed by the quality. The color isn't good and there is no red on the dove's beak or legs. I should really get a better reproduction - just haven't had time. Better yet, perhaps one of these days I'll have my polaroid of that page of the Liber Vitae scanned. Justin C.S. Howery Denver, Colorado jhowery@tde.com http://www.members.tde.com/jhowery -----Original Message----- From: fredhaury@juno.com [mailto:fredhaury@juno.com] Sent: Monday, April 05, 1999 7:30 PM To: HOWERY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: "Justin C.S. Howery" <jhowery@tde.com>: [HOWERY-L] Coat of arms Justin, Good article. Do you have more to share on Coat of Arms? Can you post the German article for our files? Fred --------- Begin forwarded message ---------- From: "Justin C.S. Howery" <jhowery@tde.com> To: HOWERY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [HOWERY-L] Coat of arms Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 16:29:43 -0600 If anyone is interested in the "real" Hauri coat of arms: it is probably Azure a dove volant Argent beaked and legged Gules [blue shield, white dove flying facing left, red beak and legs]. These are the arms used about 1415 by one of the Canons Regular at the Collegiate Church of Beromuenster. The Beromuenster Hauris were the original stem-family of the Hauris at Sursee, Reinach, and Schoeftland, and probably also of the Hauris elsewhere in Canton Aargau. There is a beautiful illustration of these arms in the Liber Vitae of Beromuenster (a book in which the church recorded the names of those for whom the Canons said annual prayers of remembrance). Unlike many other European countries, the Swiss did not associate coats of arms only with the nobility. Almost every burgher family had a coat of arms (which is still true today). Every official of any sort had to have a coat of arms for use on his official seal. For the Hauris, there are quite a few variations of the above coat of arms as used by different descendants of the Beromuenster family in their various capacities over the centuries. Most of the variations have a blue shield, a white dove, and generally a few other objects (often a millrind, in allusion the the Hauri's traditional occupation of miller). As an interesting sidelight, I have a copy of an article (in German) that argues that the dove used by the Hauris was originally a gamecock (fighting rooster with his comb and wattle cut off) and that the arms were a visual pun on the name Hauri (= a too loud person). According to the article, poor draghtsmanship accounts for the rooster being turned into a dove over the course of successive drawings. I'm no authority on birds, but there might be some truth to this. When I showed my aunt the picture from the Liber Vitae she asked why in the world the coat of arms is a chicken. I then had the pleasure of explaining that it only looks like a chicken :) Justin C.S. Howery Denver, Colorado jhowery@tde.com http://www.members.tde.com/jhowery