I have some interesting news for all Lairds and their friends and cousins. The Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records in Scotland has given us the following advice: "The Arms described by Cheryl Laird are those recorded in name of William Laird of Glenhuntly in 1777. The blazon or formal description is accurate although the comments thereon are by no means as certain. People endeavour to give precise meanings to each element in a shield and often without any substance at all. The colour representation of the arms is poor and the crescent should be red. The motto should appear above the crest and not below the shield. The motto "Spero Meliora" is fairly common and in Scotland alone is used by people of the surnames Baillie, Fairholme, Graham, Maxwell, Montgomery, Murray, Rait, Sandilands, Shanks, and Stewart as well as Laird but I cannot find that anyone of the surname Ogston has recorded Arms with that motto. As, however, your family originates in Caithness I am not surprised to learn that there are links with prominent families in that part of the world. Thus I can confirm that the Arms given by Cheryl Laird are indeed accurate and they belong to and identify Laird of Glenhuntly. There is no such thing as a family coat of arms which all people bearing the same surname may use." Now we need to find out about William Laird of Glenhuntly. "Glenhuntly" was the name of a Shaw Savill ship in the 19th Century and was involved in emigration to New Zealand. It is also the name of a suburb in Melbourne Australia. Is it the name of an Estate in Scotland? Huntly is in Aberdeenshire, but no Glenhuntly appears in any gazeteer for Scotland. Please e-mail information to INSLaird.cs.com. I have also entered this information on our webpage "http://ourworld.cs.com/inslaird/" which links through to the page with views of the Arms of William Laird of Glenhuntly, remembered reasonably accurately by our cousins in the USA. As Niven Sinclair says, "he who seeks will find!". Much of our "recollection" is grounded in hard fact, temporarily mislaid by the distress of the passage of time and by geographical shifts. Yours aye Iain Laird