Family Crests - Ancestral Coat of Arms This came on the YORK list, but it would apply to anyone looking for a "Coat of Arms". Nancy Watrous FIWATROUS@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ << Family crests are specific to one specific family. If you get deep into >> heraldry you will find that the family crest of families changes with >.each marrage to a member of another family. Therefore if two YORK borthers >> married women from different families their children would have slightly >> different family crests. Over the generations this resulted in many >> different crests for any surname. >> >> I lived in England for over six years and there are vendore that would be >> happy to sell you a painting or plaque with a "YORK" crest on it, but >.without the complete genealogy research back to a family member that was >> officially granted a crest these is no way to determine the official >crest for your line of YORK. >> >> While I was In England I was President of the Anglo-American Genealogy >> Association. We had some heraldry artists that talked to our group on >> occassion and they admitted that they just pick a crest that was assigned >.to a person with a specific surnema and use that for their work. They make >.no attempt to research and determine if the person they are producing a >.crest for has any right to use that crest. >> In England & Wales the Crest forms part of the Grant of Arms and is, therefore specific to the person receiving the Grant. Unlike the "shield", which is exclusive and must be "differenced" when a younger son uses it to distingish it from that of his father/eldest brother, several families and/or branches of the same family may have the identical Crest. The right to a Coat of Arms is exclusive to the male heir of the person to whom the original grant or confirmation was made. Unless a trained genealogist can prove such a direct descent, the high street/mail order heraldic artist's product is nothing more than a generalisation of the Arms and pedigree "associated" with the family name and confirms no right to use the Coat of Arms as your own. -- Nigel Barker