Elaine....that Poythress coat-of-arms thing is thrashed out through about 2 or 3 years worth of Wm. & Mary Quarterly reviews dated many, many years ago. The yea's said it's recorded right here that so and so's tombstone in Blandford Cemetery has the Poythress coat-of-arms on it. The "in print" articles went on about 2 years. Finally, some enterprising soul went out to Blandford Cemetery to see the said so and so grave and the coat-of-arms was on an adjoining grave which was not a Poythress grave. That apparently ended that argument at any rate as there is no further text on the subject. This is not to say that somewhere in the world there isn't a Poythress coat-of-arms but the only discussion that I have ever seen "at issue" was the one in Blandford Cemetery which I confirmed myself on a visit. Re: French origin of the name. I have a semi-adopted Frenchman who has some tenous claim to the credentials of an etymologist. He also claims Poythress and puts "Poi" as red and "thress" as beard. It may have been more complicated than that; it's been a long time since we discussed it. I give the point some credibility but no one has convinced me of anything yet. However, Craig Scott also makes a credible argument somewhat along the theme of "red beard" Maynard