George...Thank you for the information you provided for us. I found it very informative and often wondered the authenticity of different Coat of Arms. Now , seeing as you know a lot of history about the Coat of Arms do you also have knowledge on the Clan Plaids? I would love to know more about the originality of the different plaids and the meaning they displayed for each clan. Can you help us with this info? Thanks Kindly....Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: George W. Page <gwpage@erols.com> To: <WOODS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 11:38 PM Subject: Re: [WOODS-L] Coat of Arms > At 01:53 PM 4/14/2001 -0400, you wrote: > > I was wondering if any WOODS on this list has a copy or knows where I can > >get a copy of the WOODS Coat of Arms? > >Any help with this would be WONDERFUL! > >Thanks in Advance. > >Marie > > I'm sorry to disappoint you most of you, but Coats of Arms are granted by > proper authority only to individuals of the gentry class. > No two are alike in color, tint, or cadency markings; but some of a family > may be similar. > The idea of copying someone's coat of arms and using it as their own is a > form of forgery! > > The Woods surname was found in Scotland, Northern Ireland , Wales, and > England. > I can assure you that coats of arms for Woods of these diverse areas were > not even similar. > You should know that coats of arms were never granted by American > authorities in the American colonies, before or after the Revolution. > There were very few immigrants to the colonies that had a coat of arms > properly granted to them or to their ancestor. > > If one visits certain cemeteries, especially in Virginia in such places as > Williamsburg, it is possible to find coat of arms on the tombstones. > There were several among the Cavaliers, but they were mostly second (or > younger) sons with cadency marks denoting their position in the family. > > Family crests are three-dimensional devices mounted on the helmet and so > depicted in a coat of arms at the top, together with the wreath (or crest > cornet) and mantling, both of which are now considered to be components of > the crest in British armory. Crests are only granted in conjunction with a > coat of arms or to a person who has inherited arms and no crest. Women are > not granted crests, neither may they inherit them. > > > > ==== WOODS Mailing List ==== > The purpose of this list is the WOOD... family. If your message does > not contain a reference to the WOOD... family, it does not belong on > this list and may be the reason for your removal from the list. > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.231 / Virus Database: 112 - Release Date: 12/02/01

A great question, and again history many refute tradition and myth. During the Battle of Culloden (Wednesday, 16 April 1746) the Highland clansmen wore kilts of tartan, but neither the garments nor the patterns we know today would have been generally familiar in the Highlands at the time. The traditional dress was a belted plaid (plaide is Gaelic for blanket). This was a rectangle of cloth about six feet wide and six yards long. The lower part, pleated, formed a skirt, and was held in place by a belt around the waist; the upper part could be arranged in a variety of ways and, the belt having been loosened, it could serve to wrap the wearers as protection during the cold of night. The modern kilt is simply the lower half of this garment with its pleats stitched. Credit for its invention is usually given to an Englishman, Thomas Rawlinson, who ran an iron works in Glengarry and Lochaber about 1725. It is not acceptable to all Scots however, and Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, a former Lord Lyon, in his "Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland" calls it "a wretched story" and claims a much longer history. Highland regiments wore both forms of the kilt after 1746, but soon the modern version became the accepted dress. There were no clan tartans at the Battle of Culloden. The distinguishing mark of the Jacobites (Highland Scots) was the white cockade flower worn on the bonnet. A wounded Highlander whose bonnet had been lost had to be asked for which side he had fought. A famous painting of the battle owned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II shows eight clansmen between them wearing garments in over 20 tartans, none of which corresponds to any modern pattern. The painter, David Morier, used prisoners from English jails as models for the painting which was done for the Dule of Cumberland. After the Scots lost the battle to the English, an English law was passed forbidding the wearing of Highland dress; and the clan system, which was changing, was disbanded. The great upsurge of interest in Highland dress came in 1822, after King George IV's celebrated visit to Edinburgh, master-minded by Sir Walter Scott whose novels had seized public imagination. Not only the King but the Lord Mayor of London, appeared in the kilt, as did Scott himself. Soon every well known family in Scotland (Highland and Lowland alike) had its own tartan. [Source: Phil Sked, "Culloden" (The National Trust: John Barththolomew and Son, Ltd., 1984), p. 34. "A person has the right to wear a modern tartan associated with his or her surname. Persons with a surname associated with several clans, families or districts should select one rather than to acquire and wear items of differing tartans." [Philip D. Smith, "Tartan For Me!" (West Chester, PA: Philip D. Smith, 1986), p, 3.] There is no WOODS clan or family tartan identified in the listing in the last source cited. The WOOD family is listed as being from the Galloway District of Scotland. George W. Page ___________________ At 08:40 AM 4/15/2001 -0400, Irvin &Chris wrote: >George...Thank you for the information you provided for us. I found it very >informative and often wondered the authenticity of different Coat of Arms. >Now , seeing as you know a lot of history about the Coat of Arms do you also >have knowledge on the Clan Plaids? I would love to know more about the >originality of the different plaids and the meaning they displayed for each >clan. Can you help us with this info? Thanks Kindly....Chris > >----- Original Message ----- >From: George W. Page <gwpage@erols.com> >To: <WOODS-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 11:38 PM >Subject: Re: [WOODS-L] Coat of Arms > > > > At 01:53 PM 4/14/2001 -0400, you wrote: > > > I was wondering if any WOODS on this list has a copy or knows where I >can > > >get a copy of the WOODS Coat of Arms? > > >Any help with this would be WONDERFUL! > > >Thanks in Advance. > > >Marie > > > > I'm sorry to disappoint you most of you, but Coats of Arms are granted by > > proper authority only to individuals of the gentry class. > > No two are alike in color, tint, or cadency markings; but some of a family > > may be similar. > > The idea of copying someone's coat of arms and using it as their own is a > > form of forgery! > > > > The Woods surname was found in Scotland, Northern Ireland , Wales, and > > England. > > I can assure you that coats of arms for Woods of these diverse areas were > > not even similar. > > You should know that coats of arms were never granted by American > > authorities in the American colonies, before or after the Revolution. > > There were very few immigrants to the colonies that had a coat of arms > > properly granted to them or to their ancestor. > > > > If one visits certain cemeteries, especially in Virginia in such places as > > Williamsburg, it is possible to find coat of arms on the tombstones. > > There were several among the Cavaliers, but they were mostly second (or > > younger) sons with cadency marks denoting their position in the family. > > > > Family crests are three-dimensional devices mounted on the helmet and so > > depicted in a coat of arms at the top, together with the wreath (or crest > > cornet) and mantling, both of which are now considered to be components of > > the crest in British armory. Crests are only granted in conjunction with a > > coat of arms or to a person who has inherited arms and no crest. Women are > > not granted crests, neither may they inherit them. > > > > > > > > ==== WOODS Mailing List ==== > > The purpose of this list is the WOOD... family. If your message does > > not contain a reference to the WOOD... family, it does not belong on > > this list and may be the reason for your removal from the list. > > > > >--- >Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.231 / Virus Database: 112 - Release Date: 12/02/01 > > >==== WOODS Mailing List ==== >Do NOT send messages to the WOODS list that are also sent "TO" or "CC"ed >to others. If you must send messages to multiple private or list addresses >do it using "BC" so the addresses cannot be harvested by spammers. I will >permanently remove anyone who does not follow this rule.