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.