Looking up Heraldry or Coats of Arms on the Web

[jc26red]

£65... price must have gone down then. We enquired while at the WDYTYA show last year and was told £90 just to check as we couldn't prove the last link back then.

We have now found a will that verifies the link to one extinct  coat of arms granted in 1740 (belonged to BIL of 5xggranfather) and now trying to find if there is a link to another extinct coat of arms (our family name) which is sooo similar just reverse of cheveron colour and ermine that I feel there must be some sort of connection and would prove where they came from in England before going to Ireland around 1660. And incidently this coat of arms was re-granted in the same year (1740 to another man of the same family name though I can't connect to him either.

The College of Arms, told me that its most unlikely that it was a family link which made these men choose their arms... but the clues left are too hot to ignore.

Lesanne, 3xggrandfather (same line) married a Norriss who appears to descend from the Norreys family too. I haven't pursued this line yet.

Jenny

[Keith Sherwood]

Jenny,
Does this mean that you and Lesanne are related...?
All very interesting, and maybe the credit crunch is even affecting the price of genealogy.
I like the sound of "hot clues", too.  Wish I had a few more of these in my search for a possible family coat or arms...
keith
N.B. I've just come across another reference to Gerard The Crusader, and it says there that he was still alive in 1104, and died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem some time thereafter...

[jc26red]

Hi Keith,

If Lesanne and I are related I think its very very distant   

Its definitely fun when you get this far back and every clue is tantalising, sometimes it takes me months to work out where to look for the next clue.
I am pleased that I have at least one line seems be something other than a long line of shoemakers and ag labs.

I shall have to post up both the sets of arms which I think are related so that you can see what I mean about the similarity.

Jenny

[Keith Sherwood]

Jenny,
Interested to spot your CREED coat of arms.  The CREED family and my GURNER family lived as neighbours in Ickleton, Cambs for many years, and there is a family bible somewhere that lists certain members of both families, as they intermarried.  I'm talking about the 17th and 18thC...
keith

[behindthefrogs]

Where there is a simple colour change or colour swap in a CoA they were usually granted to a close relative who was not in-line to inherit the original CoA

David

[jc26red]

Thanks David thats what I was thinking too!

Keith, it would be interesting to see the early Creed names in the Gurner bible.
If, my theory is correct though, I think my Creeds came from possibly Wiltshire before going to Ireland. I've been investigating loads of lines from different parts of the country trying to connect but so far, the Wiltshire line appears to be the most likely. In the 17century they appear to be military men, hence the 3 leopards faces in the CoA.
I'm now in the process of rooting through early deeds to see if I can come up with any new clues.

I shall keep an eye on this thread to see how you get on Keith with the CoA! Most interesting...

Jenny

[Keith Sherwood]

Jenny,
Your CREED's and the Ickleton CREED's are probably two different branches of the family - just as there is a strong GURNER presence in Gloucestershire (which is another area the GURNEY family migrated to as well, interestingly enough - perhaps there's a similar tale about coats of arms there).
However, I do know that in Ickleton Church there is a series of over 200 kneelers or hassocks that were embroidered by local women in the 1970's.  There's one commemorating the GURNER family being in the village for many generations, with the red cross.  And there's also one for a gentleman in the CREED (sometimes CRUDDE) family who raised a handful of mounted armed horsemen  for the Parliamentary cause in the 1640's.
Would need to re-visit Ickleton to note down the exact details, but he was certainly a military man at a momentous time in our country's history...
keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Everyone,
Did a little searching on the web yesterday evening, and discovered that Heralds' Visitations occurred between 1530 and 1689.  There appear to be only two for Cambridgshire, the one in 1575, and another in 1619.
The Harleian Society published a book in 1897 that contained details of both the above, and you can buy a copy for about $150 US.  There also seems to be a recent CD produced of its pages, for a fraction of the cost, and I'm tempted to send away for it despite the fact that we're obviously waiting to hear from the College of Heralds...
keith
p.s. Lesanne, I'm now going to add an update to the Rev John KERSHAW oil painting thread (should appear on the first page of The Common Room again).  Not to say that I've won the Lottery and bought it to hang in my house at last, but to tell you that the biography of his father James has now appeared in print.  (The 1825 sketch of son John that appeared on our thread illustrates the article...)

[behindthefrogs]

Before you spend a lot of money on the Harleian publications do look in the reference library.  You may have to ask as they are not always on the public shelves. 

I know the Reading library contains a couple of dozen and I would expect that you should find the Cambridgeshire ones in a Cambridge library.  You will probably only be interested in a couple of pages and they will only cost a few pence to photocopy.

David