Tracing Your Roots - Look For The Family Crest
I recently went on a quest to find my family crest and I uncovered some really valuable and surprising information. Unfortunately, it wasn’t about my family. I learned a great deal about the coat of arms as well when I went on the search to find my family crest. Some of the information was disappointing but all of it was really interesting.
We have to make a distinction between a coat or arms and a crest. I always thought that they were the same thing. First of all when I was trying to find my family crest I had no idea that I was looking for a specific part of a coat of arms. It is not.
The crest is actually a portion of the coat of arms that summarizes an individual’s achievements. You can have a coat of arms without having a crest. If the individual has no achievements then he has no object that represents his accomplishments, of course. Take note that I am using the word “individual†here.
I use “individual†because I discovered when I was trying to find my family crest that there is no such thing, at least in Scotland. This was painfully disappointing. No person can lay claim to another person’s crest even if he is a descendant. I wanted to find my family crest and I only discovered that there is no such thing.
A coat of arms as well as a crest is presented to an individual. The descendants really have no stake in the actions and achievements of their ancestors. This makes perfect sense. The daughter of an Oscar-winning actress does not get an Oscar as well. She may inherit the object but she did not achieve the award herself.
This is only fair even when it comes to an effort to find my family crest. Even if I found an ancestor’s coat of arms I would not be allowed to stake a claim by wearing the item. I can, however, display it in my home as an object of conversation.
Many sites are selling family crests but it is important to keep in mind that many of these are not supported by the country of Scotland. The best way to find my family crest was to find out more about the individuals who make up my ancestry.
Actually, I should have begun there in the first place. The individuals who came before me are far more important than a coat of arms.
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[…] If you’ve wondered about what your great grandparents were like and whether your ancestors might have left a mark on the sands of time, then you might want to look for the family crest. To know more, read our article, “Tracing Your Roots - Look For The Family Crest“. […]
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