Coat Of Arms

COAT OF ARMS – shield with certain distinctive symbols or emblems painted on it in definite fixed colors identifying one person and his direct descendants

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  • A History of Heraldry, Family Coat of Arms and Family Crests
    In our quest for origins, we focus on a litany of records to link our present family to our ancestral roots. One such record, or identifier rests in mysterious family coat of arms. From my paternal grandmother's diligent genealogical research she documented from connections to previous generations, two family coats of arms, that of the Greenlee (paternal name) and Shaw (paternal grandmother's maternal name) families and, I'll explore each of these in detail as my research continues, while reviewing additional unsubstantiated coats of arms I have found related to my other family lines. For now, I wanted to present a brief history of coats of arms and heraldry to put this identifier into perspective.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
coat of arms ()
1.
a tabard or surcoat embroidered with armorial bearings
2.
a) heraldic bearings (as of a person) usually depicted on an escutcheon often with accompanying adjuncts (as a crest, motto, and supporters)
b) a similar symbolic emblem