Arms at Mayowood

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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06 October 2014 16:31
 

I was on a tour of the Mayowood mansion this past weeekend, and ran across a pair of lions with a coat of arms on them.

Drs. William and Charles Mayo are the founders of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The mansion was built by Dr. Charles Mayo in 1911, and is now owned by the Mayo Clinic. The first public tour since it’s recent renovation was this past weekend and that’s when I spotted the pair of lions. The arms are on a white cement lion and without tincture. I examined it closely and noticed what appeared to be hatching, although fairly worn. I’m interested in learning if these are arms borne by the Mayo family, and if so, what are the original colors.

 

It was extremely busy and I ran out of time before I could take the tour of the inside to see if any artwork or items also had the arms. The lions were the only items that I saw with the arms, and of all the days to forget my phone, it happens when I desperately want to take a picture. So I have to rely on my notoriously shoddy memory to recall the arms, which are as follows.

(?), Between three crowns (?) a chevron (?), a chief (?)

 

The hatching looked like dots on the chief, barely visible horizontal and vertical lines on the chevron, none that I could see on the field or on the crowns. A basic search for Mayo coat of arms shows several similar arms with varying colors and different charges in place of the crowns, though nothing exactly like I saw.

 

A chevron between three things is extremely common. Is it possible that the lions were simply created with arms on them, bought by the designers of the residence, and it’s just a coincidence that they’re similar to other Mayo arms?

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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06 October 2014 16:39
 

I forgot to mention my best guess of the tinctures.

Argent, Between three crowns a chevron Sable, a chief Or

I could only assume that the crowns match the chevron.

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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06 October 2014 16:44
 

Fortunately, GIS had a picture of the lion for me. You can kind of make out the dots on the chief, but there’s no more detail to be seen in this photo.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/746/cwPfBw.jpg

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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06 October 2014 18:53
 

The bookplates of the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Library are similar to this, but with roses instead of crowns.  According to the library website, the Mayo brothers used the same arms on their personal bookplates.

http://eknowledgenet.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/liblog-bookplate-ch-mayo1.jpg

 

http://eknowledgenet.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/liblog-bookplate-mayo1.jpg

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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06 October 2014 18:57
 

The arms on the bookplates were presented at the 1663 visitation of Middlesex by James Mayo of Tottenham High Cross, son of Richard Mayo of Much Marcle, Hereford.  The arms were respited for proof.

 
QuiQuog
 
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07 October 2014 13:18
 

Interesting. I wonder why the difference on the lion then. Could it be that one of the sons adapted the arms and added the lions? I couldn’t imagine why they would want to disassociate from the history though. Based on the hatching, the colors of the field and chevron are reversed also. Is the chief dotted or is that hatching? It seemed so pronounced on the lion that I wondered if it was something semee, or maybe diapering.

Maybe someday I’ll make it to the library or history center and find out.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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07 October 2014 15:18
 

The dots on the chief are hatching for gold.  Sable a chevron between three roses Argent, a chief Or.  The lions may just be decorative—the Mayo family would not have rated supporters—and the stonecarver or his client may have looked up the Mayo arms in some standard book like Bolton or Crozier or Zieber, found the arms of the Virginia Mayos, and assumed that because they had a chevron and crowns, the Minnesota Mayos must also have crowns.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7442/10989124286_b654e23e6b_z.jpg