Colonial Governors

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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31 May 2016 16:47
 

Motivated by Seb Nelson’s occasional reports on the arms of colonial Spanish governors, I’ve launched a new project to create rolls of the known arms of all colonial governors of territories in the present-day United States.  I’ve begun with Virginia.  The roll can be seen at http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=ColGovs.Virginia.  I’ll be trying to add further colonies as I have time.

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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31 May 2016 21:37
 

Great job Joe!  I have a couple more Spanish colonial governors lined up…now I just need to find the time to write about them :(

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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01 June 2016 09:11
 

Alaska, Florida, and Massachusetts are now up as well.

 
MacEanruig
 
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MacEanruig
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03 June 2016 16:21
 

Great job on the roll of arms.

 
arriano
 
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arriano
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03 June 2016 18:37
 

Bravo! Wish I could find arms for Spanish governors of California to contribute, but no luck so far.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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04 June 2016 08:50
 

Several more colonies are now on the site; all linked from http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=Notable.ColGovs

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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04 June 2016 22:19
 

Nice collections!

I know that Gov Trumball of Connecticut remained on office during the Revolution, supporting Independence and sending his militia to fight under Washington. Was he the only colonial governor to do do? (I should know, but don’t…)

 
arriano
 
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arriano
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06 June 2016 17:56
 

The last French governor of Louisiana (admittedly briefly) was Pierre Clement de Laussat. This appears to be a heraldic bookplate of his father:

http://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=fr&p=jean+gratian&n=de+laussat

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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06 June 2016 18:12
 

Merci bien.

While looking to see if there was anything on the governors of New Sweden (more or less the northern half of modern Delaware), I discovered a website called www.adelswapen.com with, among other things, biographical and heraldic information on families introduced into the Riddarhuset, the House of Nobles.  It turns out that three governors of New Sweden are included.

 

They are:

 

Col Johan Björnsson Printz, governor 1643-53.  Ennobled 1642, presumably in anticipation of his appointment.  He took his arms from the ones carved on his grandfather’s tomb. https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Printz_nr_304

 

https://www.adelsvapen.com/wiki/images/4/46/0304.jpg

 

His son-in-law Ship-Major (Lt Cmdr?) Johan Jöransson Papegoja, vice governor, acting from Printz’s departure until the arrival of the new governor.  https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Papegoja_nr_134#TAB_9

 

His canting arms:

 

https://www.adelsvapen.com/wiki/images/5/5e/0134.jpg

 

The next governor, Maj Johan Classon Risingh [or Rising], governor 1654-55, ennobled 1653, also presumably in connection with his appointment.  https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Rising_nr_600

 

https://www.adelsvapen.com/wiki/images/b/be/0600.jpg

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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06 June 2016 18:44
 

M. de Laussat’s arms are now on the Louisiana page, http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=ColGovs.Louisiana?action=browse

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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14 June 2016 23:56
 

This is a great addition to the site.  My compliments!

But wondering if you’ve considered adding governors since independence?

EDIT:  I guess we could also add Benedict Arnold’s arms (yes THAT one) to the "notable military figures" roll, since we’ve included those of his great grandfather.  We do have Lee, after all.

 
David Pope
 
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David Pope
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15 June 2016 15:04
 

Joe,

I think I may already understand your reasoning, but any chance you would add Raleigh, Lane, and White to the list of North Carolina governors?

 

Can’t blame a Tarheel for asking…

 

David

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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15 June 2016 18:29
 

David Pope;106065 wrote:

Joe,

I think I may already understand your reasoning, but any chance you would add Raleigh, Lane, and White to the list of North Carolina governors?

 

Can’t blame a Tarheel for asking…

 

David


If I were really, truly a Virginian, I would say something about 350 years of illegal occupation…

 

Of course, they weren’t governors of NC, but I could put a note at the top of the NC list saying, in effect, "for the governors of the Roanoke Island settlement in present-day North Carolina, see Virginia."

 

OK?

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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15 June 2016 18:31
 

Mark Olivo;106061 wrote:

This is a great addition to the site.  My compliments!

But wondering if you’ve considered adding governors since independence?

EDIT:  I guess we could also add Benedict Arnold’s arms (yes THAT one) to the "notable military figures" roll, since we’ve included those of his great grandfather.  We do have Lee, after all.


Lee wasn’t a traitor, and his enemies (at least most of them) didn’t view him as one.

 

At one point I put in Arnold’s arms upside down, with his name omitted (echoing the memorial to him at Saratoga), and people didn’t seem to like that.  I think he’s best left out.

 
David Pope
 
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David Pope
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15 June 2016 19:03
 

Joseph McMillan;106066 wrote:

If I were really, truly a Virginian, I would say something about 350 years of illegal occupation…

Of course, they weren’t governors of NC, but I could put a note at the top of the NC list saying, in effect, "for the governors of the Roanoke Island settlement in present-day North Carolina, see Virginia."

 

OK?


Works for me.  Thanks.

 

Vale of humility and all…

 
arriano
 
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arriano
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16 June 2016 17:23
 

Joseph McMillan;106067 wrote:

Lee wasn’t a traitor, and his enemies (at least most of them) didn’t view him as one.


I guess it depends upon one’s definition of a traitor. Lee was certainly never charged with treason. But if you take an oath to defend the United States against all enemies, and do just the opposite, well….

 

I suppose the biggest difference between the situations of Arnold and Lee is that Lee was accepted back as an American after the war, whereas Arnold was not.