Greetings,
I’m just putting some feelers out there. How many members of AHS live in New England or near enough, who would be interested in getting together for a lunch or dinner in Boston to put faces to shields, if you will, and discuss one of our favorite subjects? Perhaps the meeting could include a tour of the New England Historic Genealogical Society to view the Gore roll.
If at least five people committed - I would happily take on the effort of coordinating.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22086031/bookplate-paul-revere-granger.jpg
Well this doesn’t bode well.
I live in Greendale MA - so I would be happy for a Boston/NEHGS meetup.
(ps: have your arms changed recently, Jeremy?)
steven harris;99614 wrote:
(ps: have your arms changed recently, Jeremy?)
Jeremy, I notice it’s a differenced version of your grandfather’s (which I always quite liked). If there’s a story here, perhaps you’d tell it.
steven harris;99614 wrote:
(ps: have your arms changed recently, Jeremy?)
Sshhh…
It’s just a "refrigerator test" ... something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
On the subject at hand: Massachusetts. Good! That’s one.
FWIW, I prefer the new version.
Edit: I’m waffling here, but feel I must discourage giving in to the urge to tinker with your design, no matter how nice. I know, I know - real helpful. I feel that once someone has thoughtfully and soberly adopted a design and used it for some time, he should try to imagine he’s inherited it - even if its only from a younger version of himself. One likely wouldn’t change his great-great-grandfather’s arms, nor would he want his grandsons to change them, no matter what they looked like. Give yourself the same respect.
Benjamin Thornton;99617 wrote:
FWIW, I prefer the new version.
Edit: I’m waffling here, but feel I must discourage giving in to the urge to tinker with your design, no matter how nice. I know, I know - real helpful. I feel that once someone has thoughtfully and soberly adopted a design and used it for some time, he should try to imagine he’s inherited it - even if its only from a younger version of himself. One likely wouldn’t change his great-great-grandfather’s arms, nor would he want his grandsons to change them, no matter what they looked like. Give yourself the same respect.
Not being a "flip-flopper" is the main reason I’m leaning away from switching. I don’t like the idea of switching - but I prefer almost everything else about the new arms.
It seems most Americans go through a "drafting" phase. My original arms are my first draft, they never evolved. Should I let five years get in the way of updating, when I have so many more years left to live? I’m not being rhetorical, I’m curious what people think.
Having done precisely that, changing arms after about four years, I would say that if you feel compelled by the new arms, go ahead and register them, have library paintings made, and don’t look back!
Yes, it is a bit of a hassle, and there is a cost, but the rewards are great!
"Library paintings"?
(We’ve gotten SO off track - but I guess that’s fine if there’s only two of us interested in going to Boston)
Jeremy Keith Hammond;99636 wrote:
(We’ve gotten SO off track - but I guess that’s fine if there’s only two of us interested in going to Boston)
If I were still back in New England, I would be happy to join you. Alas, I am away these many years and on the wrong shore. But soon, soon, I hope to be back that way.
Kyle
Kyle MacLea;99718 wrote:
If I were still back in New England, I would be happy to join you. Alas, I am away these many years and on the wrong shore. But soon, soon, I hope to be back that way.
Kyle
You’re in the wrong Portland!
RE: changing arms—ordinarily I’d agree that changing arms after you’ve openly used the old ones for several years is undesirable.
However, if as Ben noted the "new" design is really the established arms of your grandfather (& assuming same surname) that would IMO be a different matter—since the identity represented by grandpa’s arms is the shared heritage of your extended family, or at least of those who care to use arms & want to be visually included; & your own old arms served to visually distance yourself from the broader family.
Also (theoretically not important but…) like others have posted, I do like grandpa’s design better. (Nothing really wrong with the arms you’ve used in the past, I just like the simpler version better—de gustibus & all that).
Jeremy Keith Hammond;99721 wrote:
You’re in the wrong Portland!
Don’t think I haven’t thought that myself, now and then. I think "Portlandia" would be a little different if set in Maine.
I find it funny that if the coin toss had turned out differently, I’d actually be living in Boston, Oregon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon#History
Kyle=
Kyle MacLea;99736 wrote:
I think "Portlandia" would be a little different if set in Maine.
Actually, probably not! We have plenty of our own hipsters and hippies.
back to the original topic -
If we do plan a visit, we should probably shoot for a Wednesday. The Society is open from 9-9 on Wednesdays, but closes at 5 every other day of the week that it’s open.