Okay…now that school is finally over for the summer, it’s time to get my hands dirty with some heraldry. My first project will be to design arms for my Grandfather, William Robert “Sonny” Baker, Sr., an 80 year-old retired minister. Here are some of the ideas that I’ve come up with:
Colors: I’d like the primary tincture to be green, and the metal white. Other colors that would fit with the scheme I’m looking at would be black and gold.
Charges: There are many ideas for this but none nailed down yet. An oven peel would be a cant on the name Baker and would also be appropriate for my grandfather as he loves to bake. Also due for consideration would be a shepherd’s crook as my grandfather was a pastor for 50+ years, my father is a minister, as are/were both of his sister’s husbands (my uncles), and I am training for the ministry as well. Perhaps there should be a nod to our Pentecostal heritage, which there are many ways to do. The color red is associated with Pentecost, fire, doves (maybe a dove-tailed partition?). Another charge I’ve considered is the bear, but that has more personal meaning for me (stop rolling your eyes, Pr. Henry!), which has good traditional symbolism, and which conveniently uses most of the letters of my last name. I do not, however, like the traditional heraldic depiction of the bear muzzled and chained. One other charge I’d considered using was stars or comets. As my family is from Alabama, it would perhaps be a reference to that state. “And stars fell on Alabama….last night.”
Now I’m not saying that I want to include all these charges on one shield, but these are some of the ideas that I’ve been kicking around. I’m actually having a little bit of trouble figuring out what to have on the shield, what to use in the crest, and what to use for a badge.
So, as I continue to toy around with all these ideas, any ideas/comments/criticisms are heartily welcomed as I am still very much a novice at heraldry and I really want these arms to turn out right, as they will be the ones that I will bear myself.
JRB
Jonathan, remind me: have you already designed and assumed arms for yourself? It makes a difference to the discussion.
Second question, totally irrelevant to the arms: where in Alabama? (which is another way of saying me, too). I know there’s a major Pentecostalist presence in the Sand Mountain area, but of course not only there. My father grew up in Birmingham, his family’s from the Sylacauga area, and my brother lives in Decatur. I was born in Montgomery while my dad was stationed there with the Air Force, and am a University of Alabama graduate.
Jonathan,
"Stars fell on Alabama last night." Didn’t know you were old enough to be a Guy Lombardo fan. 
Remember: Some days you get the bear...
A couple idead I have had so far (in the few minutes I’ve been thinking of this)
* You could have a white pale and a white, engrailed Chief. This would be to look like a chef’s hat
* 13 of anything (i.e. a baker’s dozen)
* Wheat Stalk
* Roundel pierced (or a doughnut)
* Here’s some arms with a baking furnace on them
So i guess, my first whack at it would look like:
Vert, charged with 13 pommes pierced a cross ancree Argent in between 4 baking furnaces.
I would put the bear in the crest somehow.
WBHenry;44308 wrote:
Jonathan,
"Stars fell on Alabama last night." Didn’t know you were old enough to be a Guy Lombardo fan.
Or have heard Jimmy Buffet’s cover.
(The song, by the way, refers to an actual historic event, the particularly spectacular Leonid meteor shower observed in the state in 1833. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_Fell_on_Alabama for more.)
Joseph McMillan;44307 wrote:
Jonathan, remind me: have you already designed and assumed arms for yourself? It makes a difference to the discussion.
Second question, totally irrelevant to the arms: where in Alabama? (which is another way of saying me, too). I know there’s a major Pentecostalist presence in the Sand Mountain area, but of course not only there. My father grew up in Birmingham, his family’s from the Sylacauga area, and my brother lives in Decatur. I was born in Montgomery while my dad was stationed there with the Air Force, and am a University of Alabama graduate.
No, I have not assumed arms for myself.
Second question: My grandparents live in Childersburg, just 10 miles or so from Sylacauga. My family in Alabama is centered around there and around Alexander City. My wife’s family is from the Sumiton/Dora area between Birmingham and Jasper.
Not the Sand Mountain people! Aaaahhh! Those people are crazy. They’re snake-handlers.
WBHenry;44308 wrote:
Jonathan,
"Stars fell on Alabama last night." Didn’t know you were old enough to be a Guy Lombardo fan.
You don’t have to be old to appreciate good music.
Linusboarder;44310 wrote:
A couple idead I have had so far (in the few minutes I’ve been thinking of this)
* You could have a white pale and a white, engrailed Chief. This would be to look like a chef’s hat
* 13 of anything (i.e. a baker’s dozen)
* Wheat Stalk
* Roundel pierced (or a doughnut)
* Here’s some arms with a baking furnace on them
So i guess, my first whack at it would look like:
Vert, charged with 13 pommes pierced a cross ancree Argent in between 4 baking furnaces.
I would put the bear in the crest somehow.
Love the idea of using 13 of something. My father’s used that little pun for years now. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it first.
Something like this?
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g29/PaddyW_photos/bakerarms.jpg
Vert a baker’s oven Argent enflamed Gules within a bordure of thirteen estoiles of eight points Or.
There: you have your baker’s dozen, the stars falling on Alabama and an oven.
Jonathan R. Baker;44313 wrote:
Second question: My grandparents live in Childersburg, just 10 miles or so from Sylacauga. My family in Alabama is centered around there and around Alexander City.
We’re neighbors, then, of a sort, if only ancestrally. My ancestors are buried up at Tallassahatchie Baptist Church a few miles west of Sycamore and a little north of my 3xgreat-grandfather’s original farmstead. Notwithstanding their active roles in the Baptist church, my great-great-grandfather and his brother apparently ran a saloon and distillery at Childersburg back in the 1880s/90s (I have the shotgun that hung over the bar). My great-grandfather later owned a farm around Oak Grove, in between Childersburg and Sylacauga. My dad’s other branches of the family were in Fayetteville and Talladega Springs, and before that in Alex City, Newsite, and points east and south.
Quote:
Not the Sand Mountain people! Aaaahhh! Those people are crazy. They’re snake-handlers.
Well, not ALL of them (and not as many as there used to be, if you know what I mean).
I think Colin and Patrick are on to something here. Like the Baker’s Dozen, like the oven. But how about using Crux Etoile in place of the estoiles (or something similar? Two birds with one stone: Stars and Crosses. Check it out here:
http://www.theweebsite.com/heraldry/charges_crosses.html
And what do you mean by old? 
WBHenry;44317 wrote:
And what do you mean by old?
Just giving like I get…
Here’s something I threw together with the crook, the peel, and Baker’s dozen stars, with a cross in honor point, as it should be.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/jonishairy/Heraldry/Baker1.gif
JRB
Patrick Williams;44315 wrote:
Something like this?
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g29/PaddyW_photos/bakerarms.jpg
Vert a baker’s oven Argent enflamed Gules within a bordure of thirteen estoiles of eight points Or.
There: you have your baker’s dozen, the stars falling on Alabama and an oven.
That’s mighty nice, but I’m not too crazy about the furnace. It’s just not very inspirational in my opinion. Using the stars as a bordure is a good idea though.
Jonathan R. Baker;44321 wrote:
That’s might nice, but I’m not too crazy about the furnace. It’s just not very inspirational in my opinion. Using the stars as a bordure is a good idea though.
How would you feel about the griddle of Saint Lawrence instead of the oven? http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=549
Jonathan R. Baker;44319 wrote:
Just giving like I get…
Here’s something I threw together with the crook, the peel, and Baker’s dozen stars, with a cross in honor point, as it should be.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/jonishairy/Heraldry/Baker1.gif
JRB
What about this design, except put the crook and peel on a white saltire and make them Vert.
or put the crook and peel with the cross in honor point inside a border of 13 stars
A classic charge to signify the trade of baker is a baker’s paddle with one to three circular loaves on it. (Another is a pretzel, but since your family’s not from central Europe the allusion is probably too obscure.)
Arms of the Bakers Guild of Paris:
You could put something like this on a green shield with the stars (probably preferably estoiles, given the allusion you’re making) scattered about (i.e., "Vert semy of estoiles argent two baker’s paddles in saltire Or each with three loaves proper.") A baker in the place where the stars fell.
(Come to think of it, the saltirewise arrangement also subtly echoes the state flag.)
(The London bakers guild has a ridiculously complicated coat with garbs, a balance, an arm issuing from a radiant cloud, a chief wavy, and a couple of anchors—no inspiration there, I don’t think. Nice motto for a minister, though. Might want to borrow that.)
Lotsa good ideas coming here! Here’s mine, redone with crossed baker’s peels WITH loaves! 
I didn’t put a shepherd’s crook in there for a very particular reason: although your grandfather, father and yourself are clergy, your children might not be. Let’s have the family shield say "Baker". You can add the allusion to ministerial stuff in the crest.
So that’s what a "peel" is. Live and learn, and then apologize for repeating someone else’s idea with a different term. Sorry. :oops:
