Hello everyone. I’ve been a lurking member here for almost four years, and I think it’s time to get the ball rolling on assuming arms.
I’ve been able to trace my genealogy back to my first immigrant ancestor, Samuell Gorton. Based on his personal correspondence, Samuell thought he was an armiger, but the documentation just isn’t there. I don’t know how to pursue this furhter, but I suspect it means giving the British heraldry authorities a lot of money I don’t have . . . Nor do I wish to presumptuous. In any event, later commentators settled on "Gules, ten billets or, a chief indented of the second" with a crest "A goat’s head erased argent, ducally engorged" as the arms Samuel referenced.
This wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t think those arms were pretty snazzy (well, I have no affinity for goats, but the crest can wait). I like the tinctures. I like the flexibility in arranging the billets 4-3-2-1 or in two equal rows. I like the classic look of the division in chief. And even if that achievement is historically suspect and/or the favorite .gif of bucket shops, I like that there is some association with my family line. My family history vacillates between spotty and sordid, but I’m proud of it all the same.
So I’d like my personal achivement to be inspired by, or reminiscent of, the arms above. I’ve played with different ideas:
<ul class=“bbcode_list”>
<li>Changing the billets to a geometrically similar, but more distinguishable charge (books?)</li>
<li>Adding a charge to the chief (a key?)</li>
<li>Changing the division of the chief (I went through a phase where I thought an arcane rounded division looked swell, but I can’t remember the term [chapeaunet?]</li>
</ul>
I’ve been toying for four years trying to find something that’s clean but not plain, modern but classic, elegant but usable. I can’t think of any fun canting to do off of "Gorton." Nor am I particularly wrapped up in symbolism (lest the meaning I ascribe to those symbols change or be diminished in time).
So I was wondering if the AHS members could help me brainstorm? I’m the greenest of heraldic artists, but this forum is filled with examples of how great the collective AHS membership is at eyeing great designs. I’m looking forward to learning from everyone here.
silly (couldn’t resist): ten robots with motto, "Klaatu barada nikto"
serious: ten goutes d’or rather than billets Or, plus change the division line of the chief, yielding two differences.
Jhgorton;84990 wrote:
In any event, later commentators settled on "Gules, ten billets or, a chief indented of the second" with a crest "A goat’s head erased argent, ducally engorged" as the arms Samuel referenced.
This wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t think those arms were pretty snazzy (well, I have no affinity for goats, but the crest can wait). I like the tinctures. I like the flexibility in arranging the billets 4-3-2-1 or in two equal rows. I like the classic look of the division in chief.
What about:
Or billety gules on a chief of the second a "charge/charges" of the first.
http://web.meson.org/blazonserver/emblazon.php?format=png&blazon=or+billety+gules+a+chief+
gules
This reverses the tinctures for difference and makes the entire shield billety. You can pick a very unique charge or charges for the chief to further difference from the base arms.
Jhgorton;84990 wrote:
I’ve been able to trace my genealogy back to my first immigrant ancestor, Samuell Gorton. Based on his personal correspondence, Samuell thought he was an armiger, but the documentation just isn’t there. I don’t know how to pursue this furhter, but I suspect it means giving the British heraldry authorities a lot of money I don’t have . . . Nor do I wish to presumptuous. In any event, later commentators settled on "Gules, ten billets or, a chief indented of the second" with a crest "A goat’s head erased argent, ducally engorged" as the arms Samuel referenced.
What is the time period we’re talking about here, out of curiosity? And is there some reason, other than that they are the bucket shop arms for "Gorton", to believe that these are the arms your ancestor thought were his?
Other than that, Charles and David have it right regarding the two differences. I think I prefer David’s advice but will have to think on it when it isn’t so late.
Didn’t even think of goutes d’or. I’m not sure if I want to lose the angular geometry, but I’m definitely going to play with it. It seems preferable to books, as I’m not a university. It’s inspired me to contemplate roundels instead of billets, and a chief engrailed instead of indented.
I tried to sketch out Or billety gules (or vice versa) and it makes me think I like two rows of five billets more than 4-3-2-1. Mainly because of the negative space. OTOH, I have a tendency to think in right angles and that’s part of my design problem. Edit: Just kidding, I didn’t see the picture before and it’s a lot shaper than what I drew!
I just sketched out replacing the chief with a canton, perhaps with a charge, but that looks rather plain indeed with all the billets.
Assuming I keep the chief, does anyone have ideas about what would look slick there? As above, my gut instinct was a key, because it accentuated the horizontal while the billets emphasized the vertical. The same logic could apply to a sword, but I’m not a martial sort.
Kenneth Mansfield;84994 wrote:
What is the time period we’re talking about here, out of curiosity? And is there some reason, other than that they are the bucket shop arms for "Gorton", to believe that these are the arms your ancestor thought were his?
B. ~1590s, D. 1677, arrived in America in 1633. IF he was entitled to arms it would have gone further back than that. Although Samuell was connected with the Earl of Warwick, his father was a merchant of little renown.
Do I have any reason to believe these are the hypothetical Samuell arms? In a word: no. For all I know, the "Gorton arms" could have been granted to some English Gorton a hundred years later. Even the most credible sources didn’t bother to cite their research or really explain how they came to that conclusion. I’m encouraged—but only slightly—by the fact that this hasty conclusion seems to have been jumped to early on. (Samuell was influential as an early governor and jurist in Rhode Island, so some scholarship is available).
That being said, I’m willing to start from a blank slate. The "Gorton arms" just happen to be dear to me at this early stage of design.
The arms you describe are listed in Papworth’s Ordinary as belonging to Sir Thomas Gerton or Gorton. They are given the source citation V, meaning they appear in "Glover’s Ordinary" of 1584.
Joseph McMillan;85014 wrote:
The arms you describe are listed in Papworth’s Ordinary as belonging to Sir Thomas Gerton or Gorton. They are given the source citation V, meaning they appear in "Glover’s Ordinary" of 1584.
Find a connection between Samuell Gorton and Sir Thomas and I’d say you should stick to the original with just one or two changes for difference - that is unless you’re a direct patrilineal descendant - in which case just use the original arms.
One pun on "Gorton" occurs to me: Gules a gore and ten billets Or — for "gore-ten."
My suggestion of goute was a cant on the name; ten goutes is "goute-ten."I think the goat crest is also a cant.
Charles E. Drake;85052 wrote:
My suggestion of goute was a cant on the name; ten goutes is "goute-ten."I think the goat crest is also a cant.
Do I detect a non-rhotic accent?
These responses have been exceptionally encouraging!
I’ve reached out to a distant cousin, who assured me that she had filed her pedigree with the College of Arms. I’ll believe it when I see it, but she’s agreed to mail me her research. Takes the fun out of the design, but a documented claim to arms is equally exciting.
Out of curiousity, how would the goat canting play out?
Dohrman Byers;85075 wrote:
Do I detect a non-rhotic accent?
Suttonly.
Quote:
Out of curiousity, how would the goat canting play out?
Goat for Gort, but one must pronounce Gort without the r sound. It is imperfect, I’ll admit, but heraldry is full of imperfect cants.