Motivated by Seb Nelson’s contributions, I’ve been occasionally hunting on the internet for the arms of governors of non-English colonies in the US. I just found on a National Park Service website (http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kcc/chap3b.htm) a contemporary image of the arms of Juan de Oñate, the Spanish adelantado (leader of the exploration and settlement) and first governor of New Mexico.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7607/17004111511_769bdb7919_o.jpg
This matches a color version attributed to him in other pictures available on line.
http://dev.newmexicohistory.org/uploads/305/imd_000024.jpg
So I’ll be doing an emblazonment and adding these to the REAA and the roll of founders of European settlements in the US.
Great find!
I just noticed that the 17th century typographical convention of using I and J interchangeably and U and V interchangeably caused the governor’s name Juan to be spelled as Ivan. How long till we see this cited as evidence of an early Russian presence in the American Southwest?
The governor’s arms are now in the REAA and the Founders’ Roll at http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=Notable.Founders?action=browse
Looks great Joe!