A Roll of Early American Arms

Heraldry in the USA
A Roll of Early American Arms

Compiled by Eric Hall, Arian Collins, and Joseph McMillan
Illustrated by Eric Hall, Robert Tucker, Scott Denison, Joseph McMillan, and Chuck Glass

Personal heraldry has been used in what is now the United States since the earliest European settlements. This roll of arms borne in the present-day United States before 1825, compiled by AHS members, is intended to document the vitality of the American heraldic tradition over the years.

Note: Arms are included in this roll based on use as attributed by the sources given. Where it has been possible to validate the user's right to the arms or actual use of them, that information is provided. Names given in italics indicate that we are unaware of any contemporary evidence that the person to whom the sources attribute the arms actually used them, but this should not necessarily be interpreted as evidence of non-use of the arms.

Arms are indexed by the first letter of the armiger's last name. Names beginning with the particules "de," "von," "van," and the like are generally found under the name of the principal word in the surname. Where a person bore multiple surnames, or a surname and title, the arms appear under the name by which he or she is best known in the United States.

ARM NAME BLAZON COMMENTS SOURCE
Whitfield, Rev Henry (of Guilford, Conn, 1639)

Argent a bend cotised engrailed Sable

From Mortlake, Surrey.

NEGHS #241
White, Amos (Chatham, Conn, 1745-Meriden, Conn, 1825)

Per fess Sable and Or a pale counterchanged, on each piece Sable a roundel Argent charged with three bars wavy Vert, on each piece Or a lion's head erased Gules

Bookplate by Richard Brunton

Bolton
White, William, (in Ipswich, Mass, 1635)

Per fess Azure and Or a pale counterchanged on each piece Azure a roundel Argent charged with two bars wavy Vert, on each piece Or a lion's head erased Gules

Crozier 1
White, Most Rev William (Philadelphia, 1748-1836)

Argent on a chevron between three wolves' heads erased Gules a leopard's face Argent

Memorial window, Christ Church, Philadelphia; 1st Bishop of Pennsylvania (1787-1836) and 1st Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. (1789, 1795-1836). Son of Col Thomas White, above.

Bolton
White, Col Thomas (London, ca 1704-Harford Co, Md, 1779)

Argent on a chevron between three wolves' heads erased Sable a leopard's face Or

NEHGS #340
White, Henry (New York, 1732-London, 1786)

Vert three roses Argent

Seal ring

Bolton
White, Samuel (in Boston, 1714)

Gules a chevron between three boars’ heads erased close Argent

Gore Roll of Arms

Gore Roll
White, John (in Cambridge, Mass, 1632)

Argent a chevron Gules between three popinjays Vert beaked legged and collared Gules, on a bordure Azure eight roundels Or

Crozier 1, Matthews
White, John (London, c 1540-Co Cork, Ire (?), 1593)

Quarterly of eight, 1st Ermine on a canton Gules a fusil Argent (augmentation of honor); 2nd Argent a chevron between three goats' heads erased Sable (White); 3rd Argent on a bend cotised Azure three escutcheons Argent (Wymark); 4th Gules two bars gemels between three martlets Argent (Wyatt); 5th Or a chevron between two cinquefoils in chief and a mullet in base Sable (Kyllyowe); 6th Ermine on a bend Sable three phoenix heads erased Or (Saker); 7th Gules a chevron Argent between three cinquefoils Or (Buddyer); 8th Gules a fess counter-compony Argent and Sable between three crosses formy fitched at the foot Argent (Butler)

To Roanoke Island, Va (now N.C.), 1585; appointed governor of the colony 1587. Granted by Garter King of Arms along with arms for the proposed city of Raleigh, Virginia (in present North Carolina), and for White's assistants, 1587. Last visit to America 1590.

Oxford Guide to Heraldry
Whipple, ----- (New England, mid-1800s)

Sable on a chevron between three swans' heads erased Argent three crescents Sable

Engraved on a teapot by Hurd, ca 1750

Bolton