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
1. Weld, Rev Thomas (in Roxbury, Mass, 1632; d. 1661)
2. Weld, Capt Joseph (b. 1595; d. Roxbury, Mass, 1646)
3. Weld, Daniel (in Roxbury, Mass, 1632)

Azure a fess dancetty between three crescents Ermine

Three brothers. See variant below.

NEHGS #64
Welby, Olive (in Concord and Chelmsford, Mass, aft 1630)

Sable a fess between three fleurs-de-lys Argent

Daughter of Richard Welby, bapt. Moulton, Lincs; m. Henry Farwell, 1629, at Boston, Lincs.

NEHGS #585
Weir, Robert (in New Rochelle, NY, 1790)

Argent on a fess Azure three mullets Argent

Matthews
Weed, Jonas (in Watertown, Mass, 1631)

Argent two bars Gules in chief three martlets Sable

Crozier 1, Matthews
Webster, Daniel (Salisbury, N.H., 1782-Marshfield, Mass, 1852)

Gules on a fess Or between three horses courant [Argent?] three roundels Vert

Arms on silver service owned (1927) by Somerset Club, Boston; the arms are those of Rush, used by Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence

Bolton
Webster, Daniel (Salisbury, N.H., 1782-Marshfield, Mass, 1852)

Azure on a bend Argent between in chief a roundel struck by an arrow bend sinisterwise Or and in base a demi-lion Argent a rose Gules between two boars' heads couped Sable

Bookplate; see alternative arms below. Speaker of the House, Secretary of State. Bolton blazons the roundel as a plate and the demi-lion Ermine, but the bookplate shows the arms as blazoned here.

Bolton
Webster, John (Cossington, Leics, 1590-Hadley, Mass, 1661)

Azure on a bend Argent cotised Or between two demi-lions rampant Ermine a rose Gules between two boars’ heads couped Sable

Matthews
Webb, Capt John, (Gloucestershire, 1659-Henrico Co, Va, 1726)

Gules a cross between four falcons Or

On silver

Crozier 2
Webb, Richard (in Boston, 1632)

Or a cross per cross Gules and Sable

Crozier 1
Weaver, Thomas (in New York, 1701)

Sable two bars Argent on a canton Sable [sic] a garb Argent

The garb is presumably "in canton" rather than "on a canton" of the same color as the field.

Matthews