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
Woodbridge, Dr Dudley (Poquonock, Conn, 1705-Mystic, Conn, 1790)

Argent on a bend Gules three chaplets proper

Bookplate of "Dudleius Woodbridge"

Bolton
Wood, Col Joseph (Pennsylvania, 1712-Liberty Co, Ga, 1791)

Or on a mound Vert a wolf statant Sable under an oak tree Vert

From his bookplate

Bolton
Wood, William (in Lynn, Mass, 1631)

Azure three naked savages proper each holding in the dexter hand a shield Argent charged with a cross Gules and in the sinister a club resting on the shoulder likewise proper

Crozier 1
Wolverton, Charles (in New Jersey, 1780)

Sable a fess wavy Or between three wolves’ heads erased Argent

Matthews
Wolseley, Anne (to Maryland, 1687)

Argent a talbot passant Gules

Visitation of Staffordshire, 1614, 1663-64

NEHGS #651
Wolfe, Reece (in Lewes, Del, 1706)

Argent a fess between three martlets Gules, on a chief Sable three wolves’ heads erased Argent

Crozier 1
Wolcott, Thomas (in Philadelphia, 1781)

Per pale Azure and Gules on a cross flory Or five martlets Sable

Crozier 1
1. Wolcott, Roger (Windsor, Conn, 1679-1767)
2. Wolcott, Oliver (Windsor, Conn, 1726-Farmington, Conn, 1797)

Argent a chevron Ermine [sic; correctly Ermines?] between three chess rooks Sable

1. Engraved on a silver tankard and cup, 1756. Governor of Connecticut 1751-54.
2. Engraving from a painting of 1782; signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Connecticut 1796-97; son of Roger Wolcott, #1.

2. Bolton
Wolcott, Henry (in Windsor, Conn, 1630)

Argent a chevron between three chess rooks Sable

Crozier 1
Withers, Reuben, (b. Frederick Co, Va, 1789

Argent a chevron Gules between three crescents Sable

An old painting in the family of his grandson

Crozier 2