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
Willis, Henry, (in New York, 1675)

Per fess Gules and Argent three lions rampant counterchanged within a bordure Ermine

Crozier 1
Willis [Wyllys], George (d. Hartford, 1645)

Argent a chevron between three mullets Gules

Governor of Connecticut, 1642-43. See alternative blazon above.

Crozier 1
1. Willis (Wyllys), George (d. Hartford, 1645)
2. Willis, Samuel (d. Hartford, 1709)
3. Willis, George (Connecticut, 1735-1796)
4. Willis, John (in Middlesex Co, Va, 1688)

Argent a chevron Sable between three mullets Gules

1. Governor of Connecticut, 1642-43. See alternative blazon below.
2. On seal.
3. On his portrait
4. On seal.

1. NEHGS #47
2. Bolton
3. Bolton
4. Bolton
Willis, Francis (Gloucester Co, Va, 1690-1769)

Argent three griffins passant Sable within a bordure engrailed Gules bezanty

On tomb of his wife Anne Rich (1696-1727), impaled with Rich (Gules a chevron between three crosses bottony Or.

Bolton, Crozier 1
Williamson, ----- (Massachusetts, late 1700s?)

Argent a chevron Gules between three trefoils slipped Sable

Embroidered "hatchment"

Bolton
Williamson, Dr Hugh (Chester Co, Pa, 1735-New York, 1819)

Sable a cross potent Or

Painting in Hist Soc of Pa; signer of the Declaration of Independence
Williams, ----- (Massachusetts, ca 1800)

Quarterly, 1st and 4th Argent a dragon’s head erased Vert holding in the mouth a sinister hand couped Gules; 2nd and 3rd Gules three towers Argent; over all in fess point an escutcheon Argent a sinister hand couped Gules

Painting by John Coles
Williams, Elizabeth (d. Charles City Co, Va, aft 1677)

Azure a saltire between four garbs Or

Impaled with the arms of Hill (“Per pale Or and Gules a lion passant Argent”) on the hatchment of her husband Edward Hill III and quartered on that of her son Edward Hill IV at Shirley Plantation, Charles City Co.

Bolton
Williams, William (in Culpeper Co, Va, 1650)

Gules on a mount Vert a demi-wolf issuing from a rock on the sinister side Argent

Crozier 1
Williams, William (in Taunton, Mass, 1637)

Sable a chevron between three spearheads Argent points embrued Gules

Crozier 1