Loomis, Steven, IC3

A REGISTRY OF AMERICAN FAMILIES ENTITLED TO COAT ARMOR (1904 edition)

LOOMIS. Connecticut

Joseph Loomis, Windsor, 1639.
(Braintree, Essex, England.)
Argent, between two palets gules, three fleurs-de-lis in pale sable, a chief azure.

CREST: On a chapeau a pelican vulning herself, proper.
MOTTO-Ne cede malis - "Yield not to adversity."
Dating to at least 1513.



COAT ARMOR IN AMERICA

present day, entitled to the same distinction, need not fear to follow. Most conclusive, however, of all proofs of the American right to use Coat Armor is the ruling of Washington himself, who said :

" It is far from my design to intimate any opinion that Heraldry, Coat Armor, etc,, might not be rendered conducive to public and private use with us, or that they can have any tendency unfriendly to the purest spirit of republicanism. On the contrary, a different conclusion is deducible from the practice of Congress and the states, all of which have established some kind of Armorial devices to authenticate their official instruments."

The science of heraldry or armory is indeed of very ancient
origin. When the College of Heralds was established in Eng-
land, in 1488, its business was to register Grants of Arms and to
see that such distinctions were not borne illegally; in other
words, to bring order out of chaos that must have existed for a
long time. As many abuses found their way into all matters
touching descent and Arms, the Heralds' Visitations were later
instituted, in the early sixteenth century, for the purpose of revis-
ing and recording the pedigrees of families entitled to Coat
Armor; and the business of distinguishing between proper and
improper assumptions of Coat Armor is still an important one.

All persons who can deduce descent from an ancestor whose
armorial ensigns have been acknowledged in any one of the Vis-
itations, are entitled to carry those Arms by right of inheritance.
When, however, no such descent can be shown, a person must,
if it is possible, prove himself to be descended from some one
whose right has been admitted ; from a Grantee, or in fault of
that proof must become a Grantee himself

During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars in this country,
many public and private records bearing seals and impressions of

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COAT ARMOR IN AMERICA

Arms were destroyed. Seals are of all records those on which
the greatest reliance can be placed ; for being contemporary wit-
nesses no doubt can exist of their historical value. These rec-
ords were frequently the only proof extant that certain families
were entitled by inheritance to Coat Armor, and as the descend-
ants of many of these families have continued to use a Coat of
Arms, the following authority for their so doing is of importance.
In the Lansdown MS. 870 (Fo. 88) William Dugdale, Garter
King of Arms, under date of 15 June, 1668, writes as follows:

" It is incumbent that a man doe look over his own evi-
** dences for some seals of armes, for perhaps it appeares in
" them, and if soe and they have used it from the beginning
" of Queen Elizabeth's reigne, or about that time, I shall
" then allowe thereof, for our directions are limiting us soe
" to doe, and not a shorter prescription of usage."

Here we have the highest heraldic authority in the kingdom.
Garter King of Arms, expressly stating that a man is justified in
using a Coat of Arms, providing that it has been in use by his
family for one hundred years, or about that time. We must also
bear in mind that this opinion was given at a time when the
Heralds' Visitations were still in force. At the present day,
Dugdale's ruling is followed by Ulster King of Arms, who will
confirm by Patent any Arms which have been continuously borne
for at least three generations, or else for at least one hundred
years. These rulings do away with the quibble raised by a weU
known historical society that the usage of Coats of Arms in any
manner, shape or form should be discountenanced, for the reason,
as alleged, that so few families trace their ancestry to the parent
stock across the water.

In this second edition of the present work data relative to
eight hundred additional families have been included, so that the
Registry now offers descriptions of nearly two thousand coats of

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COAT ARMOR IN AMERICA

arms, with the name of the first of the family in America, the
date of his arrival and place of settlement, and, in the majority
of instances, the town or country whence he came.

The plan of the work resembles in the main that of Burke's
General Armory in England, except that the latter includes only
the arms of persons of British ancestry, whereas the American
book goes farther, including the arms of those whose ancestors
came from Continental Europe. The descriptions of the arms,
and the data, carefully collated and verified, have been inserted
only when actual examination of the necessary records has shown
the family to be entitled to the distinction.

The scope of the Registry, not being limited to any pre-
scribed locality, but embracing the known arm-bearing families
of all the States in the Union, makes it the most comprehensive
book of the kind published. Its very unusual interest to Ameri-
cans desiring for any reason to have records of their descent is
self-evident.