PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, Family Coats-of-Arms of. One half of our 28 Presidents possess either through the paternal or maternal side heraldic bearings, while four additional executives come into heraldic relationship by marriage. The study of these heraldic symbols is not only interest ing, but profitable, since they suggest much which is of historic importance and bring to the surface accurate genealogical connections between them and great families of the past.
The grants of arms were not given in recog nition of royal blood, but were honors con ferred on the ancestors of our Presidents be cause of some special merit, achievement, heroism or patriotic valor. Hence, the pride we have in their shields, crests or supporters is aborn of high record? The frequent associa tion of aristocracy with this meritorious form of heraldic bearings is an error and none so often has this misconception as the American. While the former pertains to regal blood the latter, an entirely different mode of distinction, relates to honor and personal worth and they have nothing in common other than the ex pression of heraldic emblems. No relationship exists between these two branches of armorial devices, th• latter antedating the caste or titled aristocracy by generations, centuries and dec ades, for family arms and national insignia are of most ancient conception, as papyrus, stones, edifices and scripture will attest.
George Washington's people came from Eng land, where centuries ago they were known as De Wessingtons and their immediate ancestors came from France, with William the Conqueror, and the original family name was William de Hertburn and he was knighted in the 12th century. In the aBalden Book" a record is made of all the estates of the people of Dur ham; in 1183 is found the entry that William de Hertburn of Hertburn, France, took the manor Wessington in exchange for soldierly service. With this grant Sir William de Hert burn became Sir William de Wessington. In these olden times "when knights were bold and barons had their sway') this Wessington served his king, being among the preux chevaliers, fighting, hawking, gaming, conspiring, conquer ing and feasting, the king granting him a silver shield upon which were two golden bars, sur rounded by three spurs of the knight in red with a crest of the black raven emerging from a ducal coronet.
In the great struggle of Charles I, the Wash ingtons remained loyal to the king and upon the promotion of Cromwell the Washingtons eagerly sought refuge in the Virginia colony, where they prospered and were men of great estates. Washington, our first President, de voted considerable attention to the investigation of his pedigree. The public is familiar with his frequent blazoning of the family arms on car riages, books, plate, mirrors, private seal, dishes, pictures and practically every memorable family token was decorated with the old shield of the English Washingtons. As a book plate all the Washingtons employed the family arms, both in England and America.
John Quincy Adams in a communication writes: "That the fact of my father securing this high position and rank at Harvard was due rather to the position of the maternal branch of the family than to the Adamses? This is strange reading to Americans of this day. The coat of arms of the Adams family was a red shield with a silver cross upon which were five mullets of gold; the crest, a demi-lion emerging from a ducal crown.
Jefferson was eager about knowledge of the early Jeffersons and was well acquainted with the lineage. On 20 Feb. 1771 he wrote Thomas Adams of London (Vol. 81, p. 205, Harper's) a letter, in which the following request ap pears: aOne further favor and I am done; to search the herald's office for the arms of my family. I have what I have been told were the family arms, but on what authority I know not? Jefferson's book-plate and personal seal consisted of his monogram, about which were the words: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God? A distant relative in preparing the domestic "Life of Thomas by Sarah V. Randolph, had the Jefferson arms prom inently blazoned on the cover of the volume and Jefferson's private seal decorates the title page. The coat-of-arms of the Jeffersons was a deep red, upon which blazoned three leopards base with cross of Saint Andrew entwined with a lozenger and field blue crest a demi-lion proper. See GREAT OF UNITED STATES.