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History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family in England and America:

 

Volume I

 

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

The Motive

Thanks

Illustrations

Contents

 

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Appendix I

 

Volume II

 

Volume III

 

 

 

 

 

 

the shield with the crest, motto and supporter, if any. All of which, while very learned, brings us to exactly where we started. It may therefore possibly be more understandable to say that the coat of arms is the object of heraldry, that is to say of the science of armorial bearing. The coat of arms is the means by which an individual of noble rank or his family is distinguished from all other families, his rank and social standing determined and his ancestry and family connections disclosed and displayed. The expression originated in the thirteenth century in the fashion followed by the nobility of embroidering the family insignia on the surcoats worn over the hauberk or coat of mail. Arms were similarly embroidered on the jupon, cyclas and tabard which succeeded the surcoat, a practice which survived till the time of Henry VIII, when the tabard came to be entirely dis¬used except by the heralds, who still continue in England to wear on their tabards the royal arms-which marks a period of only about a century and a half during which this garment was an article of fashionable apparel. The wearing of metal armour was introduced into England by William the Conqueror; prior to that the English wore protective garments made of heavy tanned leather. The Normans used a device or cognizance in connection with their armed equipment so that no Norman might perish in battle by the hand of another Norman, nor one French-man kill another; and beyond a doubt each knight in the Conqueror's army had on his shield a representation of his personal insignia, as is shown most clearly in the celebrated Bayeux tapestry. From the very earliest times the Eastern Nations had distinguished noble families by some fixed sign or mark. Thus in the Bible in the Book of Numbers, chapter 2, it is recorded:

And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying, Every man of the Children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of his father's house; far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. And in Psalm 74.-It is stated, They set up their ensigns for signs. At first these figures of arms appear to have been used on banners to mark the place of the chief or head of the family, and it came to mean a rallying place, the place of safety, the place of security, and hence represented tribal strength and unity of purpose. So in Isaiah 11:10 we read, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to it shall the gentile seek and his rest shall be glorious; and in the same book, 18:13, When he lifteth up an ensign in the mountains and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear you.

Thus the banner or ensign ceased to be a personal designation but rather came to mean the tribe or nation. The reason for this change in the meaning of the word ensign was that the dominion of the King had become so large that the subject could no longer see the banner. This therefore came to mean the place where the ruler actually was to be found and in the stead thereof was written orders from the sovereign bearing the impress of the device, which in modern language we call the arms of the commander. Therefore the ruler possessed him-self of a signet, usually in the form of a ring, with which he stamped or sealed his approval on orders, charters, or other important records, and this insignia represented to the subject the imperative seal or signature of his sovereign. Schleimann in his Mycenae, page 359, describes such signet rings which he found in tombs that antedate King Solomon by several centuries. In speaking of one of them he

 

 

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