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Pearsall Surname Project
Number of Pearsalls By Location
Maps by Family
Surname
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
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sideration. There seems
however to have also been some want of harmony as to the form of the
cross. That given for Peshall of (Bromley, co. Kent)
being a plain cross. This was the arms claimed by Edmund Pearshall, Pearsall als Peshall, brother of Thomas
Pearsall who was the ancestor of the American Pear-sails of various
spellings. The Shropshire family used the cross
formee, while the Eccleshall
family, co. Stafford were granted simply
a cross. All the grants agree that the cross, no matter what its shape
may be, must be floryee, that is a cross flowered at the end of each of the
terminals, arms and stems, in this case with the fleur de lis. The heraldic lily differs from that of the
garden in having three leaves instead of five. The cross must be sa. that is sable or black,
which, when not in color, is depicted by cross-lines horizontal and
perpendicular. A canton means cornered ; it is less than the quarter and
comprised only a third part of the chief and is formed by a perpendicular
line drawn from the top of the shield meeting another drawn horizontal
from the side. The canton always occupies the dexter
chief of the escutcheon unless otherwise expressed. The chief is the
uppermost third part of the escutcheon divided horizontally. Gu. means Red.
The wolf head is
Sa. i.e. sable as already explained. It is also
to be erased of the field, that is forcibly torn
from the body. A head forcibly erased has its severed part jagged like
the teeth of a saw. The field means the balance of the shield which would
of course contain the remainder of the wolf were it to be shown as a
whole animal. Ppr. means in their natural
color. The colors are also represented by the precious stones.-Silver by
pearls and the red by rubies; the black by diamonds.
The lion is
rampant, that is with both fore legs elevated, the dexter
uppermost and the head seen sidewise. The dexter
hind leg also higher than the sinster
as the weight of the creature were borne upon the latter. The
escutcheon being Gules or red, and the lion being crowned or, that is
yellow to represent gold.
THE
MOTTO.
It is of course
generally understood that the motto is simply an expression of one's
guiding idea or principle appended to a coat-of-arms. In a great many
cases it has some reference to the crest, badge or to some bearing of the
escutcheon. Sometimes two mottoes are used, one above the crest and the
other below the shield. This heraldic motto is, strictly considered, not
hereditary but personal, hence it may vary in each succeeding generation
or those of the same generation may have different mottoes although they
may be as closely related as brothers. It is a rather interesting
observation that the Peshale family but rarely
used a motto with its coat-of-arms. Sir Adam de Peshale
of Weston-under-Lizard used Spes me in Deo, and there are some who assert that the family
motto is Fortes fortuna juvat,
but the writer could find no instance where it so appeared upon the
records. The Rev. John Peshall took Suum Cuique, Richard
Pearsall Sine crimine sine metu
and Robert Lucas de Pearsall Better death than shame. Robert Pearsall of London prepared the
plate of the arms for this book and we were pleased, as no doubt the rest
of the family will be, to have him use his personal motto. In a letter to
the writer he said that uniformly he is successful in any
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