Also of boyar rank, Alexandru's Samurcaș ancestors had a history on both sides of the Southern Carpathians, in Wallachia and in then-Austrian-ruled Transylvania. Active during the Age of Revolution, Wallachian "Vornic" Constantin Samurcaș took part in Eterist agitation, but later, fleeing the 1821 rural uprising, settled in Kronstadt (Brașov) to spy for the Austrians. Another ancestor, "Postelnic" Alecu Samurcaș, was a linguist, known for his work in the Greek language. The meeting of two branches was recorded in the coat of arms that Tzigara-Samurcaș fashioned for himself, showing the "spatha" of Zotos Tzigaras, alongside a sable (Romanian: "samur") and a stylized eyebrow.