The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-14
obtain legal right to ''arms'' that are not

OOtliu ic6tLA AiSuS " uA ula tlut HEe uOC /
inherited In n male line.
Any man having a genuine right TO
coat.armor can transmit It to his sons
and tlaughtcrs;' but his sons only. can
transmit tho family farms" to their chill
dren. Tho daughters descendants take
the ''arms' Of the mon the daughters
tnforcsald) marry, II these men are en-
titled to arms" If these men are not
entitled to armorlnl bearings, neither |
they nor their children can legally use
tho ARMS Of the wifc's family, unless
by especial royal grant.
1t should also be brought to the atten-
ton OF all who make genealogical re-
searches that coat-of-arms can only
belong to descendants OF the. man to
J cannot descend to the DESCENDANTS Of his
cousins or brothers, or to any Of his
relatives who arc not also his dcscen-
4 dants, unless by tho kings order. given
! through the college of Arms" Conse-
/ quently, It is a complete mistake to sup
i pose that any one descended from a
tcousin Of the man who first received the
4 Goat of.arms'' has the least right to
use those arms. This mistake Is often
made In the United states. Some eager
aspirants even go SO far as to conclude
that II one OF their relatives has ever
married into an nrmigerous family, that
marriage gave the aforesaid relatives
COnIeCliOuS IlSIL W LIZ ~ Aiio
OF said armigcrous family.
We cannot agree with those who con-
i slider 1T Is said and ct IL supposed
i are reliable foundations for genealogy.
People may (perhaps, often DOB take an
innocent pride in surprising their ances-
4 tors were famous. But this cannot ba n
{! Just pride. Nothing can be just that Is
4 not founded upon truth. What Is worth
having Is the truth, and nothing but the
4 truth.
The writer does not regard gcncalogy
4 as a matter OF extreme Importance; but
II we really wish to know anything re-
liable about it we should not be salts
fed with any superstition, or with
mere tradition, the origin OF which
Is unknown. ~
IL one can truly prove a spotless,
81 though not armigercus. ancestry, is not
that cause for just pride? Who would
4 not have reason to be thankful for such
an ancestor az Martin Luther. Or John
Bunyan, or Jeremy Taylor, all OF whom
were men OF humble origin. regarded
solely from nm armigcrous point OF view.
The poet Cowper was OF proven arts
tocratic ineage; but In his touching ad-
dress to his mothers portrait nc bases
his greatest claim to distinction on
being ''tlle child OF parents passed
into the skies
rho present fad for claiming a coat
! of-arms may work its own cure. as It
Z induces so,ne, who would not otherWi's
5 do so to make investigations. Conse.
ouently. many mistakes are proved. ~
/. prescnt' American claims to nristocracy
! are some times regarded Win oeIlsioh ny
accurate foreign psychologists.
!, 80 one doubts that descendants Of
!. noble families (mostly from Great Brl.
j tain) settled in the English colonies o.
t America before the American Reyolutlo oI
: These descendants" usually Drousm'
. + IN rottS -
n them. and must have paid taxes on thel'
: nrmorial bearings. according to Enghsf
Q law. !,
: MANY families not entitled to arms
:, cmicrated to the English American coio'
J, tnies. Some OF these non-armigerons ram
: lilies occupied an excellent social posit position
and lived on social eqilaiity WIN a. ~,
h bearing families and intermarrled WIZ
It them. AS early as 1862 there were ais.
r six thousand white indented servants II
: tho Colony OF Virginia alone. 1t Is In
e conceivable that these n6entcd servants
n should have left no dcscenants or ina
they should have often been Kidnapped
y from noble families. II they were, IN
n English aristocracy must nave borne ~
l. kidnapping Of their young children witt
a.. more than Spartan firmness, as the!
4 made no apparent effort to find then
again.
n It is also inconceivable that nearl!
~ every one who can read and write Is Q
I noble birth.
y. II an American has an old, authenti
=. record mot a new one, founded on con
10 iecture), or has positive proof OF bein
w descended from ancestors lin the NAL
~ line) who publicly used and claimed
Z, coat armor before l776, such one seem
- to the writer to be entitled to arms.
- Without this old record, proving aristo
-. cratic birth, or without the public use
- ~ .arms," there seems no real proof {
ne no aristocratic descent. Bearing a nobl
-, surname is no proof OF anything. Ser
~ ~ wants and dependents often assumed thcl
~ masters or lIcge-lord's surname by &c
~ lSor law, III order to show their nlleganc
~ ~, to- him. Those descended from IL mob
20 female ancestor, have, of course, trll
- arieocratic blood and descent. thong
- they cannot properly use their noble e
u malo ancestors "arms.'' Sometime
III when a nobleman married woman
-. noble birth, tho King permitted he
~ arms to be qunrtered on her husband
~ shield. But this was not generally don
n. The famous Mr.. Dooey.s manner
-, claiming distinguished relations Is II
~ ~ mnrkabc for its simplicity. lie nllud'
y to Admiral Dewey>>ns cousin George
~ ana says It Is easy to prove that Dewt
"a, md Dooley are ono and the same. "Ju
~, TX drnp a letter here. and add one ther
IA. and you see Dewey VIII be I'ooley'
Long since when young Vlrginians en-
~, granted to the South in large number
18th " uou, 81 ~, ti,aso n,,,ic.amtu nv,
~ writer remembers hearing an old mi
- ~, shy that lie went to tho Gulf States
wv his youth, ana 1t seemed to him tn
IN. evcry Ylrginian he heard of pretended
~ belong to the 1T. +, VS." lie add
~ thnt First family Of Va" became for
| time n term OF ridicule in the South.
took pains to make no claims to ari
tocrncy for himself. He really belong
to ono Of the most genuinely artist
thu cratic families In Virginia and In IuroI
to though no cared but little for It.
on CORRESPONDENT
mn --- ---- &
lins Cole Addenda
ion. 49, $3.50 a.
cunning the Cole family can BIO add