The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-21

country. still bearer of the name play ed indirectly 8 most interesting part in the early social history of America This was Mistress Forrest, who came to Virginia from England in the expedi- tion of seventy in 16OS-the second at tempt to colonize Virginia. A hardy and independent woman Mistress Forrest must have been to brave the hardships of col onization without husband to depend upon but the records are provokingly silent as to her history in the New World That she was woman of some means is apparent from the fact that she brought with her a maid-Anne Burros, who mar ried soon after landing. one John Loyden, and thus brought about the first mar riage of white people in America.
 Whether or not Mistress Forrest ever followed her maids example and married is not known, and so we can never know whether not blood flows through the veins of some of the old Virginia fam flies.
 To Mrs. J. B.. who asks for descrip- tion and explanation of the Beardsley coat~of-arms:
 The coat-of-arms of the Beardsleys is blazoned: argent, two bars gules, on a canton of the second, a maunch of the first The maunch, or sleeve, Is found in arms of many noble families, and seems to indicate the best trait of chivalry-- that he to whom it belonged was a de- fender of the defenseless.
 The maunch used in heraldry is natur- ally of very ancient pattern and evil dently was used from the custom of knights who attended tournaments, wear ing their ladies' sleeves as gages d'amour in the lists.
 Each knight who adopted it. said: Tor my ladys sake.'
 
 vices have been introduced into armory, direct from the tourney lists, and prob- ably because of their having been borne triumphantly in great tournaments. To F. C. H., who asks for the record of the Welles family:
 There are thousands and thousands of men and women and children in the Welles family. Over 10,OO0 of them trace their ancestry to Thomas Welles, who, as legend has it, landed first at Salem (then, NaumlSeal), Mass, and who later became governor of Connecticut and held many other public offices. And this Thomas Welles, it is supposed. came of an English family which could trace its lineage back through the centuries to ethe time of William the Conqueror, when it came with him from Normandy In Normandy and in the days of William the Conqueror the name was probably known as De Welles.
 Gideon Welles, famous secretary of the navy in Lincoln's administration and a lineal descendant of this Thomas Welles, used to say, My father Samuel Welles, who died In 1884, used to tell me that our English ancestors were of the nobility" There was a John Welles, who fought on London bridge in 1890 with the Earl of Crawford, who, according to histori- cal account, was Lord Welles, and there were other men of the name in the early days who were noblemen of note.
 It is supposed, because of. a strange piece of evidence contained in an old leg acy. that the Welles family was connect- ed with .the family of William Shake speare. Dame Elizabeth Barnard, a granddaughter of Shakespeare, bequeath- ed 50 pounds to be given to her cousin, Thomas Wel]es, of Carlton, Bedford, England, who it is supposed, was of the same family as the American immigrant
 To "One of the Fays," who asks for the early record of the Pays in this country:
 The first of the Fays in this country was John, who came over in the Speed we'll, in 1656. settling in Massachusetts. It was his daughter, Mary, who married the Indian Warrior" as he was always called--Jonathan Brigham. He received lis name from the following incident: While at work, one day, he saw an In- dian lurking near; seizing his gun. he stepped forward in full view, saying: "Shoot straight, you Indian.' Both fired at once. the Indian dropping dead. Brigham escaped unhurt
 John, son of John the Pilgrim, was the first town clerk of Westboro, Mass. and filled many offices of trust and honor. His home, a cabin built in the hillsides, was, in manner, preserved by his descendants, until about 70 years ago, and called their Ancestors Fort" John was a large land owner
 Phay is colonial form of the name. found in old records.