Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
If I were to petition a grant of arms from Lyon for my 5xg-gf (that's how far back I have to go to get to a subject of the Crown, much less Scotland), he would likely start with the Scott coat of arms, thus: "Or, on a bend Azure a star between two crescents Or". That's the blazon for the Scott coat of arms on the Buccleuch line (Chief of the name).

Since I can't trace back definitively to the chiefly line or to a cadet branch of known armigers, in order to distinguish between the chiefly line and mine, we could discuss different things to include on the shield. I think a long rifle or something to represent the Bluegrass would be appropriate, since my family settled on the VA frontier in the mid-1770's and were among the first to settle in KY in the 1790's.

Lyon would then difference the arms accordingly for each succeeding generation:
  • my 4xg-gf, the second son (under Stodart's conventions probably a bordure, possibly azure)
  • my 3xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
  • my 2xg-gf, the eldest son, would be undifferenced
  • my g-gf, the third son (either a change in the patten of the bordure or a change in color)
  • my gf, the eldest, would probably be undifferenced (although his parents didn't marry until later. Depends on how strictly Lyon interprets the rule of illegitimacy. At times, the birth was later deemed to be legitimate if the parents wed.)
  • my f, the eldest, would be undifferenced
  • me, the eldest, would be undifferenced (except for a label of three points until my father passes)


It's a moot point for now, as I don't have the funds to continue my research, much less the petition and subsequent matriculations for my father and myself.
That sounds about right - except I believe the difference accorded to you fourth-great grandfather would be a bordure Argent (I'm fairly certain that the no metals-on-metals convention doesn't apply to bordures - if I am mistaken and it does, it would probably be a bordure chequy Argent and Azure). With a bordure Azure people would think he was the fifth son.

And good luck with your research!