My Arms
Some time ago I devised arms for the head of my family (contrary to popular belief, arms belong to a person not a family), blazoned thus:
Azure, a chief and an owl or, in chief three crosses crosslet countercharged
The blue & gold are for the US Navy of my grandfather, father
& brother; the owl is for my last name, which means owl
in an
old dialect of German; the crosses are for the Church which my father
serves (there are three because it balances better; period arms often
arrange things in threes).
It might be emblazoned thus:
While my father is alive, I would adapt my arms with a label in chief, which is a cadence mark representing the fact that I am the heir; my other brothers could do similar things indicating their precedence. It might look like this:
Upon my father’s death, I would assume his arms. I’m not quite certain what my brothers would do, as the cadence-marks would then be in use by my sons (had I any). I suppose that they’d have to modify the arms in some degree for use on their own.
