The Great Lecture You Probably Missed

Laura Spurrier sent this report on the CGS May Membership Meeting with Jim Terzian:

CGS recently hosted a great speaker on heraldry, Jim Terzian. I almost missed the lecture myself, afraid it would be too stuffy. The opposite was true: Jim turned out to be delightful and not a snob at all. (He’s secretary-treasurer of a society called Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain, AKA the “royal bastards.”)

Jim started by explaining how coats of arms began as a means of displaying a person’s status and prestige in mostly illiterate medieval society. They continue in use to this day; the Great Seal of the United States is a heraldic seal. Many of our ancestors may have had coats of arms. Only in the British Isles are they restricted to members of the nobility. They are also hereditary, fathers to sons or in some cases to daughters. The fact that a family with the same name as yours has a coat of arms doesn’t mean you can automatically claim it too.

Jim Terzian taking questions before showing his chart.

For genealogists, coats of arms are a form of visual documentation of family trees. For example, if a man with a coat of arms marries a woman with arms in her own right, their sons bear arms showing half of each. All the little add-ons on either side of a shield have significance too. Jim demonstrated how this works by unrolling a gorgeously colored 44” x 22’ chart of all the arms of one of his ancestors, arranged in family tree form. I was thrilled when I realized that she was my ancestor too.

Jim Terzian unrolled his 22 foot chart for all to see.



Detail of the chart.

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California, 5/9/2009.

Coats of Arms, Crests and Heraldry: A Genealogist's Overview - May 9, 2009

May Membership Meeting with Jim Terzian
A Genealogist's Overview: Coats of Arms, Crests and Other Heraldry that is Part of Family Heritage

Saturday, May 9, 2009, 1:00 p.m.

California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, California 946121

Kings and courtiers, gentlemen and family groups have borne coats-of-arms for over thirty generations. Yet most of us, even extremely experienced genealogists, know very little about them or how to use them in our research. What exactly are coats-of-arms and crests? Who has them, when did they develop and where does a family get them? What resources exist to help you use heraldry as a tool in your research?

Join CGS for a ninety-minute presentation by Jim Terzian, Executive Director of the Heraldry Foundation and Secretary-Treasurer of the "Royal Bastards" – Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain.

For almost forty years, Jim Terzian has been a student of heraldry and genealogy, representing the United States as a delegate to the International Congresses of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences since 1996, serving as a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Heraldry Committee from 1995 to 2004 and serving as Executive Director of the Heraldry Foundation since 2003. Professionally Mr. Terzian is principal of the Terzian International Group, a 21-year-old Silicon Valley firm that develops and launches technology start-up companies, products and services.

Please note that the short membership meeting starts promptly at 1:00 p.m. Mr. Terzian's' talk follows at about 1:20 p.m. Please arrive early.