THE CURTISS COAT OF ARMS 



Before going into the subject of the Curtiss coat of arms I feel 

 that it will not be out of place to quote a portion of the report of the 

 Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical 

 Society, regarding the bearing of arms, — 



" As there is no person and no institution in the United States with 

 authority to regulate the use of coats of arms, your Committee discourages 

 their display in any way or form. 



" Prior to the Revolution, as subjects of a government recognizing heraldry, 

 certain of the inhabitants were entitled to wear coats of arms ; but only such as 

 were grantees of arms, or who could prove descent in the male line from an 

 ancestor to whom arms were granted or confirmed by the Heralds. 



" Females did not regularly bear arms, but the daughter of an arms-bearing 

 father could use the paternal coat in a lozenge. When she married, such arms 

 did not descend to her children (except by special authority), unless she were 

 an heiress marrying an armiger, and then only as a quartering of her husband's 

 arms. 



" The mere fact that an individual possessed a painting of a coat of arms, 

 used it upon plate, or as a bookplate or seal, or had it put upon his grave- 

 stone, is not proof that he had a right to it. 



"Proof of right must either be found in the Herald's records or be estab- 

 lished by authenticated pedigree direct from an armiger. 



" A coat of arms did not belong with a family name, but only to the 

 particular family, bearing the name, to whose progenitor it had been granted or 

 confirmed ; and it was as purely individual a piece of property as a homestead. 

 Hence it was as ridiculous to assume arms without being able to prove the 

 right, as it would now be to make use of a representation of the Washington 

 mansion at Mt. Vernon, and claim it as having been the original property of 

 one's family, unless bearing the name of Washington and being of the line of 

 those who owned it." 



After the above, I hesitated to make any mention of coats of arms 

 in this book, but as I have made a careful research on the subject, I 

 feel that the results of this work may help some future genealogist to 

 learn more of the early history of the Curtiss family. 



The coat-of-arms on the title page of this book is claimed to be 



(xi) 



