Maternal Arms

I found two different coats of arms associated with the name Staten (my mother's maiden name) - and it must be borne in mind that arms are actually not granted to a family or clan, but to an individual instead.

At any rate, these are the arms I found:

The top one involves a lobster on a blue field, next to three silver stars. I have to admit I'm not all that crazy about that one.

The second one involves a dancing goat of some kind. One heraldry website I found described the symbolism of the goat as follows: "The goat is a symbol of practical wisdom and an emblem of a man who wins through diplomacy rather than war." OK, I suppose that makes sense. 

Another name that is found on Mom's side of the family is Maynard; this is the maiden name of her grandmother. I did find at least one Maynard arms, which looks like this:

Them's some sharp-looking arms, that's for sure. Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect there could be a link between those Maynards and Lt. Robert Maynard, the sailor who brought down Blackbeard. I'd like to find out more and see if there is a family link there. I understand the symbolism of the Red Hand is this: it is indicative of a baronet or knight. That's quite interesting. 

I also found this one, with a charming dancing fox on it:

This says it's German; I wonder if the other Maynard arms is English. Wouldn't surprise me. 

Another name that turns up on Mom's side of the family is that of the notorious HATFIELD clan. Yes, THOSE HATFIELDS. I found several different arms associated with the Hatfield name.

Some of these are just gorgeous, especially the ones involving the ermine background. I love arms that incorporate the ermine tail pattern. The variation seen in the Hatfield arms indicates how arms are given to an individual, not an entire family or clan. Lord knows there's plenty of Hatfields out there.... ;)

Stribling Arms

In doing some family research - which is quite difficult, I must admit - I found that my great-grandmother's line included the name Stribling. This was a great find to me, because after my father died and I moved his furniture into my apartment, including an antique dry sink, I found in said dry sink a family book of Striblings. I thought, "who are these people?" I didn't know anything about the family connection to the Striblings. 

As it turned out, George Frederick Hays Sr (son of George J. Hays & Ruth-Ann Cornelia W. ROSS) married Martha Alma "Dora" Stribling (daughter of James Harvey Stribling & Nancy Jane WILLIAMS) and had 10 children, 7 of which survived. 

One of those children was Katherine Magnolia Hays, my great-grandmother. She married Owen Holladay, and the children of that marriage were Frederick Owen Holladay (my grandfather), James Douglas Holladay, Martha Holladay (ZEIGER), and Mary Holladay (FORNI). 

Anyway, here's the Stribling arms (enlarged but somewhat pixellated).