First of all I would like to add a tip one of the readers shared from last weeks’ article on removing photos from magnetic photo album pages: she suggests and has tried after digitalizing the photos to play safe of course but try placing the pages and put them in the freezer. After a couple hours the photos popped right out. The photos are still in good shape to this day. Thank you for this tip. The coat of arms is something very interesting to locate and research on your family tree. The coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield usually. The design is a symbol unique to an individual person or family. Coats of arms came into general use by feudral lords and knights in battle in the 12th century. By the 13th century coats of arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a flag or emblem for families in the higher social classes and is usually inherited from one generation to another. The one who had the right to carry arms depended on what country you were from. Armor made everyone look the same, so for safely their decorated their outfits with distinctive patterns called arms. When families married they merged their arms by dividing their shield. Then when their children married it was divided again and so on after every generation. If you start looking for your coat of arms for the different surnames in your family you can find them at www.houseofnames.com When looking at your coat of arms you will notice the different colors of the coats. The different colors mean different things for the families. If your family coat of arms is yellow it means generosity (so your family was generous), if the coat is purple it means justice and sovereignty, blue means strength and loyalty, black means constancy and grief, maroon means victorious and patient in battle, silver/white means sincerity and peace, red means warrior, martyr and military strength, green means hope and loyalty in love and orange means worthwhile ambition.By looking at the website you will also be able to find out what country of origin the particular surname came from. Again if anyone has any questions email me at treeshaker.tlc08@gmail.com
