Coats-of-Arms in Virginia; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 2, No. 4, 1894

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Coats-of-Arms in Virginia

   William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 2, No. 4,
   (Apr., 1894), pp. 266-267.

                             COATS-OF-ARMS IN VIRGINIA.

   ABRAHALL.  I have seen an old deed of the seventeenth century, of Col. Robert Abrahall, of
New Kent County, to William Bassett, with a seal in wax stamped with the arms of Abrahall of
Herefordshire.  Az. three hedgehogs (or porcupines) or. Crest - A hendgehog ppr.

   NICHOLSON.  Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins, of Richmond, has a handsome silver tankard orginally
belonging to Dr. Robert Nicholson (her ancestor), of Yorktown, who married Elizabeth, daughter
of Dudley Digges, member of hte Committee of Safety.  On it is cut R.M.N., and a ducal crown,
out of it an arm grasping a battle-axe.  She has also other silver with the same crest.

   MANN.  The tomb of Mrs. Mary Mann who died 18th March, 1703-4, and lies buried at "Timber
Neck", Gloucester County, has a fesse embattled and counter-embattled between three goats
passant, the same as Mann, of counties Kent and Norfolk, without the pellets, which I do not
recollect seeing.  [For an account of Mrs. Mann see "Page Family."]

   PAGE.  The tomb of Elizabeth Page (daughter of Matthew Page) who died at "Timber Neck" in
1693, has within a lozenge a cross engrailed with a conch shell in the upper right hand corner.
These arms are different from any on the other Page tombs.

   GOODWIN.  Recent investigations in England by Mr. Henry F. Waters show that Major James
Goodwin, of York County, Va., was the son of Peter Goodwin, salter of London, who in 1633-'34
recorded his arms and pedigree in the Visitation of that year.  The arms seem to be:  Per
pale gules and or, a lion rampant between thre fleurs-de-lis counter changed.  Peter was the
son of Robert Goodwin, and Robert the sone of Henry, of county Bucks.

   LONG.  The tombstone of "Mr. John Long of Ramsgate, in the County of Kent, in Great
Britain, commander of the ship John and Mary, who departed this life the 24th of July, 1736,
aged twenty-five years", at the site of old Blissland Church in New Kent County, has a shield
charged with a lion rampant, and for crest a lion's head.

Page 267.

   CARTER.  I visited the tomb of Judith Carter, summer before last, in company with Mr. W.
G. Stanard.  It stands just outside of Christ Church, Lancaster County, which retains the old
pews and pulpit of two hundred years ago.  The church is a splendid colonial relic, worthy of
preservation, but the widows are broken and the church is now deserted.  Near the tomb of
Judith are the shattered remains of the tomb of the Hon. Robert Carter, her husband - 
evidencing what must have been, with its carvings and fancy work, the handsomest thing of its
kind in Virginia.  Judith Carter's tomb has two shields, - the first representing Carter - a
chevron between three cart wheels - impaling three crosses crosslets; the second representing
Carter impaling Ludlow - a chevron between three martens' heads.  [In the library of William
and Mary is a book, Course of Experimental Philosophy, by J. T. Desaguiliers, printed at 
London in 1745, in which there is a book-plate of Cary Ludlow, having as crest a lion rampant,
and as arms three animals' heads, identical with those on the tomb of Judith Carter, and which
I suppose are intended for martens' heads].  The three crosses in the first shield have not
been satisfactorily identified.  The mother of Robert Carter was Sarah Ludlow.  The fragment
of his own tombstone bears the Carter arms surmounted by the Carter crest, described in a
previous number of the QUARTERLY.