How Do You Spell "Lazenby"?

I have often been heard to state that spelling in times past was a bit more "flexible" that it is today. But back then, people wrote down what they heard, rather than worrying overmuch about a specific spelling of a name. The example from my own family history that I like to use is the varying colonial era spellings of one particular surname: Bigelow. The spellings for that name run the gamut from the very short Biglo to the much longer than necessary Biggalough.

The Heraldic Journal, Vol. II, pp. 129-130, gives us a lot of biographical and genealogical information about the person memorialized in the next tombstone (along with two of my own explanatory footnotes):

        Mr. Joseph Lasinby, Died Sept. 9th 1774 Aged 80 years. The family of Leasonbee, Lasenbee, Lasinby, or however the name may be varied, is, we believe, not recorded by Savage.[*] Still, Thomas and Mercy L. of Boston had born here, Thomas, 21 January, 1688; Benjamin, 27 August, 1691; Joseph, 20 August, 1694; Mary, 22 April, 1696, and Margaret, 5 March, 1699. Thomas probably d. about 5 April, 1717, when his will is dated. His widow Mercy survived till near 30 December, 1732, when the heirs signed a division of their father’s estate. These were Thomas L. and Zeruiah his wife, Joseph L. and wife Elizabeth, widow Mercy Bant, and Mary, wife of Alexander Chamberlain.
        Thomas and Zeruiah Lazenby had a son Thomas, born 31 March, 1725, who died apparently in 1746, when his father administered his estate.
        Joseph Lazenby m. 1st, Mary Proctor, 29 April, 1719, and had Joseph, b. 6 February, 1720; Mary, 26 May, 1721; Mary, 29 December 1722;[**] Benjamin, 10 June, 1724; Benjamin, 26 March, 1726; Elizabeth, 3 June, 1727; Samuel, 19 June, 1728; Mary, 11 August 1729.[**] His wife d. 6 November, 1730, aged 37. He m. 2d, Elizabeth Farmer, 1 July, 1731, and had Benjamin, b. 29 September, 1732; Thomas, b. 19 February, 1733-4; Mary, 3 October, 1735.
        He died, as above shown, 9 September, 1774.

Per The Heraldic Journal, the motto scroll reads “By the Name of Lazinby” (Alas, even enlarging the picture above sufficiently does not give us enough clarity to read the scroll. Again, a downside to having to stay on the paved paths in the burying ground and photographing the heraldry from a distance.)

Bolton’s An American Armory cites: Lasinby. Gules a fess between three cushions argent tasselled or overall a bend sable goutty d’or.
        Crest: A demi-unicorn holding a heart.

His citation is this stone in this burying ground. “’By the name of Lazinby.’ Joseph Lasinby of Boston d. 1774, aged 80 years, Granary Burying Ground, Park St. wall, Boston. Heral. Jour., vol. 2, p. 129.”



* A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, by James Savage, former President of the Massachusetts Historical Society (originally published in Boston, 1860-1862).

** When a child died, its name was usually given to the next-born child of the same sex. This occurred in New England in 80% of all cases where another baby of the same sex was born following the death of a child. Here in the Lazenby family, you can see that this occurred twice.

A BIG Armorial Memorial in Granary Burying Ground, Boston

One of the largest memorials, with heraldry or not, in Granary Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts, is that memorializing John Hancock.

I trust that I don’t really have to give you the biography of John Hancock, the Massachusetts merchant (and smuggler) whose signature appears so large on the Declaration of Independence. If you want to know more about him, he has his own (very long) entry in Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock

That article also has a color image of his coat of arms.

The monolith here is clearly not contemporaneous with Mr. Hancock’s death, being plainly 20th century in style. But above the bust of Mr. Hancock, at its top it has the carved Hancock coat of arms, complete with crest and motto.

Bolton’s An American Armory cites: Hancock. Gules a dexter hand couped erect on a chief argent three cocks gules.
        Crest: A cock gules holding a dexter hand couped at the wrist argent.

And Crozier’s General Armory cites: Hancock. Massachusetts. Nathaniel Hancock, Cambridge, 1652. Gules a hand couped and erect on a chief argent three cocks gules.
        Crest: A cock gules holding a dexter hand couped at the wrist argent.

The crest on the monument differs from those cited, being A demi-griffin wings elevated and addorsed. Oddly, the demi-griffin issues from a torse of seven twists, rather than the usual six.

The motto underneath the arms reads Obsta principiis, "Contrary to principles". I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. I am tempted to read it as a misspelling of Obsta principis (with a single instead of a double "i"), which translates as "Contrary to the prince", which certainly fits well with Mr. Hancock's participation in the Americn Revolution as being "contrary to the Prince" in the person of King George III.

An Armorial Memorial in Granary Burying Ground, Boston

Having completed our review of the armorial headstones and memorials outside and inside King's Chapel in Boston, Massachusetts, we move now a few blocks away to Granary Burying Ground.

The burying ground is a bit of a tourist trap, owing to a number of famous individuals buried there; John Hancock (whose memorial we will see shortly), Benjamin Franklin's parents, the slain in the Boston Massacre of 1770, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, General Dr. Joseph Warren, and a number of others. So what was at the time I visited it, off-season and on a weekday, Granary Burying Ground was full of tourists and tourist guides, leaving me feeling just a little claustrophobic. (The burying ground really isn't all that large: it's only about two acres total in size, with a little over 2,300 grave markers for an estimated 5,000-6,000 interments there.

That said, I was able to get some good photographs of many of the armorial headstones and tombstones in Granary Burying Ground, even with all of the foot traffic there being restricted to the paved paths, which don't always let you get that close to the heraldry to be found there.

The first armorial headstone is that of Richard Sears. (You will probably want to click on the image below to go to the full-size photograph to get some greater detail. As I said, I was having to take pictures from the paved paths, and thus not always as close as I would have liked to be to the heraldry.)

The Heraldic Journal, Vol. II, pp. 137-140, tells us of the family: "Though we do not know the date of this inscribed slab, we presume it has been placed here during the present [19th] century. From information, now made public, we learn that the emigrant ancestor of the Sears family was Richard Sears of Yarmouth, Mass., who died in 1676. He was born in Holland, and was the son of John Bourchieer Sears, by his wife Marie L., dau. of Philippe Van Egmonde of Amsterdam.
        "Richard Sears of Yarmouth had sons Knyvet, Paul, and Silas, of whom Knyvet died in England in 1686, at the residence of his relative Catherine, daughter of Sir John Knyvet. By wife Elizabeth Dimoke he had a son Daniel, b. in 1682, who had three sons, Richard and David, both killed at Culloden, and Daniel, b. in 1719. This Daniel, by wife Fear Freeman, had sons Richard and Daniel, whose lines are extinct, and David, b. in 1752, who was a great purchaser of lands in Maine, and married Ann Winthrop. His only son is Hon. David Sears of Boston, who married Miriam Clarke, dau. of Hon. Jona. Mason. Mr. Sears is too well known in Boston to render any sketch of his public services necessary. He has had ten children."

Bolton’s An American Armory gives us the colors of the arms: Sears. Gules a chevron argent between three eagles (or pewits) proper on a chief ermine an escallop between two mullets gules.
        Crest: An eagle displayed wings inverted.

And Crozier’s General Armory cites: Sears. Massachusetts. Richard Sears Plymouth, 1630. (Colchester, Essex.) Gules a chevron argent between three eaglets proper on a chief ermine an escallop between two mullets argent.
        Crest: An eagle displayed wings inverted proper.
        Mottoes: (1) Exaltat humiles. (2) Honor et fides.

While the motto on the belt surrounding the shield reads “Exaltat humiles,” I believe that it should be: Exaltavit humiles (He hath exalted the humble). But what do I know?