Naval Heraldry in Norfolk

So, after making my way through the naval museum at Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia, guess what I went to see next?

This is BB-64, the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship, now decommissioned and acting as a living museum.

And you'll never guess (well, unless you are familiar with this blog) what I found there.  That's right, heraldry!  This was a painted coat of arms of the Wisconsin.

And here's a more "official" version that I found on-line of the same, well, not same, exactly, but similar, coat of arms.  I mean, the stars on the shield, the crest, and the motto are the same, as are the designators USS Wisconsin and BB64.  But really, did no one notice the difference between a propeller and a ship's wheel surmounted by the arms of the United States?  It seems to me that it would have been fairly obvious.  But what do I know?

And up on the side of the battleship was this bit of heraldry, for the Destroyer Cruiser Flotilla Eight.

And here's a patch with those arms (again, found on-line).

I've not seen anything yet that definitely places the Wisconsin as a part of that flotilla.  It's possible that she was, and it's also possible that the men of the flotilla are among the donors and supporters of the Wisconsin as a museum.

Either way, it's heraldry, which, as I have said so often, you can find everywhere!  In this case, sitting at a dock in Norfolk, Virginia.

Eastward, Ho! A Follow-Up

Having had the time to do a little more research into the naval heraldry noted in my last post, I feel pretty safe in identifying the ship from which that particular bow decoration came from as being the armored cruiser ACR-2 USS New York.  (The ACR-1, which was later designated as a second class battleship, was the USS Maine, of "Remember the ..." fame.)

My reasons for believing the arms belonged to the New York are several: first, the word "Excelcior" (which I believe is a misspelled "Excelsior"); second, the eagle over the shield; and finally, the two human figure "supporters" seen in profile on each side of the arms.  So why exactly does that make me think "New York"?  Well, this does: the arms of the State of New York.

See what I mean?  Compare this achievement with the external ornaments (or to use a different term, artistic "frou-frou") about the shield of the arms of the United States in my last post, below.

And here is a photograph of the New York, with the eagle showing quite prominently above the shield on the bow.

And here is another, taken from the starboard side.  If you click on the picture here, you should see the full-size version, where details of the bow decoration show up pretty well.

The New York was not, alas, a part of the Great White Fleet which circumnavigated the globe under President Theodore Roosevelt.  She did, however, have a long and active service, being at one time the flagship of the Pacific Fleet.

All in all, a really great piece of heraldry, and history, to have run across!

Eastward, Ho!

I had been asked once again to speak to the Virginia Beach Genealogy Society (this was my third time out there; they must really like me!) and found that, once again, you can find heraldry wherever you go.

In this specific instance, since I had all day before the presentation to "play tourist" and see the sight, I was visiting the Nauticus Maritime Museum in Norfolk.  It's a really great place to visit; they've got a lot to see (including BB64, the USS Wisconsin battleship, but more about that in another post), with a great series of exhibits that covers basically the history of the United States Navy from its founding until today.  Among a whole lot of other things, they've got a piece of the armor plating of the USS Monitor (on loan from the Mariner's Museum in Newport News), as well as a cannonball and the ship's bell from the Monitor's famous opponent, the CSS Virginia (an ironclad ship built on the hull of the former USS Merrimac).

But when I came to the section of the Museum dedicated to the Great White Fleet sent by President Theodore Roosevelt on a circumnavigation of the globe from December 1907 to February 1909, I ran across the following bit of heraldry:

It is, of course, the arms of the United States done in a really nice carving that decorated the prow of one of those pre-WWI warships.  You can see how it would have been mounted  on the ship based on the model below.

What a wonderful piece of heraldic carving, from the shield of the arms to the very fierce-looking eagle above to the scroll with the word "Excelcior" below, to the leafy foliage on each side as well as the human figures supporting the cartouche on which the arms are placed.

There is, as many of you will no doubt see for yourselves, an error in the arms, though.  Instead of being Paly [or for the purists out there, paleways] of thirteen Argent and Gules a chief Azure, the colors of the vertical stripes have been switched, making them Gules and Argent.  An easy enough mistake to make, I suppose, except perhaps for "us heralds."  I've certainly seen it often enough in renditions in various media of the national coat of arms.  At least they didn't put any stars on the chief, which is a even more common error, conflating as it does the national arms with the national flag.

But what a great piece of naval history, and heraldic art, to find while playing tourist!

What Not To Do

Or this post could be subtitled: "The Kitchen Sink School of Heraldry."  (Because it seems like the designers have tried to include everything, including the kitchen sink.)

Over the years I have acquired a lot of images of heraldry as used here in the United States and elsewhere.  Some of it is very good; a lot of it is fair; and some of it is, well, really bad.

One example that appears as an example of this last is the "arms" of the State of Alabama.  (Whose state motto is sometimes, jokingly, said to be, "At least we're not Mississippi.")

As you can see, it's a bit of a mash-up, consisting as it does of the arms or flags of the several nations which have claimed its territory over the past few centuries: France, Spain, Great Britain, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.  It could be blazoned "briefly," I suppose, as Quarterly, 1, France modern [Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or]; 2, Spain [Quarterly, 1 and 4, Gules a tower or castle Or (Castile), 2 and 3, Argent a lion rampant Gules (Leon)]; 3, the Union flag (1801 to present, for Great Britain); and 4, the battle flag of the Confederate States of America (Gules on a saltire Azure fimbriated 13 mullets Argent); overall, an inescutcheon Paly of thirteen Gules and Argent a chief Azure (which last is almost but not quite the arms of the United States, reversing as it does the red and white stripes).  Additionally, the use of the arms of the U.S. on an inescutcheon would seem to state that Alabama's progeny will inherit the United States, at least heraldically.

Another example of the same kitchen-sink school of heraldic design can be found in the arms of the City of Winchester, Virginia.

Here, too, we have flags and arms in a quarterly shield, this time the earlier version of the Union flag (1606-1801), the central image of an Amazon having slain Tyranny from the seal of the State of Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_virginia), the Confederate battle flag (without the fimbriation of the saltire), and yet another, different allusion to the arms of the United States, Gules two pallets Argent on a chief Azure three mullets Argent.  As noted above, the arms of the U.S. are Paly of thirteen Argent and Gules, a chief Azure (thirteen stripes, not five; white on the outer sides, not red; and no stars on the chief).

A Final Bit More Heraldry in Virginia Beach

Heading back out of Virginia the morning after my presentation to the Virginia Beach Genealogy Society, I spotted the following advertisement for Tactical Distributors.com in the airport there.

And, sure enough, tucked in amongst the logos of the companies whose goods they carry were a couple of heraldic ones.

I find it interesting that the less heraldic one (Luminox) is on a shield shape (divided per fess with the words Lumi and Nox on it) ...

while the more heraldic one (if you ignore the violation of the rule of contrast, that says “color shall not be placed upon color,” and red on black is color on color) (LBT Tactical Gear) is simply displayed on a rectangle (Sable a lion rampant to sinister gules).

There is also the one that doesn’t jump out at you - at first - but which I thought had the most innovative combination of heraldry and logo.

It’s the logo for Nemo, which is the letter N designed to look like a shield with a bend on it.

Now, how cool is all that?

Some Military and Civilian Heraldry in Virginia Beach

Having made my way out the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach (the destination of my wandering about that day, as I noted in my last post here), I was pleasantly surprised to find not only a B-17G parked out back, but a Junkers Ju-52 trimotor transport plane from WWII.

And, of course, it had some German heraldry on its nose.

Sitting amongst the other planes in the hanger, there was a Spitfire Mark IX ...

With a really great heraldic hunting horn painted on its side.

But airplanes are not the only thing the museum there has. Here was a nice old Jaguar ...

With that great Jaguar Cars Ltd. logo of a jaguar’s head cabossed (face on, with no neck showing).

What a great way to spend a part of the day!

Heraldry in Virginia Beach

Having some free time before my presentation in Virginia Beach, I thought I’d go back out to the Military Aviation Museum they have there and see some more old airplanes. (Long before I got bitten by the heraldry bug, I was a WWII aviation enthusiast.) But, as I have noted before, you can find heraldry everywhere, and on my way to the museum I passed the West Neck Creek Equestrian Center.

Which has, for its logo, a semi-heraldic design.

If I had to try to blazon it, it would be something like: Argent, a polo mallet bendwise sinister azure surmounted by a bend argent, overall a spur fesswise argent interlaced in bend with the letters W and N sable. The shield is “supported” (or surrounded) by a bridle and bit.

Hey, just because you can find heraldry everywhere doesn’t mean that it’s always pretty.

Emergency Heraldry in Virginia Beach, Virginia

I traveled to Virginia recently to give another presentation to the Virginia Beach Genealogy Society. They're a really nice bunch of folks, and I was tickled pink to be asked back by them. I was packing light, but had pulled the shirt I wanted to wear for the presentation out of the wardrobe, and had checked it against several of my heraldic ties to decide which one of those I wanted to take with me to wear at the presentation. So far, so good. Then I arrived in Virginia Beach and unpacked. No tie. Apparently, I had left the tie in the tie rack in the wardrobe.

So I had to do some emergency shopping. Do you know how hard it is to find a necktie with an heraldic theme when you’re actually looking for one? I went to the nearby mall, with several large department stores. No heraldic ties. I went to a couple of men’s shops in the mall. No heraldic ties. I finally ended up at a Men’s Wearhouse nearby – the fifth store I tried – and Bingo! Not one, but two ties with an heraldic theme.

I was saved! And now, I have what I think of as my two "Virginia Beach Emergency Backup Ties." Unless, of course, I forget to pack them, too.

An American Civic Coat of Arms

One of the links on the page that I spoke of in my last post was to a .pdf document that gives a rendition, blazon and discussion of the coat of arms of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

It is an interesting little one-page paper, highlighting an American coat of arms that I hadn’t seen before. For those of you who might be interested, the direct link to the .pdf is: http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/uploadedFiles/coat_of_arms_symbolism.pdf

An English-American Coat of Arms

In an article published today, May 9, 2011, entitled "This Week In Hampton Roads History" which goes through the archives of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, the following was published this week in 1961:

Astronaut Alan Shepard’s space capsule has been given a place of honor alongside a settler, a buffalo, a crab and an Indian chief on a new coat of arms adopted by the city of Hampton. The new coat was designed by the College of Arms, official custodian of heraldry in England. Hampton is the only city in the United States to have a coat of arms designed and awarded by the ancient English court of heraldry. The crest of the seal depicts a Chesapeake Bay crab holding the capsule in its claws to denote the city’s seafood industry and the presence of NASA at Langley Air Force Base.

We won't get into all of the errors in this brief news story.  On the plus side, though, at least they use the term "crest" to correctly refer to the crest and not to the coat of arms or the entire achievement!

Looking about on the city's website, I was unable to find their fifty-year-old coat of arms, and elsewhere I was only able to find small renderings of the city's seal. This one is typical of the depictions that I could find.

The "This Week In Hampton Roads History" news item about Hampton's coat of arms can be found on-line at: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/week-hampton-roads-history-0

Leaving Virginia

So there we were, making our way across the airport parking lot after having dropped off our rental car, intent only on getting into the terminal, checking our bags, and getting to our gate on time for our flight home. And what, do you think do we see while we are on our way? That’s right. Another coat of arms!

This time it was the arms of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, bold as brass (well, okay, aluminum) on the license plate of an auto in the parking lot at the airport. (According to VPI’s website, this is their “traditional seal.” Their “logo” consists of a shield and the words “Virginia Tech” in a specific typeface.) The shield on the seal is, like so many American arms designed by committee,* quartered, but each quarter is of the same tincture. The charges on the shield, all in white, are, as best I can make them out: First: the central figure from the seal of the State of Virginia, Virtus, the Roman goddess of virtue, standing over a defeated opponent (or as I usually think of it, standing atop some dead guy); Second: a scroll bendwise surmounted by a staff bendwise sinister being held by a (disembodied) sinister hand aversant couped in chief, overall a tripod ensigned with what appears to be a footed flat bowl; Third: a retort atop a square brazier containing a fire, distilling to sinister into a tall glass of some kind; and Fourth: An ear of corn (maize), shucked open. The crest above the shield is: A lamp of knowledge with a dexter hand (also disembodied) couped reaching for the lamp lid’s finial. Below the shield is their motto: Ut prosim (That I may be of use). All within, of course, the circular legend that gives the institution’s full name, in case you couldn’t identify it from the coat of arms, crest, and motto .

Anyway, we had a great time in Virginia, and I look forward to the next time we have the opportunity to go there. Given all of the pictures of heraldry that I took, it’s hard to believe that we were there for only a week. I’ve said it before, and I will (no doubt) say it again: You can find heraldry everywhere!


* Or as I sometimes think of it, the “kitchen sink” school of heraldic design, since they seem to throw in just about everything, including the kitchen sink!

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 9

For our last stop in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, we have the grave of Fitzhugh Lee (1835–1905). “Fitz” Lee, the grandson of Richard Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee of Revolutionary War fame and a nephew of General Robert E. Lee, was a Confederate cavalry general in the Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish-American War. He is shown here as he appeared during the Civil War, and again later as governor of Virginia.

No less a figure than J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee’s cavalry commander (who is also buried next to his wife, in Hollywood Cemetery), said shortly after the Gettysburg campaign that Lee was "one of the finest cavalry leaders on the continent, and richly [entitled] to promotion." Lee was promoted to major general in the Confederate army on August 3, 1863.

Fitzhugh Lee is buried under an obelisk bearing the coat of arms of the Lee family of Virginia, which arms are known to have also been used by his uncle and (at least the pronomial coat in the first and fourth quarters) by his grandfather.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 8

Our next bit of heraldry comes from a memorial placed in the cemetery by the John Marshall High School Corps of Cadets as a memorial to their members who have given their lives in the service of their country.

The John Marshall High School was founded in 1909; the Corps of Cadets in 1915.

The arms used as the badge of the JMHS Corps of Cadets may be blazoned: Azure, a pale argent, overall an arm erect aversant gules maintaining in its fist a hanging balance or, though the pale does not appear on the plaque in the cemetery. It does, however, appear on the shoulder badge of the Corps of Cadets, below. The crest is A bald eagle displayed proper.

The Corps has a webpage at http://jmhscadetcorps.org/ on which can be found a few photographs from its history. There is also a webpage for John Marshall Corps of Cadets Alumni at http://jmhscadetalumni.org/gpage1.html, which has more information on the Corps’ history, and one page of which, “Memorials,” has a black and white photograph of the full plaque in Hollywood Cemetery.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 7

This next bit of heraldry is not technically “in” Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. It was in the rear windshield of a car which was in the parking lot there.

The arms are those of the University of Richmond, Checky argent and gules. Officially, the University’s logo, as they call the shield, also contains “On a chief argent, the words ‘University of’ and ‘Richmond’ azure.”

The University is located six miles from downtown Richmond. It is a liberal arts university which was founded in 1830. Its website, on which its arms appear to have been used sparingly, usually just one small image on each webpage (except in its Trademarks and Logos Style Guide), can be found at http://www.richmond.edu/

Still, it’s a distinctive, clear, and easily identifiable coat of arms, err, pardon me, “logo.” But isn’t that much of the purpose of heraldry? To be distinctive, clear, and easily identifiable?

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 6

Our next bit of heraldry comes from a flag holder at the grave of a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists and displaying the seal of the Society. The seal of the Society consists of a shield bearing an oak tree in full foliage; the border of the shield bears the name “National Society Daughters of the American Colonists.” Surrounding the shield is an open wreath of acorns and oak leaves, ovoid rather than circular, taller than it is wide.

The Society is headquartered in Washington, DC. Its stated goals are: “The object of this Society shall be Patriotic, Historical and Educational; to make research as to the history and deeds of the American colonist and to record and publish the same; to commemorate deeds of colonial interest; to inculcate and foster love of America and its institutions by all its residents; to obey its laws and venerate its flag—the emblem of its power and civic righteousness.”

More information about the NSDAC can be found on their website at: http://www.nsdac.org/

And here’s a color version (in "Colonial Blue" and "Yellow") of their seal from the NSDAC website.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 5

For our next heraldic memorial, we have a "two-fer," the graves of a father and son, both bearing the same coat of arms:  George Cole Scott of Ballyshannon (1875-1932) and George Cole Scott, Jr. (1909-1962).

George Cole Scott, Sr. was a delegate from Virginia to Republican National Convention in 1932.  The arms from his grave are on the left; those of his son, George Cole Scott, Jr. are on the right.  There is a clear difference in the quality of the materials used for each monument, as the older arms (for the elder Scott) are in far better shape than the arms for his son.

The arms may be blazoned as: Or, on a bend azure a mullet of six points between two crescents argent.  The crest is: A stag trippant, and the motto is: Amo (I love).

Burke's General Armory gives the following:

Or on a bend az. an estoile betw. two crescents arg. Scott, Ireland. The patriarchal coat of Scot or Scott. Scott, Baron Earlsfort 10 May 1784, Viscount Clonmel 18 August 1789, Earl of Clonmel 20 December 1793.

and also

Or on a bend az. an estoile (or mullet) betw. two crescents of the first. Scot, Buccleuch, as borne on an inescucheon by James Crofts afterwards Scot, Duke of Monmouth after 22 April 1667, as Duke of Buccleuch, Earl of Dalkeith, Baron Whitchester and Ashdale 20 April 1673, Z, 639 ; and after his attainder, 1685, by his son James Scot (Earl of Doncaster afterwards) Earl of Dalkeith, Z, 644; and by his son Francis Scot, Baron Tyndale and Earl of Doncaster 23 March 1743, Duke of Buccleuch 1732 ; and by his uncle Henry Scot, Baron Goldylinds, Viscount Hermitage, and Earl of Delorain29 March 1706, extinct 1807; Z,644.

Fairbairn's Crests says the motto “Amo” (I love) belongs to “Douglas, Hoops, Montagu-Scott, Scott, and Scote.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 4

The next stop in our tour of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, is the grave of James Branch Cabell (1879-1958).

One of the earliest writers of fantasy, or speculative, fiction, Cabell (pronounced CAB-bell) attacked American orthodoxies and institutions in his best-known novel, Jurgen (1919), a story full of sexual symbolism. His other works, some fifty in all, and many of which are allegories set in an imaginary medieval province, include The Cream of the Jest (1917) and The High Place (1923). Though much praised in the 1920s, his mannered style and skeptical view of human experience fell out of favor with the reading public, and he is hardly known today.  (Except, of course, for the wayward herald trying to identify the coat of arms on his grave!)

His arms may be blazoned: Sable, a horse rampant argent bridled or.  The crest is: A horse as in the arms, and the motto is: Impavide (roughly, Undauntedly). Impavide is also the motto of the 90th Missile Wing, a unit of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command, 20th Air Force, stationed at Warren Air Force Base just west of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Burke's General Armory gives: Cabbell or Cabell: Vert fretty argent, overall a fess gules. Crest: An arm in armor embowed the hand grasping a sword, all proper. Another crest: A square padlock or. Motto: Impavide.  Except for the motto, none of this matches "our" Cabell here.

Crozier's General Armory, however, cites: Capt. William Cabell, Virginia, 1700. Quarterly, first and fourth, Sable a horse rampant argent bridled or; second and third, Azure ten estoiles or, four, three, two and one. Crests: (1) An arm in armor embowed the hand grasping a sword, all proper. (2) A crescent argent surmounted by an estoile or. Apparently no relation to this Cabell, or at the very best but a distant one.

Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials, however, notes Cabell, Buckfastleigh, county Devon: Sable a horse upright argent bridled or, a good match to the arms on the grave here.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 3

Our next bit of heraldry is found on the monument to Joseph Miller (1797-1860), brother of Mrs. Mary Ann (Miller) Harper (1803-1877), who erected this memorial to him and was herself buried there.

Miller was a Marine Engineer and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (its full name is the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge) on March 30, 1843.

A coat of arms appears in two places on the monument, at the top of the column and again on its base. It is quite clearly a single rampant lion on the field. There is also a shield shape on the center front of the column, which I will discuss below.

Burke is of no assistance in finding this coat of arms; none of the Millers he has listed bear a rampant lion on the field. Papworth might possibly be of some help, but he had 34 pages of entries consisting of [Field] + [Beast, Lion], and I have no desire to go blind today reading through all of those entries looking for “Miller”.

All of Mary Ann’s vital information is carved on a shield shape on the front of the monument:

Mrs. Mary Ann

Harper

daughter of

Joseph Miller

born at Brampton

near Carlisle

England

March 20th 1803

died at Farmington

Albemarle Co. Va.

April 8th 1877

All of the information about her brother Joseph and his life and accomplishments is carved on the sinister side of the monument (as you look at it from the front), filling up nearly its entire height.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 2

Our next armorial memorial is that of Dr. James B. McCaw (1823-1906) and his wife, Delia (d. 1891).

It does not contain a coat of arms (although the names of Dr. McCaw and his wife appear on shield shapes), but a crest (though without a torse). It took me a while to decide whether the capital C in McCaw was a C or a G; after careful comparison with the other Cs on the stone that pretty much had to be a C and not a C (like the one in Mc), I decided that it had to be a C.

I didn’t find anything for McCaw in Crozier’s General Armory, Burke’s General Armory, or Fairbairn’s Crests. However, Fairbairn’s gives this crest, In hand a dagger erect proper, and motto, Manu forti (With a strong hand), as that of McCaa (Scotland).

Burke’s has no listing for McCaa or McCaw. But typically there would not be a crest without an accompanying coat of arms, so I looked a little farther afield in potentially related spellings.* Finally, under MacKay, we have the arms Azure on a chevron or between three bears’ heads couped argent muzzled gules a roebuck’s head erased between two hands issuant from the ends of the chevron each holding a dagger all proper, with the crest A dexter arm from the elbow erect, holding a dagger in pale all proper pommel and hilt or, and with the motto Manu forti (Baron Reay, and with differences [bordure gules, engrailed bordure or, and wavy chevron] to several other MacKay’s in the middle to late 18th Century).

Going back to Fairbairn’s and looking under MacKay, we find: A dexter cubit arm erect, in hand a dagger in pale, all proper, hilt and pommel or, with the motto: Manu forti.

There are a couple of photographs of Dr. McCaw taken at different times in his life on-line at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Mccaw&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=22461824&df=all


* Spelling changes occurred regularly on this side of the Atlantic, though not, as is often supposed, at Ellis Island. One reason was the lack of standardization of spelling until the later 1800s and the publication of Noah Webster’s dictionary. Even Mark Twain is supposed to have said that he didn’t have any respect for a man who couldn’t think of more than one way to spell a word. The other reason is that the person who wrote the name was not always the person who bore it, leading to misspellings from mishearing or misunderstanding the name. In my own family, the surname Forbes turned in two to three generations into Forbush, by way of New England clerks writing the name as they heard it from the bearer, Daniel Forbes, who was born in northern Scotland and apparently had a strong Gaelic accent. Forbes (two syllables, FOR-bess) became in the ears of at least one clerk "Farrabbas," and shortly thereafter turned into Forbush.

Hollywood Cemetery, Part 1

Our first coat of arms from Hollywood Cemetery is from the monument of Dr. James Bolton (1812-1869). In addition to the arms, there is a motto scroll, but there is nothing written or engraved on the scroll. The helmet is of a common 19th C style, one which is impossible to have actually been worn (you'd never fit your head through the neck portion), with the mantling issuant horizontally from the sides of the helm like water gushing from a fire hose. The crest is perched atop the helm issuing from a stiff torse that sits at a rakish angle to the helm. (Again, not something that could have been done back in the days when real wreaths and crests were affixed to real helmets.)

Crozier’s General Armory gives the arms as: Sable, a falcon close argent, armed or (another: beaked, membered, jessed and belled or), one charged on the breast with a cross (John Bolton, New York), the other with a trefoil slipped proper (Robert Bolton, Pennsylvania). Crest: A falcon of the shield (the other: A falcon close argent as in the arms).

Burke’s General Armory has:

Bolton (Bolton, co. Lancaster) Sable a hawk argent. Crest: A hawk belled argent.
Bolton (Lord Mayor of London, 1667). Same Arms.

I don’t see anything on the breast of the falcon in the arms here, but that does not necessarily mean that nothing is supposed to be there.

Find-A-Grave gives a brief biography of Dr. Bolton: “Pioneering Physician. He received his MD from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1836. Taking up practice in Richmond, Bolton took an early interest in eye diseases at a time when ophthalmology was not considered a separate specialty. He published many medical papers in the 1840s and 1850s and his papers describing the use of ether and chloroform during surgery are credited with encouraging many physicians concerning the safety of anesthetics. During the Civil War, he was commissioned a surgeon in the Confederate Army and served at various hospitals around Richmond. He was one of the founders of Richmond's Bellevue Hospital (1854). (bio by: Garver Graver)” (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSfbid=46521264&GRid=6991736)