Coat of Arms History

Coat Of Arms

History

In the 1970's my grandfather Charles McCulloh, Sr. gave me a watercolor painting of the McCulloh coat of arms. I thought this was wonderful and I still proudly display the framed painting in my library today. I also enjoyed seeing this image on the McCulloh Reunion banner when I came to the reunion in 2006. As I recall, Grandpa told me he had done some research along with the assistance of a genealogical artist and had arrived at what he felt was an accurate representation of the McCulloh coat of arms. In recent years I have found other images of the McCulloh coat of arms and they are very close to the version Grandpa developed.

But, I have also learned a little more about heraldry in general and have found that, although this image may indeed have been one of our ancestor's coat-of-arms, there is really no such thing as a McCulloh coat-of-arms in a general sense and no way at present for us to know whether this image is one of our direct ancestors designs.

Originally coats-of-arms were used by medieval knights to make their armor and shield stand out in battles or tournaments and to enable quick recognition by allies or spectators. The designs were used to decorate clothing worn over the knight's armor; thus the term "coat of arms." In addition to being painted on the shield, elements of a knight's coat of arms were used to decorate the helmet crest, pavilion, and banners used by knights and lords.

In Scottish heraldic traditions, an individual (rather than a family) possesses a coat of arms. Coats of arms are passed from father to son as legal property, and are not used by more than a single individual at the same time (other than the eldest son and his eldest son both of whom would differentiate with a label). Other children in these families may only use a form of their father's arms that are "differenced" with a change to a color or addition of a distinguishing symbol or design once they obtain specific approval. In Scotland the Lord Lyon has criminal jurisdiction to enforce the laws of arms. Here in the United States of America, there are no laws governing the use of heraldic symbols.

Legend surrounding the McCulloh name says that in the time of the Crusades, a Scottish warrior carrying on his shield a boar was conspicuous for his prowess and personal daring in the Holy Land. On his return, William the Lion, in recognition of his prowess, granted him the lands of Myrton, Glasserton and Auchtnaught. Boar in Gaelic, the old Galloway tongue, is cullach. The soldier adopted as his patronymic the word Cullach; his son would have been called MacCullach.

Many unrelated families share the same surname. Strictly speaking, any individual's claim to use a specific historical coat of arms rests on a family link with an ancestor known to have used those arms. Sharing a surname does not mean that you share the right to the same arms. A fairly small fraction of society ever actually bore arms and used coats of arms at any time. Although arms were used throughout the social scale, it was much more likely at the top than at the bottom. Most Americans are descended from lower-class immigrants. (This is certainly true of our branch of the McCullohs.) Statistically, then, the chance that a direct ancestor of ours bore arms is not very high. And, since we are of Scottish descent the Scottish heraldic authority would require a well-documented pedigree, probably stretching over several centuries, if we actually wished to matriculate arms.

So, although we can not, in a truly technical sense, claim this design as our historic coat of arms, we are certainly free in this country to display and use this or any heraldic design as we see fit.