Colonial Crest Badges

[Reanm8er]

I found these crest badges on an ancient rotted horse collar.



My research says they're from the Barrrowe family of England. I'm pretty sure they were Lord Fairfax grantees but can't substantiate that. Any info on the family
or it's history in the UK would be most welcome. As a result of my research, I've discovered that I live on a tract sectioned off of their original plantation. It was quite a large tract of land with multiple family dwellings on it. The size of the tract and the crest badges are what leads me to think they were grantees. After discovering these facts I subsequently copied the medallion and made an amulet.




Thanks for reading!

 

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[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[CRUSADER]

This site suggests its the Sleigh family crest.

Email the site owner he will help you, he used to be registered on here.

https://sites.google.com/site/liverybuttonsidentified/home/lions-demi

 

[A2coins]

Wowza sweet finds silver also those are really cool

 

[Reanm8er]

Thanks Crusader, I'd hoped you'd comment, as I'm sure you have better access to related info on your side of the Atlantic!

I had quite a time IDing this crest. I spent a great deal of time looking at crests on line and could only come vaguely close. While looking at the badge I noticed the design of the cross and was able to find images that IDed it as a "Fitched cross with crosslets". After looking at many images on line with that search string I finally found an ad photo from a jeweler in London that matched the crest perfectly. One of their main business features was crest jewelry carved from semi precious stones. I wrote to them and sent photos. In a couple of weeks I got an email back. They included a copy of a page from Fairbairn's Book of Crests that showed the exact image with a complete description. The text included seven surnames associated with the crest and Barrowe was at the top of the list. I had a computer meltdown soon after that and lost all that info, so I can't say if Sleigh was on the list or not. Here is a link directly to Fairbairn's Book-https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsbookof01fair/page/n53 .

I searched as best I could for listings of historic homes in Virginia and West Virginia but could only find a listing for Barrowe/Barrow. For some reason in Virginia even from colonial times the census takers wrote in script. Often they didn't speak to the landowners but to any credible Caucasian individual they came to. Reason being it saved traipsing all over several hundred acres trying to find the Squire. Hence names got written down like they sounded or misspelled and subsequent census lists may have reflected those mistakes. And of course since I'm living on a piece of the Barrowe plantation I'm a little partial in that direction.

Best wishes and thanks to all for reading!

 

[Hawks88]

Nice finds. Congrats and congrats to Cru. For the research and ID Well done.

 

[CRUSADER]

Thanks Crusader, I'd hoped you'd comment, as I'm sure you have better access to related info on your side of the Atlantic!

I had quite a time IDing this crest. I spent a great deal of time looking at crests on line and could only come vaguely close. While looking at the badge I noticed the design of the cross and was able to find images that IDed it as a "Fitched cross with crosslets". After looking at many images on line with that search string I finally found an ad photo from a jeweler in London that matched the crest perfectly. One of their main business features was crest jewelry carved from semi precious stones. I wrote to them and sent photos. In a couple of weeks I got an email back. They included a copy of a page from Fairbairn's Book of Crests that showed the exact image with a complete description. The text included seven surnames associated with the crest and Barrowe was at the top of the list. I had a computer meltdown soon after that and lost all that info, so I can't say if Sleigh was on the list or not. Here is a link directly to Fairbairn's Book-https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsbookof01fair/page/n53 .

I searched as best I could for listings of historic homes in Virginia and West Virginia but could only find a listing for Barrowe/Barrow. For some reason in Virginia even from colonial times the census takers wrote in script. Often they didn't speak to the landowners but to any credible Caucasian individual they came to. Reason being it saved traipsing all over several hundred acres trying to find the Squire. Hence names got written down like they sounded or misspelled and subsequent census lists may have reflected those mistakes. And of course since I'm living on a piece of the Barrowe plantation I'm a little partial in that direction.

Best wishes and thanks to all for reading!

All very good but one of the main issues you will have to tie it down to one of the many options is that with metal items there are rarely any colours & just the change of colour of the cross for example will change the family.

 

[CRUSADER]

PS. They are very rare items, that I've yet to find

 

[namxat]

I dont know if this helps or only adds confusion, yet since the doward arm of the cross is pointed its is also called a Santiago Cross or in english a Cross of St. James.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Saint_James

A google picture search for "Lion Cross of St. James" did not bring me any useable results.


Greeets Namxat

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Very cool!!!!!!

 

[Reanm8er]

The dagger like end of the cross is what is referred to as fitched in English heraldry. I agree CRUSADER even the coloration of the tufts below the lion are of varied colors.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Now those are some different finds. Congrats on the pair.

 

[sprailroad]

I really like what you've found, special stuff, and of course CRUSADER "IS" our English source.

 

[CRUSADER]

I really like what you've found, special stuff, and of course CRUSADER "IS" our English source.

Thanks but I've never studied heraldry in any depth. Very specialist subject, I only specialist broadly across all British finds.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome finds, thank you for sharing!

 

[Reanm8er]

I have to confess, I had one advantage. My mother was a professional genealogist and so is my sister. The Daughter's Of The American Revolution are a sought after group for ladies to join but you have to be able to prove your descendancy from a real vet. There are no associate members. My mother had done so much research on those families that she had index cards on probably 85% of the men who served from the Shenandoah Valley. At one time my mother could prove a lineage and never leave her chair. Those records are now in a local historical museum. My sister, on the other hand, has focused on a much larger spectrum of Valley life and not so much on the Revolution. When I got the list of names from Fairbairn's she mulled them around a bit and could find a listing for a Barrowe/Barrow vet from Shenandoah County, Va. At one time Shenandoah encompassed the modern counties of Page and most of Warren so the original site is close by. It must have taken some real stones to send a son to the Patriot army while sitting on a Royal land grant. Or perhaps he "Runnoft".

Best wishes for all your kind comments and helpful hints!

 

[Possum]

Sweet saves Reanm8er[FONT=Tahoma,Calibri,Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif], love that silver!!! "D"[/FONT]

 

[sprailroad]

Thanks but I've never studied heraldry in any depth. Very specialist subject, I only specialist broadly across all British finds.

Even still, good enough for this "Colonial" CRUSADER.

 

[Whyme]

Awesome find! Very cool! Congrats!