A Crest is the wooden or cloth symbol (icon) which a soldier wore on his helmet to be identified easily on the field of battle. It was much higher than his head, and gave others an easy visual location of him. He wanted it to be unique so his allies would not mistake him for a foe since his face was covered by the helmet.
The the "coat of Arms" originated as a painted shield in the time of Richard I when the christian Knights on the Crusades painted a herald or ensign on their shield for quick identification. The painted shield was often complete with a decoration which may match the crest to a degree, which also was intended to identify the bearer.
The Herald was the individual who knew the rules of jousting and combat, and who was welcomed in the home of the land-owner as a teacher and umpire to the (often bloody) sport. Heraldry was/is the study, the science, and the law of who was authorized to wear and display these publicized symbols and crests. The Court of Heraldry last convened in 1962 to determine ownership of a "coat of arms".
Several family names from the following list have included members who have been awarded a crest and a coat of arms to identify their specific family. The symbols which were chosen then may be useful to others who carry the same surname, even if not a lineal descendant of the owner. Crests and the rights to display and wear them are inherited estates. All sons of armingers could wear the crests, though minor changes were dictated by the rules of Heraldry to indicate which son.
Here are several symbols which were awarded to the specific named families. As the following very incomplete list indicates, there may be a pattern among those of the same name, but there may also be entirely separate families of the same name with completely different symbols. The similarities between a horse, a sea-horse, and a unicorn in one family indicates "differencing" among descendants, each descendant of whom was proud of his own individual exploits. Misrepresentation today in the United States by claiming and copying an old published "Coat of Arms" would only be committing the "crime" of bad taste .
A researcher may feel compelled to trace one or more families listed in this volume to England someday, and the complexity of the task is indicated below.

• Applegate - a demi-heraldric tiger gu.
• Abrahall of Herefordshire - a hedgehog ppr (purple)
• Bettison of Kent - a lion's head erased sa collared arg
• Carty- Carte -
• COLEMAN
  • Coleman - a horse's head erased ppr.
  • Coleman of London - a nag's head erased sa, mained bridled arg, tassled or.
  • Coleman of Bexley Lodge, Norwich -a cross patonced gu, surmounted by a unicorn's head erased arg, charged w/ three roses in chevrons of the first.
  • Coleman of Wiltshire - a caltrap or between two winged arg.
  • Coleman of Merrot, Somersetshire - a bull's head erased gu, cherged w/ a crescent arg.
  • Coleman - a demi-grey hounds sa, collared arg.
  • Coleman - out of a ducal coronet, a grey hound's head erased gu.
• COTTON
  • Cotton of Cambridge - a griffin's head erased arg.
  • Cotton of Suffolk - a griffin's head erased arg.
  • Cotton - a griffin's head holding a gauntlet ppr.
  • Cotton - a hawk's head erased
  • Cotton of Staffordshire & Worchester - a hawk ppr beaked & legged or.
  • Cotton - a hawk ppr beaked & bellied or.
  • Cotton of Shropshire & Hants.- a falcon w/ wings expanded holding dexter a belt and sinister a buckle.
  • Cotton of Durham - a falcon ppr w/ wings expanded holding dexter a belt and sinister a buckle.
  • Cotton of Glouchester - five snakes tied head to head, ppr in chief.
  • Cotton of Surrey - lion's head gorged w/ hank of cotton fessway arg.
  • Cotton of Staffordshire & Leics.- an eagle displayed arg.
  • Cotton of Hants.- out of a ducal coronet or, a demi-eagle displayed or.
  • Cotton - a cornish clough, a cotton hank all ppr in beak.
• CROOME
• Epps of Kent - a chaplet vert, flowered, or a falcon rising.
• Gimber (Gimbert) - a bear's head muzzled, erased (no body).
• HEDGES
  • Hedges of London, Knt - three white swans heads, ripped off, and one natural swan head as a crest.
  • Hedges of Alderton, Wiltshire, Knt - three white swans heads, ripped off, and one natural swan head as a crest.
  • Hedges of Romney, Hamptontshire, Knt - SA on a chief or three mascules (diamonds outlines).
  • Hedges-White - Earl of Bantry - one swan's head (for Hedges) and a storke for White and booted leg for Eyre family.
  • the swan pair lived in the holy spring of URD and dwelt beneath the woeld tree called YGGDRASIL, and their wings were as the Valkyre. The swan is white, with a red beak, and some black above the nostrils. The black swan is the emblem of the de Bohuns. A male swan is a cob, a female is a pen, and hatchlings are cygnets.
  • Hedges - a pomigranite stacked w/ branches of leaves.
• ISHAM
  • Isham of Lamport, Northhamptonshire - a demi-swan - On things transitory resteth no glory.!
  • Isham of Bramston, Northhamptonshire - a demi-swan
• MEAD
  • Mead - a reindeer tripant vert (standing ready to move)
  • Mead of Dublin - a pelican in her piety ( pellican hovering over nest of young)
  • Mead - a ducal cornet w/ eagle displayed
  • Meade of Clanwilliam - Eagles
• Onesby- O (son of) + Nesbitt (Bridle)
• OSBORN
  • Osborn - a tiger passant (resting)
  • Osborn of Ireland - a mural cornet with a lion's head
  • Osborn of Peppermilne, Edinburgh, Scotland - a sword in pail ppr
  • Osborne, Dule of Leeds -
  • Osborn of Kirky Bydon, Norfolk and Cleby, Essex - a tiger's head armed & crined
  • Osborn of Yorkshire - a tiger passant
  • Osborn of London, Ashford, Kent, and Keyton, Notts.- a tiger passant
  • Osborn of Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire - a tiger passant
  • Osborn of Tipperary - a sea-lion sejant, a demi-lion holding a torch
  • Osborn of Osborne House, Spondon, Derbyshire - a demi-lion rampant
  • Osborn of Hartlip Place, Kent - a demi-ounce rampant
  • Osborn of Derbyshire - a pelican in her piety (on her nest)
  • Osborn of of Debenham, Suffolk - a unicorn passant
  • Osborn of Bedfordshire - a leopard's head, ducally crowned
  • Osborn of Bedfordshire - a lion's head erased arg.
  • Osborn-Gibbs - a arm and a steel gauntlet grasping a battle-axe
  • Osbourne of Scotland - a sword erect ppr.
  • Osbourne - a unicorn passant.
  • Osbourne - on a rock a castle in flames.
• Pharris -
• READER
  • Reader - a dexter hand brandishing a sabre - (a right hand holding a short sword.)
  • Reader - Ireland - a leopard head erased and affront az collared or - (a cat's head facing forward with a collar and no body.)
• SKEEL - Danish.
• STONE
  • Stone - out of a ducal coronet, a griffin's head between two wings erm.
  • Stone of Essex - a demi-grifin erm,
  • Stone of Blackmoor, Essex - out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin's head between two wings.
  • Stone of Brightwell, Oxon - a leopard's head holding a laurel branch.
  • Stone of Wavesdon, Suffolk - a demi-lion
  • Stone of Cornwall & Trevigo - on a rock a paly-wavy six, a salmon holding a rose.
  • Stone of Framfield, Sussex - a demi-cockatrice rising arg, winged & crested or.
  • Stone of Cliff, Sussex & London - a ducal cornet, a demi-peacock w/ wings expanded or.
  • Stone - a swan's head and neck couped arg, beaked sa.
  • Stone of Badbury, Wiltshire - a horse saddled, bridled, crined & unguled.
  • Stone of London - a unicorn's head between two wings.
  • Stone of London - a sea-horse or, crined gu.
  • Stone of Wedmore, Somersetshire and Kent - a spaniel passant arg.
  • Stone of Dorset - a spaniel courant gu.
• Thurman -
• WELLS
  • Wells of Hereford - a well with water bucket
  • Wells - a demi-lion rampant
  • Wells - a horse's head bridled w/ three stars
  • Wells - a demi-talbot (half-bodied dog)
  • Wells - a fire-beacon
• Wise - a demi-lion rampant (half bodied lion poised to strike)