jzen's Heraldry Guild Journal

This journal will be for my Heraldry Guild assignments.

As I reflect on this first lesson, I wanted to briefly address some of the questions to consider before elaborating on them a little further in future lessons. The first question “What are my primary cultural influences on my ancestry?” is at the most basic level of how I express myself and what I choose to identify with. Now, I understand cultural influences to extend beyond familial lines of particular ancestry. Obviously, I can’t deny the American influence on my thinking and way of living. The emphasis our culture has on independence in thought and action (as long as the rights of others are not infringed upon) allows for us to be really dynamic in our lives and to develop unique perspectives on the world. My life hasn’t been short of this to be certain, but there are other aspects of American Culture that I took in from my parents. I’ll explain here.


My father grew up in Pennsylvania in a house that didn’t think much about heritage in regard to familial descent. Rather, the culture of his household revolved around customs that had been brought to this country from their homelands, but made into cultural celebrations for particular towns. My father’s family settled in Punxsutawney and surrounding communities and had a part in bringing over the most famous local custom there, Punxsutawney Phil and the Groundhog Day celebrations. Other influences that effected the cultural upbringing of my father were Patriotism, his father having served in World War II and him serving in Vietnam, and a life that revolved around the local Fire House, were my Grandfather was a former Fire Chief. These aspects would have a tremendous influence on me as I would go on to complete both military and fire service. I celebrate military holidays and value the efforts of civil service. These helped to shape my ideas of loyalty, bravery, and the warrior ethos I have.


My mother was the daughter of an Italian immigrant and French/German girl whose family had settled in Appalachia a little over 200 years ago. My grandfather wanted to assimilate to American culture, so he avoided many of the customs of his Italian upbringing. My grandmother was so far removed from the cultural heritage of her family line that is was non-existent in my mom’s household. Rather, for those familiar with Appalachia, there are plenty of their own customs that they seemed to develop in conjunction with the many diverse cultures that settled there. Much of my Mom’s influence came from American Country life, particularly celebrating the seasons. This is something I too carried on with my kids.


In my household, these are some aspects I bring to my children. I think service and patriotism are important and as such I hoped to pass those on. I’ve also incorporated some of the Irish culture into my family as well, being part of that family lineage that comes from my father’s side. My wife is Italian and very Italian. Her grandparents, one from Abruzzi and the other Sicilian, carried on a lot of the traditional culture while living here. They still eat the traditional foods, the make wine at home, and they celebrate Italian holidays. My children will get exposure to all of these as they grow.


The next question to consider was “What was the historical lineage of my name or bloodline?” As I’ve already mentioned, I have discovered Italian, German, French, Scottish, and Irish lines. My father has a German, Scottish, and Irish lines that came over in the 18th century. His Irish ancestry goes all the way back to the 7th century Northern Ireland. My mother has the Italian and French lines. Along her French/German line, we have a common ancestor with Alexandra Federova, the last Tsarina of Russia. This line goes all the way back to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. I’ll elaborate more on these lines in the future lessons.


The next question concerning genetic heritage doesn’t apply to me right now. I’ve considered taking one of the genetic tests, but I think I want to wait a little bit so the technology improves. Not that it’s all that bad now, but once the database gets better and the methods used to make connections to others within the system, there will be a lot of really interesting things they will be able to do with it.


The final question about what I identify with I feel is pretty clearly outlined. I’m looking to dig more into my Irish and Scottish heritage and bring that alive for my children. I want them to know who they are and the rich history that they come from. I’m also interested in my maternal grandmother’s lineage and any connections that apply to that. Both of these will play a role in the development of my coat of arms.

As I worked through my father’s lineage, I began by starting with his last name, Heitzenrater. This name goes back all the way to 18th century Germany, in the region of Vollmerz, Hesse-Darmstadt, site of the present day, an area not far from the borders of Luxembourg and France. It appears that this is the area of origination for my last name but was written as Heitzenrӧeder before coming to America. For this name, I was able to trace it a man by the name of Jakob Heitzenrӧeder my 6th great grandfather who was born in 1738 and died in 1810. His son, Johan was the last of the Heitzenrӧeders to live out his life completely in Germany as well as have the traditional spelling of the name before his son, My 4th great grandfather, Hartman Heitzenrater came over in 1834. He would settle in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania where my family is from. The rest of my genealogical line associated with this name was born in or around this area. It would be my father who would leave Pennsylvania and start a family in Ohio after his military service. I haven’t investigated the lines of those that married into the Heitzenrater line much, but they all appear to be of German descent except one, my father’s grandmother who was of Scots-Irish decent. She actually shares a common ancestor with my grandmother, going back 7 generations.


I went on to take a look at my grandmother’s line beginning with her maiden name, Wagner. Right now, I’ve gone back 3 generations from her, through census records, but it seems to stop there for the time being. The earliest ancestor I found had a birth year of 1865. As I mentioned, she has a common ancestor with her husband, my paternal grandfather along the Neal line. Although I’m not entirely certain, it seems that this would have been a common characteristic since people that had settled here remained in these areas for many generations. There are bound to be overlaps along lines, but they are far enough removed to cause any genetic abnormalities, (so far as I know, lol).


What I learned from all of this is that my father has a German, Irish, and Scottish background. His Neal line is for me the most interesting because it can be traced back to one of the high kings of ancient Ireland of the Naill Clan. I will include part of their Coat of Arms in my personal one. I'll leave you with an image of what their coat of arms looks like

This was a fun experience for me because it yielded quite a bit of information once I discovered some connections. I started with my grandfather’s line where I hit a dead end with his parents. His parents were Italian from the Calabria region of Italy. They came to America at different times around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. All that I was able to gather was their hometown and my great grandfather’s father’s name, Vincenzo Ierardi. I’m working on getting in touch with some Italian genealogists so that I can dig deeper into the records. They came from a tiny village called Petilia Policastro. We still have a lot of family there but when my great grandfather came over, he came with his brothers. They ended up with different spellings than the traditional Italian spelling. One spelling was Gerardi, and other was Yerardi, the one that my mom’s family would have. I met a Gerardi in high school, and we found out we were related through our great grandfathers. She had the same story at Ellis Island. Small world

My grandmother’s line was a different story. She, to me, is really special. First, let me give you a good understanding of my grandmother’s disposition. She is the gentlest, most simple person I know. She has a good heart, and she is very Appalachia. If you have ever been to Southern Ohio, you know what I am talking about. They have a personality to them that I can best describe as a mix between Southern and Texan, lol. That being said, as I began to dig into her background, I explored her maiden name Ramey. It is a derivative spelling of Remy (pronounced the same way) and she is descended from a line of French nobility that came to America in the 17th century from Lorraine, France. This line is descended from the Von Hesse’s in Germany, a Noble family that has ties going all the way back to Charlemagne. This line shares itself with other royal lines, but most notable was the last Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Fedorovna. The share a common Great Grandfather, my grandma’s 9th great, and the Tsarina’s 7th. It was a pretty fantastic discovery

As I explored this, I would never have thought that my grandmother has such a special lineage. Because of this, I have included charlemagne’s coat of arms in my own coat of arms. As I’ve said, if you have any western European blood in you, then you probably have a line that comes from Charlemagne and his twenty-something children. It was really cool to find mine I’ll leave off with an image of the coat of arms that would be associated with him and his line of Holy Roman Emperor’s.

I went into this quite a bit in the first lesson. My cultural heritage is more than familial and represents not only the places my parents came from but also aspects that I’ve picked up along the way. I picked up my father’s sense of patriotism and service and as such, have spent time in the military and the fire service. I am unashamedly patriotic, and I love the fact that I was one of the willing that stood in service to the country. I carry that with me always. From my mother, I picked up her simple country outlook on life. Things have their own pace, and I try to work with them and not be too pressed into setting deadlines. Sometimes, there is a conflict with my military self which has its own quirks, one being overly conscious of the time. I think I’ve found a good balance there, and do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, without feeling overly rushed about it.

It may seem weird, but this ties intimately into the cultural we receive from our parents. Culture is so much more than our bloodline and can be reflected in many things including the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the way we compose ourselves. My parents didn’t instill much in the way of their bloodline cultures, because they weren’t really stressed in their households. But they did instill the principles of the cultures of the places they grew up and this has had a tremendous impact on my own disposition, whether I knew it or not.

After I married my wife and I was exposed to a family that had a tremendous sense of pride in the bloodline culture, I began to get curious about my own. When I started, I thought I was German and Italian...that’s it. When I discovered that I was also Scots-Irish, and French, and that these lines had a remarkable lineage, I’ve learned to incorporate them into my family life. I share the Italian with my wife and in my household, it does have a tendency to outshine the others in implementation and daily life, but I made sure that my kids learn about the heritage of these other places. They can tell you about French food and Irish holidays, they can associate times of year with particular harvests, and know how to crush grapes for winemaking. They already know so much more about where they came from than I ever did at their age. If I don’t pass on anything else, I really hope that this identification with their cultural heritage, both what they receive from where they live and from understanding their bloodlines, stays with them and that they share these things with their children. Time will tell

Here is a copy of a 4 generation family tree for my family. You'll notice that there are little black arrows at the ends of the lines. This is to follow other lines that go back further, a couple of them going back centuries. I did mention my connection to Charlemagne on my maternal side, as well as my connection to Niall Glundub, a 10th century Irish High King and founder of the O'neil Clan and family name through my father's side. I don't show these lines entirely because of the way the program works, but you can see where these all begin in this image. If anyone is interested I can share the full lines for each one. Enjoy!

So, I’ve briefly covered this in the other assignments, but, I’ll go a little more in depth here. Studying my ancestry has been enlightening to say the least. I love making historical connections and when these connections are to people that have been part of the historical record makes them more meaningful. To me, it made me aware of how small the world is, but in terms of history. I would venture to guess that all of us as we are doing these exercise would be really surprised by the things that we find. So, having made some connections to history, I want to express this in my Heraldic Achievement.

The first part of my heritage that I wanted to share was my connection to Charlemagne.



I remember learning about Charlemagne in middle school as well as some of his relatives, Charles Martel and Pepin the Short. I felt attracted to them, although it may have been because of their names only. Of the many lessons I learned in middle school, his I never forgot. From this line came many lines of European royalty and nobility, many of them with fascinating stories of their own. I wanted to recognize my connection to this and in so doing, I included part of his coat of arms in the upper left corner of my own.

From my father’s side, I was fascinated by his Irish ancestry, ancestry he was never aware of when he was alive. I have loved Ireland my whole life, much to the extent that my parents couldn’t understand the fascination. I loved the green countryside, the ruined castles and abbeys, and the strange Egyptian connection to several of its towns and monasteries. My mom used to joke that I must be Irish because when I grew a goatee out, it was red in the sun. I couldn’t believe it when I really did find a connection, and it is one that I have really valued.

I am descended from Niall Glundub, a High King of Ireland and the founder of the Neil Clan.



I have included their coat of arms in previous lessons here but to give a little more information about them, they come from the Northwest part of Northern Ireland. Because of the strong connection I felt to Ireland even before I explored my heritage, I thought it would be appropriate to include it in my coat of arms in the lower right corner of the escutcheon. What this created for me was a line from both my father and mother that I could honor to recognize my history, and with a combination of the main colors for each one, I was able to connect myself to both of them.

As the lesson stated, I pretty much beat to death my known heritage in the previous lessons. I did want to leave a few comments on developing these lessons and what I learned from studying the history of Heraldry.

Firstly, there is a ton of information when investigating Heraldry’s history. Customs, styles, attributes, even symbology can vary from place to place. Because of this, there is just a huge amount of information available to the Herald for research. Secondly, you can never cover it all. I was ambitious when I began this. There are still some changes I would like to make to what is there to provide additional detail for those that want to study. What ended up being a better option was to identify the basics, and provide resources to further information so that the person that wishes to study to discipline knows where to begin and is encouraged to research on their own. This seemed to be a much better approach to presenting this. Thirdly, Heraldry is as much a meticulous science as it is history and art. There is a method to how it is worked out and developed and it has its own set of rules. Now it is a subject where the rules can be broken, but in a place where it is practiced according to the way it developed, it is quite a rigorous process for the practitioner. It is my hope that a Herald here in the order understands this process, even if it is not followed when developing their own coat of arms.

I could go on and on, but these are the big three that I learned from working through them. I’ll be interested to see what other members pick out and choose to mention as lessons they learned from the study of Heraldry. I’m also really excited to see how people work out their coats of arms. We should see some really interesting achievements as well as become acquainted with the ideals and heritage that each of us have chosen to display. ☺

This was an interesting lesson. There are quite a few ways to represent a shield and this really only seemed limited by the creativity of the Heraldic artist. I bounced back and forth between the Kite Shield, the Heater Shield, and the Modern French Shield. I liked the shape of the Kite shield, but thought it would be difficult to express a coat of arms with it given its peculiar shape. It is unique to be sure, but in the end, wasn’t quite what I was looking for. The Modern French one would be a nice display for Heraldry, but in the end it didn’t look quite as nice as the Heater Shield that I went with.

The Heater Shield is similar to the Kite Shield in many regards except that it is smaller in length and it is better balanced. In combat and in tournament, this made it easier to maneuver for the wielder. It provided a high level of protection, while still being able to effectively engage in combat. It’s proliferation throughout Europe in the late 12th century as well as its easy adaptation to a multitude of practical purposes made it the most common shield in use. This commonality would make it not only the most widely used shied across the ranks, but also the most widely depicted shield for use in Heraldry. When I created my coat of arms using this as my Escutcheon, I was very pleased with the outcome. There is a good chance that many of my ancestors would have used this type of shield when engaged in combat, and I feel confident in my selection of it as my personal shield.

When I worked on this initially, I was less concerned about picking colors to express a particular virtue and more concerned about using colors that found a place in my heritage. With that in mind, I was keen to use Red as my primary color and Gold as my primary metal. In my Mother’s ancestral coat of arms, Gold is a primary metal, while Red a primary color in my father’s. When I took the time to look back over the meaning of this color and metal, I was pleasantly surprised as to their meaning, and I felt that I could identify with them right away.


Red symbolizes courage, bravery, and the warrior’s path. I try a little more each day to make connections to this path and these virtues. Coming into the way of the warrior a little later in life, I have found a part of my soul that was really missing for quite some time. I continue to work and find ways that I can strive to further identify myself with it.


Gold symbolizes wisdom, generosity, glory, constancy, and faith. These are deep seeded virtues in my life. Some are easy to put into practice, while others require me to overcome a personal challenge. Deep down, they are directional virtues, those ones we strive to live out in our daily lives. The more we put them into practice, the easier they become to display without extra thought. This line of thinking would play out when I integrated the Chequy pattern into the top left and bottom right fields of my Escutcheon. I wanted my primary virtues to be integrated together, just as my family lines are. This leads to the idea of having the courage and wisdom to act, to do the right thing whenever it is required. I liked the connection.


I have some other colors in my field that also have some significance to my overall coat of arms. The first of which is Blue which signifies loyalty, truth, strength, and faith. I value loyalty and truth and hold both in high regard. Having these virtues instilled in an individual is readily noticeable. Likewise, if they are absent, that is readily noticeable too. The next color is Black which signifies wisdom, constancy, and prudence. You can never have enough wisdom or constancy, and certainly the addition of prudence is part of developing wisdom. I don’t always exercise good prudence, instead opting to jump into things without thinking them through. However, since I know this about myself, it gives me a chance at some self-improvement. We could all use these kinds of opportunities to turn a weakness into a strength.


The final metal in my field that finds some prominence is white. This metal signifies truth, sincerity, peace, and purity. Peace, through wisdom and truth, tempers the warrior ethos. I can act when I need to act. These two (red and white) share their portion of the field, and coexist, each distinct, yet contained as a unified section. I also appreciated this connection and the interplay of the colors and metals in the field.


With this lesson, like the others, there is plenty to go learn on your own. There was quite a bit of thought put into associating colors with particular virtues. Many of these associations we still use today, a testament to the power of historical association. I enjoyed the minor journey of self-discovery here.