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I am deeply indebted to Brooke Beall for providing me with a photocopy of this Arms, which is supposed once to have belonged to a Beall ancestor, and which I have rendered into the .gif at left.
Scottish Arms are a little different from what most Americans understand. The fact that [most] Bealls in the US today are of Scottish descent means that there can, in fact, be no "Beall Coat of Arms"!
In Scottish heraldry, the same coat of arms is not possessed by an entire family, rather, only one person may bear a particular arms at any given time. Therefore, each descendant of an arms bearer must either inherit the arms after his immediate male ancestor dies, or, in the case of more than one descendant, younger siblings must "difference" the ancestor's coat of arms. That is to say, they must make it their own by personaizing the forbear's arms in some way and then having this new arms approved by the court at Lyons.
The upshot of this is that every single bearer of arms should have a slightly different coat of arms! Wearning someone else's arms is known as "Usurping Arms," and is a chargeable offense, in Scotland.
However, anyone can take the arms of an ancestor, surround it with an image of a belt and buckle, and call this a Badge (Not a "coat of arms.") Clan Badges may be worn by any member of the family.
Before attempting that with the image above, however, I would like to know more about it, where it comes from, whose it originally was, what documentation there is of this, etc. So far, I know nothing about this image over and above that it is supposed once to have belonged to a Beall.
That's where you come in!! I am looking for, crave, and would deeply appreciate, any further information or documentation that anyone could provide for this page with regard to this image or any other Beall arms of which you may be aware. If you have anything to contribute to the subject, please email me!
Azure field, party per chevron, three argent wolves' heads facing dexter. (It looks to me as if the chevron is a fur, but I have never seen such a fur and can't tell what kind it is supposed to be. Vair?)
The motto: "Inest Clementia Forti" may mean "In Mercy is Strength" or "In Strength be Merciful." Anyone with a better grasp of Latin than mine is welcome to try for a more accurate translation!
1996 by Kim Beall : epic7@pagesz.net