TURNER Coat of Arms, English Version

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TURNER
REPRESENTATIVE COAT OF ARMS
English Version
Updated: 29 January, 1999

Arms: Ermines on a cross, quarter vided argent, four fer-de-moline sables

Crest: A Lion possant, guardaut, and argent holding in the dexter paw a millrind (fer-de-moline) sable

Motto: Esse Quam Videri (To be, and not to seem to be) or (To be rather than to seem)

Authority: Burke's "General Armory" 1878 Edition, page 1037

Date of this arm is not known. Its antiquity is certain, however, as it is borne by many lines of the name,
either in the form above described, or slightly differenced, to denote codet lines.
The official visitation of Derbyshire, which was made in the year 1634, authenticates the Arms and
confirms it as of that year, and this means it was in use a century or more at that time. No motto was used then.

The Arms was recorded for the Turner's of Essex, Gloucestershire, Suffolx, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire,
and Warwickshire, with Codency marks. In 1669, it was borne by the Turner who was Lord Mayor or London
in that year, without the Cross-voided, and without the Crest and Motto. This Lord Mayor Turner was of the
Yorkshire line of the Family. Some lines bore a chevron charged with a fer-de-moline instead of the cross, and
with this form of the Arms bore the crest first described above.

Before the name was Turner it was Turnor, Tourner and Turour, and back in the reign of Henry VIII, the Arms
was used by the Turnours of Lincolnshire, and back in Ireland the Arms was used by the Turnours, Earl of
Winterton, Descended from the English family. Crest and Motto also borne.

From Martin & Allardyce.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TURNER ARMS

ARGENT (Silver) denotes peace and sincerity

SABLE (Black) denotes undying constancy

LION signifies superior rank and Noble Birth View "Lion" Closer

THE CROWN denotes authority

THE FER-DE- MOLINE, or MILLRIND (or stones) This is a form of a cross.

Guillim says "The cross is the most honorable form of a charge to be found in heraldry, and its bearing
is the express badge of a Christian.

The MILLRIND, or stones, are always seen in pairs, never singles. It is said by Guillim (authority) that
this symbolizes mutual converse of human society, since they are used in couples, each stand in the need
of the others aid for the performance of its work.

Authority: Wades Symbolisms of Heraldry.

TURNER COAT OF ARMS
CONTINUED

A HISTORY OF THE TURNER FAMILY
By William A. Roskey

American Genealogical Research Institute
Washington D.C.

The book dealt with Turner families in VA, MD, NC, NJ, MA, CN, and DL. The VA families were
Thomas Turner, King George Ct; Terisha and Stephen Turner, Albermarle Ct; James Turner,
Bedford Ct; and Shadrach Turner of Halifax.

Excerpts taken from the book dealing with the Turner Coat of Arms follow:

Arms had original importances as a means of identification, and, as such , told an important story about
the origin and history of the family which bore them. For example, in nearly all Turner coats-of-arms, the
key and dominating feature is the mill-rind. The mill-rind was a piece of iron running across an upper
millstone as a support. As we all know, grain was ground in flour or other cereal products between two
revolving millstones. So it seems that the Turners who possess coats-of-arms were involved in milling
operations. The turning of the millstones played such a paramount and essential role in their lives that
they incorporated the mill-rind into their coats-of-arms.

As an illustration of how the science of heraldry may be use-fully employed in genealogical research,
let us turn to the eighteenth edition of Burke's Landed Gentry. Here we see an entry for the Page-Turner
family of Ambrosden, with the earliest recorded member being a Hugh Turner of Sutton Coldfield,
Warwickshire, who died on July 9, 1560. As we go through the listing of his descendants, we find no
evidence whatsoever that this family is related to any American Turners. However, when the Page-Turner
family crest is compared to the crests of American Turners, we see that there is a striking similarity.
Three Turner families in America have essentially the same crest: a lion, facing left, holding a mill-rind
in his paw. Add to this the four mill-rinds shown on the Page-Turner shield; of four known American
Turner coats-of-arms, two also display four mill-rinds on the shield. The remaining two show three and
five mill-rinds, respectively. This provides us with a basis for surmising that somehow, however distantly,
the Page-Turner family may be related to one or more American Turner families.

The only really marked difference between the various American Turner coats-of-arms is in the mottoes:

Dea providentia nostra est haereditas
The goddess foresight is our inheritance

Tu ne cede malis
Do not give malice

Carpe diem
Call on God

Esse quam videri
To be rather than to seem

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