Arms: Gules, on a fess Ermine between three black-tailed deer {Odocoileus hemionus columbianus } buck’s heads erased Or, a crescent aslant Azure.
Crest: Perched on a chaplet of boxwood Or charged with Lindley’s blazing star blooms {Mentzilia lindleyi} Proper with three visible, a female American Kestrel {Falco sparverius } displayed with wings downward Proper, holding in its sinister claw a Golden Eagle’s {Aquila chrysaetos canadensis} tail feather erect Or.
Motto:Courage With Prudence
Family Badge: A dogwood bloom inside an annulet.
Design Rationale:
Shield: The background for my Coat of Arms is the traditional Crawford Shield of Gules, a fess Ermine. The shield has two horizontal red stripes with a white horizontal field with ermine between the two stripes of red. In my shield's three corners are golden black-tailed buck's heads reminiscent of the Crawford Dalmagregan buck, the other well-known Crawford shield. Black tail bucks are found in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Coast where my family settled in the 19th century. The buck heads are thus a local variant of another Crawford familial heraldic image. There is a slanted blue crescent in the center of the white field. It represents our Ardmillan line heritage, the traditional Ardmillan shield bearing two intertwined crescent moons at the center of the white field. Its blue color is for the Shenandoah Mountains of Kentucky, where Edward Crawford (our Earliest Identified [documented] Ancestor) settled after the family (probably his parents) arrived in America. It is slanted to represent the positioning of the moon in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer, the period of greatest warmth. It is a symbol of the female principle, an image of renewal and receptivity.
Crest: A female American Kestrel ("ladyhawk") standing alone, displayed with wings folded downward but open in a position suggesting protection or gathering to it. The kestrel alludes to the Ardmillan hooded hawk of the coat of arms of the Crawford Ardmillan family lineage we descend from as per our Y-DNA. The Kestrel is perched on a golden wreath of intertwined boxwood and Lindley's star blooms (common to California where I currently live). It holds a golden eagle's tail feather in its left claw, representing Native American values such as spirituality, courage and forthrightness. The golden wreath represents my position as President of Clan Crawford Association. The wreath of boxwood – boxwood is the Crawford's plant badge -- is intertwined with another element and identifies those who are or have been officers of CCA. The golden eagle feather is also a symbol of leadership, hopefully an inspiration for those who follow.
Motto: My motto, "Courage with Prudence" is inspired by the immediately above mentioned Native American values of courage and forthrightness and a prudence born of common sense. This motto represents my aspirations for myself -- what I would like to guide my own present and future path.
