Okay my last name Is Obenshain and I really wanted to know my Family Coat of Arms or family crest?

I prefer the coat of arms but the family crest is just as fine


if you have information plz tell me thank you!

Okay my last name Is Obenshain and I really wanted to know my Family Coat of Arms or family crest?
Cant find a coat of arms for that surname. If you are a USA Obenshain you probably descended from a family that emigrated to the US on the ship "Fane" in 1749. One of the sons went to VA and formed that branch of the family. The name is found with various spellings in documents, It appears as Obenchain in another spelling. Don't let the coat of arms peddlers sell you a Shane or Chain coat of arms as your own, it's not.





If you go to the Wikipedia article on Schwaigern, Germany you will find a coat of arms for the town of your Heritage and some sense of origins and birthright.
Reply:Please see the link below. The British College of Arms is the most authoritative source on the subject.





http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.ht...





There is no such thing as a family crest. A crest is part of a coat of arms. Coats of arms do not belong to surnames. Actually, they really don't belong to families, except in France or Poland.


They were and are granted to an individual man.


Only his oldest son is entitled to his when he dies. All sons obtain one with some differences. There are some that are not hereditary. I understand men that are knighted cannot pass theirs to their son. Also there have been prominent American men apply to the British College of Arms and had one granted and from what I understand theirs are not hereditary.





Actually, there might have been more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, that were each granted their own coat of arms, all different. No one peddler that sells them on the internet, at shopping malls, in airports, in magazines etc. will have all of them.


They don't need to in order to sell to the gullible.


Also, most men with that particular surname were never granted a coat of arms.





The surname product business is one of the biggest scams around. They will usually have a small disclaimer in fine print. House of Names will say it is up to you to trace your family tree to see if you are descended from someone who bore a particular "family crest"(they all use the misnomer family crest). They go on to state that no families not even royal houses can make sound claim to the right to bear arms without documented proof that they are entitled to them.