Those who have attempted to trace the Carman line back in time have come up with the following Coat of Arms accredited to probably John Carman during the Crusades. The Heraldry is accredited "by the Name of Carman, A.D. 1096". 

There are two versions of the drawing of the Coat of Arms, which appear to be in the handwriting of William Stillwell Carman, which mean the drawings are from the 1870's.  While both are just outlines of placements and narratives of colors, I have done a bit of artwork to demonstrate what they would look like.

Both Coat of Arms versions carry a boarder of gold. The field is azure blue (which signifies Loyalty and Truth in Heraldic terms). Both carry a silver helmet above the field (per Heraldic dictionaries colors of helmets were not significant until the time of Queen Elizabeth and early imagery was of a side view of the helmet). And both are credited with origins of A.D. 1096 'by the name Carman'.

The differences:

This version carries three gold "castles" in the field (the narrative does not specify 'Tower' so it is possible it could be a full castle, but a tower is how I have seen it illustrated in the past) - The Castle depicts "Grandeur and solidity. Sometimes granted to one who has held one for his king, or who has captured one by force or stratagem." according to from W. Cecil Wade's "The Symbolisms of Heraldry or A Treatise on the Meanings and Derivations of Armorial Bearings". Published in London in 1898.  And above the helmet we find a fourth castle.  Below the field we have the phase "Dieu En Avant"  which is supposed French for 'God and Forward".  There is a possibility that the Towers are literal representations of the early "brochs". I suspect the wording below the field belonged to version two below which is more likely the version of the Crusades, rather than on this one.

This Coat of Arms contains gold escalloped shells instead of towers. Again, from the Heraldic Encyclopedias, I found this usage for the shell - "This is the badge of a pilgrim, also a symbol of the Apostle St.James the Great, who is generally drawn in the garb of a pilgrim. As it is found in ancient heraldry as early as Henry III's time, it was probably suggested by the eastern pilgrimages." The symbol also has French origins.  This is probably an revolutionized version of the first one, the Towers now replaced by with symbolic gesture of the Crusades and the acknowledgment of the Norman rule of England.  The phasing "God and Forward" probably would belong with this version if it were used in the Crusades.

I am far from a heraldry expert and my British cousins may tear apart my renderings, but this is how they were depicted in the diagrams.  Bliss Carman, the Canadian Poet, favored the second Crest, as Canada still follows English tradition in Heraldry. Part of the imagery points to a Norman origin and part to distinguished service rendered during the Crusades.

This third Coat of Arms I recently discovered in an old book "Genealogy, Brush-Bowers", by Marie Annette Brush, born 1850, and published in 1904.  Is even simpler and proclaims that "This coat of arms has been used by several branches of the family for many years, among them that of Mrs. Nelson G. Carman..., Mr. E. S. Carman..., and Mr. Bliss Carman...". Although in this version there is no helmet, the same element of Castle as in both above and "God Forward" as in the first.  Additionally in this book it is quoted that "The earliest trace of the name obtainable is of a Carman in the Norman-French forces that came to England with William the Conqueror."

I once sent away to one of the companies that will prepare a coat-of-arms for you (for a fee of course) out of curiosity, to see  what they would come up with. Their version, although much more ruffled and flourished, did contain the element of one castle tower centered in a field of blue with a helmet above it which closer resembles the upper one.  An authentic early Coat-of-Arms for a Knight of the Crusades would have been as simple item and appeared of their shields, so the simpler the more realistic, most likely.  But with the arrival of William the Conqueror to England in 1066 the Coat-of-Arms may have modified to include loyalty to this ruling family. And it may have been at this time of William the Conqueror that the 'castles' on the shield became scallop shells which are more indicative of a French Coat-of-Arms.  This commercial company stated (without listing sources) that the origin of the family was Anglo-Saxon from the area of the Scottish - English "Riding". This is the Northumbria border area between England and Scotland, and their information probably based on the records of the Bishop of Mercia records, for that was their turf.  And the story does fit with one possible origin theory for the family.

02/03/2007