The Gore Roll of Arms 11

Rhode Island Historical Society Collections Vol. XXIX JANUARY, 1936 No. 1 EARLY LOCAL PAPER CURRENCY See page 10 Issued Quarterly 68 Waterman Street, Providence, Rhode Island 1 <^ CONTENTS PAGE Early Paper Currency . Cover and 1 Advertisement of 1678 Communicated by Fulmer Mood ... 1 A Rhode Island Imprint of 1 73 Communicated by Douglas C. McMurtrie . 3 New Publications of Rhode Island Interest . 9 New Members . 10 Notes 10 The Gore Roll by Harold Bowditch . , . 11 Ships' Protests 30 THE GORE ROLL OF ARMS 11 The Gore Roll of Arms By Harold Bowditch Four early manuscript collections of paintings of coats of arms of New England interest are known to be in existence} these are known as the Promptuarium Armorum, the Chute Pedigree, the Miner Pedigree and the Gore Roll of Arms. The Promptuarium Armorum has been fully described by the late Walter Kendall Watkins in an article which appeared in the Boston Globe of 7 February 1915. The author was an officer of the College of Arms: William Crowne, Rouge Dragon, and the period of production lies between the years 1 602 and 1616. Crowne came to America and must have brought the book with him, for Mr. Watkins has traced its probable ownership through a number of Boston painters until it is found in the hands of the Gore family. That it served as a source-book for the Gore Roll is clear and it would have been gratifying to have been able to examine it with this in mind j but the condition of the manuscript is now so fragile, the ink having in many places eaten completely through the paper, that the present owner is unwilling to have it subjected to further handling. Fortu- nately it was carefully examined about the year 1 9 1 5 by the well-known expert in matters of heraldry, Dr. Howard M. Buck of Boston, and the present compiler has the advantage of the courteous loan of the notes made on that occasion. The Chute Pedigree is also in private hands. There is good evidence that this manuscript, containing the English alliances of the Chute family, was brought to America by the immigrant, Lionel Chute of Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1 635. A description will be found in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XIII, 123, and in the Heraldic Journal, I, 142. Its heraldic contents appear in the Gore Roll. 12 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Miner Pedigree is in the custody of the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut. An officer of this Society states that Thomas Minor obtained the manuscript from the College of Arms in 1 684. For notices of this manuscript see the New England Historical and Genealogi- cal Register XVIII, 161 ff., and the Heraldic Journal, I, 168. Its heraldic contents consist of the arms of Miner consorts, shown impaled by the arms of Miner. None are copied into the Gore Roll. The Gore Roll of Arms first received public notice in 1 865. In that year Mr. William H. Whitmore described in the Heraldic Journal, Volume I, an early American roll of arms, known at that time only through a copy made by Mr. Isaac Child, then living, which contained 99 paintings of coats of arms, chiefly of New England, and in the main of Massachusetts, families. In 1866 Mr. Whitmore re- published in his Elements of Heraldry that portion of the list which referred to New England; and, as each of his lists is numbered serially, the numbers designating the arms differ almost from the first. In 1865 Mr. Whitmore wrote: "The original MS. is at present inaccessible," and in 1866: "One manuscript, how- ever, of quite considerable antiquity, recording the bearings of numerous families in New England, was in existence recently, and is doubtless still preserved. , . The original manuscript has disappeared within a few years." Mr. Child made his copy about the year 1847 and after his death late in 1 885 it was presented to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This copy has been the only source of knowledge respecting the contents of the original Gore Roll. A careful examination in 1 926 revealed the fact that it differs greatly from Mr. Whitmore's description. Whether the alterations were made between 1 865, when Mr. Whitmore described it, and 1885, when Mr. Child died, or after its acquisition by the Society in 1886, is a matter of speculation. THE GORE ROLL OF ARMS 13 The differences from the published description were so numerous and so marked that the writer prepared a description of the Child copy as it was in 1 926 with a view to publi- cation j but this is rendered unnecessary by the reappearance of the original Gore Roll, still in the hands of members of the Gore family, after its whereabouts and even its very existence have, for the past seventy years, been matters of doubt in the minds of those interested in heraldry. The arms are painted in a blank book bound in full parch- ment; its condition is good, one leaf only having become detached and its edges consequently folded and worn, but without loss of essential text. The lower margins of the leaves are damp stained, rendering some of the writing faint. Fig. 1 or The paper is Dutch, and bears two water-marks, one the other appearing on each sheet. The principal water- diameter of mark is shown, reduced, in Figure 1 , the actual 14 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY the outside circle being 3 7/16 inches or 8.7 centimeters. The other water-mark is the name H O N I G, the manu- facturer of the paper. The principal water-mark was found on some sheets which once made part of Dr. Thomas Dale's translation of Regnault's "System of Physics," published in London, apparently in the year 1731, and to the kindness of Professor Percy Bridgman and Professor George Sarton, both of Harvard University, is owing the verification of this date. Through the courtesy of Mr. William J. Hoffman of New York, the well known authority on Dutch-American genealogy and heraldry, the writer was put into communi- cation with Van Gelder Zonen of Amsterdam, the cele- brated old firm of paper makers, who maintain a laboratory. This firm identified the name Honig as that of another firm of paper makers, in the province of Zaan, and kindly wrote to a descendant, Mr. G. J. Honig of Zaandyk, a well known historian, in order to determine accurately the date of manu- facture of the paper; but this was not possible owing to the absence of any initials accompanying the name Honig. The leaves of the book measure 1 2^ x 7 J^ inches. There is one fly leaf; the next 13 leaves contain the paintings of arms, and the remaining 62 leaves are blank. On the inside of the front cover, in the upper left corner, is written in ink "No. 14," presumably a notation of the position of the book on the shelf of a previous owner; and across the top is written in ink in an old hand, "Stoderd Chaise Light Stone Colour Small [Smalt?] Cam'" the last word being blotted and illegible. As the Gores were coach painters this is no doubt a professional notation. The middle of the inside front cover, the position usually occupied by a book plate, contains two pieces of paper apparently cut from an old newspaper or hand bill; the upper shows a rude cut of the Massachusetts arms, crest and motto, and the lower reads, "Explanation of the Device for the Arms of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sapphire, an Indian dressed in his Shirt and Mogginsins, belted proper; in his right Hand a Bow, Topaz; in his left an THE GORE ROLL OF ARMS 15 Arrow, its Point towards the Base of the Second j on the dexter Side of the Indian's Head, a Star, Pearl, for one of the United States of America: Crest, on a Wreath a dexter Arm, cloathed and ruffled proper, grasping a broad Sword, the Pummel and Hilt Topaz, with this Motto, Ense petit placidam sub Libertate Quietem." The wording is taken from an act of the legislature of the year 1780. Opposite the tinctures, which are given by precious stones, the tinctures by common colors and metals and by planets have been entered in ink. The fly leaf contains a pencilled notation: "These arms were drawn by John Gore father of Gov. Christopher Gore." As Christopher Gore was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1 809 this note can not be earlier than that date, and from the appearance of the handwriting it may be a good deal later; but it is not later than 1 865 because Mr. Whitmore speaks of John Gore's name being in the book, and it does not appear elsewhere. The fly leaf also shows a fleur-de-lys drawn in pencil. The paintings of arms begin on the second leaf; there are four to a page and they are painted on both sides of the sheets. They are not numbered. The arms of men are shown in the somewhat full bot- tomed type of shield popular in the seventeenth century, those of women on straight-sided lozenges. No helmets, and consequently no mantlings, are shown. Crest wreaths when present usually rest directly upon the shield, although in some instances a little space intervenes. The style of the paintings is, considering the period, good, and the work- manship excellent and evidently that of an accomplished heraldic painter.

Load more