My Family Crest .....

THE ENNOBLEMENT of Johann von Meyer

O
ver the years I always wondered what the the image of the framed crest I owned meant, I mean all the colors and the motto, so I did this research.
I am fortunate enough to own the original drawing of our family crest...This crest was originated for my Grt.grt. grandfather Johann Meyer, he was ennobled and given the title "baron" the "von" in front of Meyer ( a small "v" meaning a title) the titles have been passed down to my sister and me as "baroness". However, it is the end of the line there, I have two daughters and I believe it is not transferrable to them. I have not used my title since I became a citizen of the United States and got married...
One must note, not everyone can use the crest of a family, mine can only be passed on and never used outside of the immediate family, this is part of the ennoblement.
The Motto inscribed:
Dum Spiro, Spero
While I live, I hope; or, While there's life, there's hope.
   Hope while you live, for who would care to cope
   With life's three foes, unpanoplied with hope?
   Hope against hope, while fed with vital breath.
   Hope be your anchor in the hour of death
   E.C.B.
Dum Spiro, Spero, Whilst I breathe my hope is in the cross.

the MEANING of the Crest

EVERYTHING ON A CREST HAS A MEANING AND PURPOSE

Gold (Or) Generosity and elevation of the mind
Silver or White (Argent) Peace and sincerity
Blue (Azure) Truth and loyalty
Green (Vert) Hope, joy, and loyalty in love

Olive Branch
or Leaves Peace and concordance
Plant Hope and joy

The star,
celestial, noble person

The helm
or helmet is used to indicate the rank of the bearer of the arms from the gold full-faced helm of royalty to the steel helmet with closed visor of a gentleman.

The mantle
Originally intended to shield the knight from the heat of the sun and to ward off rain, the mantle was a piece of cloth placed over the helmet, draping down the back to the base of the helm. The mantle, contoise, or lambrequin is often embellished on the artistic coat of arms to give prominence to the arms and crest, and is usually presented as ribbons over the helm.

The wreath
The wreath is a twisted silken scarf used to cover the joint where the crest is attached to the helmet. Modern heraldry depicts the wreath as if two colored scarves had been braided together, the colors showing alternately. These colors are the same as the first named metal and the first named color in the blazon, and are known as "the colors."

The motto
Not officially granted with a coat of arms, mottos are a phrase which incorporates the basic philosophy of the family or an ancient war cry. They may or may not be present on an individual coat of arms, and are normally placed below the shield or occasionally above the crest.

dum spiro spero Whilst I breathe my hope is in the cross.

von Meyer

USAGE OF MY CREST!

This notice is for those that have inquired about the crest displayed here on the lens. Unfortunately this crest for v."Meyer" can not be used, saved, copied or transferred to any other individual...a copyright restriction applies and it is illegal to use this image for the purpose of reproducing, and the making of Heraldry, Family Crests Armorials for profit and other purposes.

COAT of ARMS & CRESTS belong to INIVIDUALS, NOT SURNAMES

interesting reading...

C
oats of Arms and Crests Belong to Individuals, Not Surnames

Coats of arms are not awarded to a family or a name, but to an individual. This is why there is no coat of arms or family crest for the family name "Hardin" -- only a coat of arms and crest granted to someone with that name many years ago. This is why there is often more than one coat of arms associated with a given surname. See the various Hardin arms from different countries and regions. In England, direct descent is required for any heir to have the legal right to bear his ancestor's coat of arms. You can try to narrow the search by geographic region of origin, but there may also be more than one coat of arms awarded to several people in ancient Germany. Further complicating the issue is that the authoritative source information for most coats of arms only lists a city and/or county or origin, and sometimes only a country.

You can try to narrow the search by geographic region of origin, but there may also be more than one coat of arms awarded to several people in ancient Germany. Further complicating the issue is that the authoritative source information for most coats of arms only lists a city and/or county or origin, and sometimes only a country.

That is why, unless you can trace your family history to one individual, and unless the sources list that individual, then the best that you can hope for is to find a coat of arms that is the oldest for a given name from a given region or the one most frequently used. Coats of arms usually started out fairly simple in design, then subsequent generations added onto or made slight variations to the design to make it their own. Marriages often resulted in a combination of two different family lines' coats of arms.

title reads 50 YEARS HE'S BEEN DEAD, THE "RUSSIAN MEYER"

Article written January 7, 1933

A
n article written about my grt.grt. grandfather, detailing his journey and Russian involvement with Industries that gave him the name Salt and Cotton Mogul, the rest of the story honoring him for all he had done for the city of Dresden Germany.

1933 Article

Letter from STADTMUSEUM (State Museum)

recordings of his Philathropy time table and amounts.

U
nfortunately this letter is in German, for those that can read German you might be able to understand it. It basically starts with 1863 with 1200 Mark and went total 575,200 Marks, which in those days was a great deal of money...
I have the translation but can't find it at this time.

Also stating in the letter that in October 1991 and January 1994 the newspapers had articles commemorating his Philanthropy. The first Newspaper article was written in 1933 however I can not find the ones earlier in my research, most likely they where destroyed from the Firebombing of Dresden in 1945.

Page 1 explaining his donations and reasons for ennoblement

2nd page more philathropy records

Johann Meyer 1800-1887

PHILANTHROPIST

I
n 2006 we visited Dresden, the Stadt Museum invited us to view a "Wood Cutting" of the image of Johann v. Meyer by famed Hugo Burkner. The visit to the Museum was very interesting, they took us to a vault and gave us white gloves to wear so that we might handle the books. It is by pure luck that these items from the Museum survived through the Anglo-American firebombing of Dresden in 1945. My father and my aunt where caught in the midst of the bombing, I heard some very terrible stories about that night.
We visited many places in Dresden and it is nice to see that the city is being rebuilt, it's still hard for me to understand why of all the cities in Germany they chose to destroy this most beautiful cultured city, with over 250,000 innocent children women and old people dying that night.

a wood-cutting by the famed Hugo Burkner

A COMMEMORATION PLAQUE

W
hile in Dresden the Museum director gave me directions to see the Street that was named after Johann Meyer the "Johann-Meyer-Strasse"... as you can see there is graffiti on the street plaque sign, you can't get away from it...what a shame!

While there, I found out not only did he build one building but the WHOLE street with many buildings. His first building was to accomodate the poor working people at the Meissen Factory. He also built schools and helped churches, set up trusts that to this day are still in affect. These are just some of the things he did to warrent his ennoblement. And for one year he was the Honorary Citizen Mayor of that beautiful city Dresden.
Johann Meyer's concern for those that worked so hard in the city factories and no place to live, makes me very proud of his philanthropy...

STREET NAME on the corner

This is the corner of the street with the street name. I'm standing in front of one of the buildings.

ONE BUILDING

This photo was taken kidicorner, looking down the street with more builings he had built.

AN APARTMENT COMPLEX

this was on the corner across the street, a very large apartment complex...interesting that most these buildings survived the fire bombing of 1945.

a DIAGRAM of a COAT OF ARMS

listed
1. part of the official coat of arms
2. items not specified in any particular coat of arms

interesting diagram

LINK LIST to FAMILY COAT OF ARMS CREST ITEMS, GENEALOGY

more interesting information

Check out my other related lenses one on "when I lived in a Castle"

Coats of Arms and Crests Belong to Individuals, Not Surnames: This is a good site to learn about the meanings behind a family name crest.
when I lived in a Castle: a time during WWII when we lived in a castle.
Turkish (Ottoman Empire) Gallipoli Star Medal of WW1: a medal that was awarded to my dad in WWI, the history behind it.
Johann-Meyer-Stra: Intersting and wonderful images of Dresden, this site can be translated into English...the man on the latter(right side picture on site) is my father, the Frauen Kirche behind him...pre 1945
Family Crest and Coat of Arms: Parts of a Coat of Arms: Heraldry & the Parts of a Coat of
Arms The Meanings Behind the
SymbolsSample
Crests | Variations for One
NameHeraldry
Bookstore | Home
A Brief History of Heraldry
Heraldry has been defined as the art of blazoning, assigning, and
marshallin
Leipziger Vorstadt: This page is in German, however you can translate it. Information and a brief history on Johann v. Meyer and the naming of the street.
It explains that he gave money to build many buildings for the working class people that needed housing, the trust still exsists today.
Coat of arms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Coat of arms From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MottoCoat of arms elements coat of arms or armorial bearings (
Dum spiro spero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Dum spiro spero From Wikipedia,
"While I breathe, I hope" in Latin and is generally attributed to Cicero[1].
It is a motto of various places and families.
Contents
1 States and Towns
2 Families
3 Organizations
4 Refer
Dum spiro spero: Information from Answers.com: Dum spiro spero While I breathe I hope
while there's life there's hope: Information from Answers.com: While there's life there's hope Cf. [Theocritus Idyll iv. 42] there's hope among the living; [Cicero Ad Atticum ix
Georg Hermann Nicolai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Georg Hermann Nicolai was a German architect who built Johann von Meyers villa, listed as "Villa Meyer"
The Cambridge companion to modern ... - Google Book Search: This book The Cambridge companion to modern German culture By Eva Kolinsky, Wilfried van der Will mentions the "Villa Meyer"
Category:Hugo Bürkner - Wikimedia Commons: Bürkner Hugo(1818-1897),a German illustrator and wood cutter, much to the development of the woodcuts in Germany was contributed by him. My grt.grt.grandfather Johann von Meyers image was done by Bürkner.

Acceptance Speech

Sen. Barack Obamas acceptence Speech Nov 4, 2008 said "that while we breathe, we hope!"
Dum Spiro, Spero

My Story at Ellis Island

My Story at Ellis Island: A brief story of remembrance...
It all came back seeing a program on the History Channel about Ellis Island.
I hope to visit the Wall someday to see our plaques.

Feedback would be nice!

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Lensmaster

x3xsolxdierx3x wrote...

this lens inspires me to look into my family's crest even more......5 stars.....favorited....and i'm now in your fanclub :)

Posted April 10, 2009

Lensmaster

LadySquid wrote...

Fascinating information that is a must-read for anyone with an interest in family crests or family history in general. Thanks for providing this info!

Stephanie at the Research Your Family Tree lens-stop by and see us!

Posted April 06, 2009

Lensmaster

Merlyn63 wrote...

Really well made lens and such an interesting story with lots of good information, has inspired me to look into this myself. Thanks.

Posted March 19, 2009

Lensmaster

Society Gifts wrote

This lens is beautifully laid out and very interesting.

Family Crests

Posted March 18, 2009

Lensmaster

Snozzle wrote...

I'm fascinated by the whole world of genealogy, crests and so on. Most enjoyable, informative lens.
Mike.

Posted February 06, 2009

FAMILY COAT OF ARMS CREST ITEMS on eBay

great research for genealogy and such...

just a note, this is just a glitch!
if there is nothing showing for ebay here, click on their eBay logo and put in the words Family Crest Coat of Arms, you will find many nice items...