Tag: Swanstrom

Some Anniversaries

Some Anniversaries

by Justin Durand

February 8th is one of those days that stands out in the calendar of my family history. For me it has become Genealogy Day, a day to do something special about my interest in family history. Like Christmas but for me not Baby Jesus. And it helps a bit that Losar, the Tibetan New Year, is right around this time of year.

It’s the anniversary of my grandfather’s death. Harry William Swanstrom (1903-1957). By coincidence it’s also the anniversary of his sister’s death. Ellen Sophie (Swanstrom) Hinkle (1895-1949). She was the first of the kids to pass away.

That’s on the Swanstrom side. Then on the Howery side, today is the anniversary of the earliest surviving mention of the surname Hauri in history. A Conrad Hauri (Chuondradus dictus Hovri) was mentioned on 8 February 1282 as owing 9 shillings annually for his land at Steffisburg (Bern, No. 334), when Werner von Steffisburg leased certain lands to Kloster Interlaken. The taxes Conrad owed for his lands were in line with amounts throughout the region for larger peasant holdings. He was probably our ancestor but there’s no way to prove it.

For my Genealogy Day last year I started the process for getting a grave marker for my grandmother’s two babies that died at birth. Charles Edward Swanstrom (1932) and Harvey William Swanstrom (1934). It took nearly a year start to finish, which is part of the reason I’m just writing about it now.

My grandmother always intended to have a marker made for them and place it in Eden Valley Cemetery. It was one of the last things she mentioned to me just before she died. Actually, the babies are buried in Rock Springs but the funeral home has said there would not be enough left of their bodies to move them to Eden. And, we could mark the graves where they’re buried but then they would end up being disconnected from the family story.

So. We got the gravestone, and we had it placed between my grandparents’ graves. Also this year we did a memorial brick for my grandparents and another for my sister Evonne in the Peace Walk at the Amitabha Stupa in Sedona. But that’s a story for another time.

Swanström Arms

Swanström Arms

by Justin Durand
 
Picture
 
Traditional arms, assumed about 1918
(Design by Magnus Backmark)

Descendants of Adolf Swanström

The Swanström arms were assumed (I believe) during or shortly after World War I, perhaps about 1918, and certainly before 1942 by my great uncle Hugo Ferdinand Swanström (1886-1971). The arms might be older than I know. No records exist of the arms assumed and borne by Swedish commoners, so the arms could have come down to Uncle Hugo from previous generations. However, the arrangement of three charges is so typically an English form that I doubt these arms came from Sweden.

In heraldic blazon, the arms are described as:

Azure two bars wavy Argent between three swans rising Argent beaked and membered Or, wings elevated and addorsed. Crest: Issuant from a crest-coronet Or a demi-swan as in the arms. Motto: Sans Tache.

In Swedish: Sköld: I blått fält två av vågskuror bildade bjälkar av silver ovan åtföljda av två inbördes frånvända och nedan av en svan, alla av silver med beväring av guld och med lyftade vingar. Blått hjälmtäcke fodrat med silver. Hjälmprydnad: En dylik svan uppstigande ur en hjälmkrona av guld.

Jeanne Swanström registered a version of these arms with the American College of Heraldry in 2005, and I registered another version with the Bureau of Heraldry in South Africa in 2006. The arms are also included in the database of the Svenska Heraldiska Föreningen.

Symbolism

The Swanström arms are canting arms, meaning that they are a picture of the surname. In Swedish, svans-ström means “swan’s-stream,” or more poetically, “river of the swans.” The arms show three swans beside a stream.

Most stories about symbolism in heraldry are fantasy, but I find it interesting that a swan is said to denote a music, poetry, and harmony. For more information on the symbolism of swans, see my Swan Lore pages.

Sources

  • The Augustan Society, The Augustan Society Roll of Arms, 52-53 (Justin Durand, 5 March 1983).
  • Magnus Bäckmark, Gröna Stubbens Vapenrulla (Hugo Swanstrom, 1999).
  • Svenska Heraldiska Föreningen, Heraldiska Källan, No. 1646 (Hugo Swanstrom, 1999).
  • American College of Heraldry, No. 2793 (Jeanne Swanström, 17 November 2005).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204E (Jeanne Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204F (Hugo Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
  • United States Heraldic Registry, No. 20070204G (Justin Swanstrom, 4 February 2007).
 
Arms of Jeanne Swanström

(click to enlarge)

Other Svanström Families

The American Swanströms are not related to the Svanström family who were untitled nobility. Augustin Larsson Svanström (1600-1658) was ennobled by Queen Christina in 1647 (No. 397). His father Lars Michelsson was Governor of Helsinski Castle. The family became extinct in the male line with the death of Capt. Frans Ludvig Svanström in 1678. Their arms are illustrated below.

 

Arms of the Swanström family (No. 397)

Other Swedish Families

The Laxmand family in Sweden bears arms that would have been equally appropriate to a Svanström family. Their arms are illustrated below.

Arms of the Laxmand Family

 
Picture

Laxmand

Similar Arms

Because of the inherent difficulties of creating a unique design, families separated by time and distance occasionally choose identical designs. I have not discovered any other families that bear the same arms as the Swanströms, but following are close:

Swan, of Badwinstown Castle, co. Wexford. Azure on a fess wavy Argent, between three swans displayed Proper crowned Or, a trefoil Vert. Crest: a swan Proper crowned Or charged with a trefoil Vert. Motto: Sit nomen decus. (Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1864), 989.)

Waters, of Lenham, co. Kent. Sable three bars wavy between as many swans Argent. (John Woody Papworth,  Ordinary of British Armorials (1961), 44.)

A black swan is the badge of Western Australia, which has for its motto Cygnis Insignis (Distinguishged by Its Swans).

 
Picture
Tartan Samples

Tartan Samples

by Justin Durand
Swanstrom Tartan

As part of the tartan registration process, we have to submit a woven sample. This requirement is intended to insure that every registered design will be woven, not remain just a design concept. We ordered our sample from Molly Manaugh. Actually, I ordered an extra for myself, just to have.

I got the tartan samples tonight. The quality is very high, and it is an amazing feeling to actually see and touch a woven sample of something that two months ago was just an idea. I see now that I should have ordered more samples, to pass out among the family.