Motto:
Fidelitus, Autoritas et Valere
Faith, Authority and Valor
The Sanson Institute of Heraldry, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
This Coat of Arms furnished through Mr. Edgar L. Vest from the book Descendents of Littleberry VEST written by Erma C. Sowers, copyrighted 1983.
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Please send comments/corrections to Tom Land.
under construction!Several of my kinsmen have asked me, Where
did the name VEST come from? Legend has it. this way:
After JOHN ROLFE and the Indian princess
POCAHONTAS married, they moved to England, and had a son and later both
parents died. This son who was half Indian and half English came
back to America to the English colonies where he married English
girl. A French explorer, by the name of LA VESTA Sailed up the Mississippi
river where he met and married a Cherokee Indian maid. They moved
to the English colonies, where their children intermarried With the English
colonists and later With the Rolfes. When war arose between England
and France, there rose a bitter prejudice in the English colony against
people having a French name. The LA VESTA had become predominately
English in blood, but still Carried the French name so as to be fully acceptable
to the English among whom they lived, the LA was dropped, and the name
became VESTA. Later the "a" was dropped the name became VEST.
My VEST line in in Kentucky. I have yet to connect the earliest proven ancestor to one of the earlier VEST families but that will happen soon I hope. Seated is Clay Harvey VEST, standing left is Ruth Vest Singleton, standing right is Johann Singleton Land and seated on his great grandfather's lap is me, Tom Land. Wish I had asked him some questions about his ancestors! You will find Clay and several generations of his ancestors from Casey Co., KY along with hundreds of other Vest's in the downloadable gedcom file.
Clay Vest, in McCreary Co., KY, 1934, filed a claim as heir of the "Buchanan Fortune". The story behind this (please note - this is a now documented fraud!) is William Henry H. Buchannan served honorably in the Revolutionary War, for which he was granted a large tract of Pennsylavania land. He thought more of this property than the other property he owned, 60 acres on Long Island, about where New York City is now! He moved to PA and paid little attention to this property, leasing it for 99 years at slightly more than the beads of legend. In his old age (he lived to be 92) he learned of the increased value of his property and made a will, dividing equally his 42 estates among all living heirs of his direct blood descendents. Thus the 1930's excitement regarding this estate. Please realize, as I have had to, that the lines based on these claims are usually false after a few generations. In my line listed in these documents, I have found nothing beyond the Vest-Henson connection.
To see Clay's claim, and the lineage included, please click for page 1, or page 2, or page 3. Thanks to Karen Haggen for sending these links to information regarding the fraud:
Barking UP The Wrong Family Tree
GENEALOGICAL FRAUDS: TRAPS FOR THE IMPRUDENT
The VIA
family is closely linked through marriage to the Vest line back in
early Virginia. The page is maintained by Sandy
Spradling.
The The Jarvis Family & Other Relatives contains a good deal of information about the Vest line back in Stokes Co., NC. Enter Vest in the search engine. The page is maintained by Faye Jarvis Moran and Elizabeth Harris.
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