Re: Family Crest

Hello Deborah, and thank you for your interest in the Moran arms.The only proper illustration I can supply is the famous black shield, with three rayed gold stars, a crest of a single rayed gold star, and the motto "Lucent in Tenebris."The illustration I have was painted by Myra Maguire, an Irish artist recommended to me by the Chief Herald of Ireland as "one of the best heraldic painters in Ireland."The illustration is without helmet and mantling.It is a beautiful illustration.

As you will have read from my earlier posting, this coat of arms has long been erroneously attributed to all Irish Moran families.T. Whitley Moran, the definitive researcher on Irish Moran families, has proven that these arms were used only by the O'Morain family of County Offaly, just west of Dublin.

T. Whitley identified six different clans of Morans in Ireland.There was another coat of arms attributed to a Moran family which lived in Ballina, County Mayo.This one is described as follows: Azure on a mount proper, two lions combatant or, holding between them a flagstaff also proper, therefrom a flag argent; a crest: out of amural crown, a demi-saracen, head in profile, all proper; and a motto: Fides non timet.These Moran arms were later were later quartered with the arms of the wife of one of the descendants, whose family name was O'Rourke.I have a very small black and white illustration of these quartered arms, but I do not have an illustration of the Moran arms alone.

And then there was a third Irish coat of arms, described as follows: Argent, a chevron gules between three lions passant sable; with a crest: On a mount vert, a stag couchant proper; and a motto: Fidelis.These arms were granted c.1712 to Captain Patrick Moran, late of Count Mahoney's regiment of the Irish Brigade in France.Captain Moran had married a Spanish lady, and nothing is know of his Irish origin.I do not have an illustration of these arms.

You state that your family is from Carrick on Shannon of County Roscommon. You do not state how far back your family is known to have lived there.I have checked the map of Ireland and the places where the six clans of Morans, identified by T. Whitley Moran, lived.One lived right lived in Mohill, in the south of County Leitrim, just a very short distance north of Carrick on Shannon, which my map of Ireland shows to also be in county Leitrim instead of Roscommon.If your family did not move there from some other place, that should be your clan of origin.And it is not known to have been associated with either of the coats of arms (unless the above Captain Patrick Moran of Count Mahoney's Irish Brigade descended from that clan).

So, I'll tell you, if you would like to have a Moran coat of arms to display, I would just do like everybody else has done, like forever, adopt the Moran arms from County Offaly.I can furnish you a nice illustration of that one.The cost is $20.00, including packaging and shipping.If others in your family want copies, I can let them have additional copies for $15.00 each, if they are all shipped at the same time.

I should also tell you about that clan which appears to be yours.T. Whitley Moran published the ancient pedigree of this family in "The Irish Genealogist," of November 1971, volume 4, number 4, an annual publication of The Irish Genealogical Research Society, London.The pedigree was gleaned from ancient Irish records and extends all the way back from about 1700 to about 800 A.D.It is one of the oldest Irish pedigrees in existence.

If you are convinced this clan is yours, and you want a copy of the article by T. Whitley, I have a copy I can copy for you.If my copy does not copy well again, I can still get a good copy for you at the Clayton Library here in Houston.Just let me know.

I hope all this will be of some help.Please let me know if you want a copy of the Moran coat of arms - or the article by T. Whitley Moran.