Stephen Hopkins, "Mayflower" Passenger - Arms for Stephen Hopkins

This was not issued to parents of Stephen Hopkins and does not Indicate noble origins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hopkins_(Mayflower_passenger)

Look at the source of the image:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Stephen_Hop...

Description
English: Coat of Arms of Stephen Hopkins
Shield: Sable, on a chevron between three pistols Or, as many roses Gules
Crest: A tower per bend indented Argent and Gules, in flames proper
Date 15 May 2023
Source
English: Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book. 1907; rpt. New York: Crest Publishing Co, 1962
Author Glasshouse

Armorial addenda
Page 43 < Archive.Org >
Mr. Stephen Hopkins, g-ent., of London, came in the "Mayflower" 1620, settled at Plymouth, Mass.
Arms — Sable, on a chevron, between tliree pistols or, as many roses Giles
Crest — A tower per bend indented argent and gules, in flames proper

So when was this coat of arms issued and to whom based on what?

The current thinking is that John Hopkins may have been a man of arms at one time.

Particularly interesting items in John Hopkyng's inventory are his military uniform and equipment kept in the kitchen: '1 bow & sheaf of arrows, 1 sword, 1 dagger, 1 skull [i.e., helmut], greave & warbrace [i.e., armor for arms, hands and lower legs].' Most likely he was a yeoman archer serving in the militia. From his military apparel. one can form a graphic picture of an Elizabethan bowman fully dressed and ready for battle.

Shirley Edmonds may be able to explain more, and I’m sure she’d be interested to see the COA is on Wikipedia confusing people.

XXIInd Colloquium of the International Academy of Heraldry, arranged by Societas Heraldica Lundensis in cooperation with Societas Heraldica Scandinavica and The Swedish Heraldry Society. Heraldry and the Law: United States of America.
https://heraldik.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/USA.pdf
Page 9

Part 9. Family and personal heraldry
9.1. - Adoption, grant or registration?

Americans who use personal arms acquire them through a variety of methods including inheritance, unilateral assumption, grant (including registration, certification, etc.) by foreign authorities, the use of commercial heraldic design firms, and misappropriation of so-called “arms of the name.”

There are no official bodies to oversee, create, regulate, or document personal coats of arms as such. Many states have laws permitting the registration of the marks of non-profit groups such as charities, fraternal organizations, hereditary societies, and the like separate from trademarks used in actual commerce. A handful of heraldists have taken advantage of these provisions to register coats of arms assumed in the name of a father or grandfather as those of associations of that person’s descendants. The utility of this practice is questionable, however, particularly considering that an annual fee is often required to keep the registration current.

Several private unofficial registries exist that enable persons and corporate bodies to put their arms (of whatever origin) on record. The oldest of these is the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society which has recorded assumed personal and corporate arms since the 1930s.22 The most widely used is probably that maintained by the American College of Heraldry, founded in 1972. The Augustan Society, an organization focused primarily on matters of chivalry and related topics, also maintains a registry of arms. Various similar registries have come and gone over the last 150 years or so. As far as is known, no judicial case has ever been heard as to whether any legal value attaches to such private registrations; it is likely that there is none.

Private User are you familiar with “ Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book. 1907?”

Extracting from

https://www.americanancestors.org/heraldry-america

Introduction to Heraldry in America
Live broadcast: September 28, 2017
Presented by: Nathaniel Taylor, PhD, FASG, Vice Chairman of the NEHGS Committee on Heraldry
Running Time: 1:05:26

Description: Heraldic symbols are all around us from state seals to institutional emblems to family heirlooms. Yet the significance behind these cultural and familial symbols is often misunderstood. Discover the history of heraldry in America from colonial times to present day. Join esteemed Vice Chairman of the NEHGS Committee on Heraldry Nathaniel Lane Taylor, PhD, FASG to learn how heraldry can enrich your family history research.

RESEARCHING COATS OF ARMS OR FAMILIES WITH HERALDRY
There are many books including lists of coats of arms borne by people or families, including colonists or American families. A problem with almost all of them is that they offer no proof of the authenticity (right by descent) of the arms.

For a genealogist confronting a coat of arms, authenticity of a coat of arms is paramount: does a coat of arms indicate a proved descent from the original bearer of that coat in the mother country? It is important to research what is known of the family, especially the immigrant (male-line) ancestor, and also what is known of the coat of arms: when was a coat of arms first used by or associated with that ancestor’s family?

Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640: A Concise Compendium by Robert Charles Anderson
NEHGS, 7th Floor F& .G745 2015

For New England families who arrived by 1640, this is an important first step to consult: if the immigrant’s place or family of origin is listed as “unknown,” then that family has essentially no proved right to a coat of arms, and the arms probably cannot be considered as clues to the origin of the family.

[Probably this book, published 2015, identified John Williams as Stephen Hopkins father. The earlier Great Migration Begins had origins unknown, I think. That I can look up if need be.]

BRITISH RESOURCES FOR TRACING COATS OF ARMS BEFORE IMMIGRATION
The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales by Bernard Burke
NEHGS, 7th Floor CR1619 .H86 1974
A standard enormous dictionary of who bore what coat of arms, arranged by surname. There are no citations to any sources, and, often, little indication of the time frame of the individual coat of arms. There are eleven pages of coats of arms for people named Smith. No illustrations.

An alphabetical dictionary of coats of arms belonging to families in Great Britain and Ireland, 2 vols. by John W. Papworth
NEHGS, 1st Floor CR1619 .P21 1965
Comprehensive encyclopedia of British coats of arms arranged by their blazon (formal language describing the coat of arms). Not illustrated, and must be used with a knowledge of the language of blazon and an understanding of how description of a coat of arms is arranged hierarchically.

Dictionary of British Arms: Medieval Ordinary, 4 vols. by Hubert Chesshyre, Thomas Woodcock, and Sarah Flower
NEHGS, Vault
The definitive modern complement to Papworth’s Ordinary, with comprehensive listings of all coats of arms appearing in heralds’ manucripts and other sources from before the visitation period (1530–1688).

Display of Heraldry by John Guillim
NEHGS, Vault; also available at archive.org
The classic first resource with coats of arms of individuals which can be found by using the surname index at the back. The sixth edition, with its index of every name whose arms are described or illustrated in the book, was clearly a source for producers on demand of same-name arms.

Armigerous Ancestors: A Catalogue of Sources for the Study of the Visitations of the Heralds in the 16th and 17th Centuries by Cecil R. Humphery-Smith
NEHGS, 1dt Floor CS419 .H86 1997
A comprehensive book, includes indexes of Visitation pedigrees for every county in England and Wales, and many other related resources.

A list of published individual English heralds’ visitations (arranged by English county or shire), with links to online editions of them, is available at Christopher Phillips Medieval Genealogy website.

https://www.americanancestors.org/committee-heraldry

About the Roll of Arms

Since 1914 the Committee on Heraldry has compiled a Roll of Arms of American colonists, or immigrants to the United States, who were rightfully armigerous according to the authorities and customs of their countries of origin. The precise scope of the Roll of Arms has changed more than once in subsequent years. Since 1972, only arms borne prior to 1900 are eligible for the Roll of Arms.

The Roll has been published periodically since 1928, in pamphlet form and in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. The parts of the Roll of Arms published in the Register are available online to NEHGS members on AmericanAncestors.org

In 2013 the Committee published a one-volume edition of the complete Roll of Arms to date, through Part 10 (registration nos. 1–741), edited and with a historical introduction and notes by the Committee’s former secretary, Henry L. P. Beckwith. This volume is available from the American Ancestors Bookstore.

The newest published part of the roll of arms, the Eleventh Part, is being published in 2022 in the Register.

A searchable index to the Roll of Arms includes all approved registrations to the Roll including the subject’s name, year of immigration, nationality, colony or state of residence in America, and entry number in the Roll of Arms. Nationality and year of immigration, ordinarily not published in the early parts of the Roll, have been supplied here to better identify the subjects.

https://www.americanancestors.org/heraldry-feed/40 (subscription needed)

636 Hopkins, Joseph MD [Maryland] 18th c England

Take a guess who isn’t there.

Thank you, Shirley.

Etsy has a nice bar sign with a similar image as Wikipedia. Est. 2001. It’s up to $66.28 plus shipping though.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1102892942/custom-family-crest-coat-of...

It looks like there was only one Hopkins in America with a coat of arms.

This book looks legitimate, and he’s the same man described in the book genealogist Nat Taylor mentioned. Not a definite identification and the design is entirely different.

American Heraldica, page 113. https://archive.org/details/americaheraldica00verm/page/112/mode/2u...

These arms present a special interest, as they were granted by the Royal Government, in 1764, to an American citizen, Captain Joseph Hopkins, of Maryland.