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CHAPMAN EMBLEM
or Chapman Family Association Logo
by Gil AlfordI am sure that members have several questions about our Chapman Family Association Logo. The first question is likely to be- "Why didn't we just use the Chapman Coat of Arms? You used it in your Chapman newsletter?" By all rights I should not have used it in my newsletter, Chapman Chatter, but I did it only for decoration and without any claim of relationship. That coat-of-arms was registered to some specific person or immediate family in England. In that country I would probably have gotten in trouble for using it. The Chapman family at large in England has no authority to use that coat-of-arms.
Except in few rare cases we don't use a coat-of-arms in this country. The appropriate name for such would be emblem or badge when used to relate to the family or logo when used to relate to an organization.
Recognizing this technicality I took it upon myself to commission the design and drawing of a unique piece that could be used for our association and the Chapman family at large in this country. Many of you helped pay for it. All donations made to this effort were forwarded to the Chapman Family Association treasurer.
I told the person commissioned to do the drawing that we wanted it such that we could see something of the Chapman coat-of-arms we are familiar with and that we also wanted something distinctive for our Chapman family.
Figure 5 is the Chapman coat-of -arms that I have used so freely. The arms, described in terms of heraldry is "Per chevron argent and gules, a crescent counterchanged." Argent and gules are heraldic terms for colors - argent being white and gules being red. Most new arms were created by drawing a line on the surface of the shield, dividing it into two parts and painting one part with a color. In this case the chevron was used to divide the shield. All of us who were in service will quickly recognize the inverted "V" as the chevron. The shield is colored red or argent on the lower half of the chevron and white or gules in the upper half. Note where the apex falls within the crescent. The crescent counterchanged is where the chevron crosses the crescent and the colors change in the crescent.
Figure 6 depicts the unique emblem designed for our Chapman family. One can easily see the crescent but the counter change with the chevron is somewhat subtle. I'll come back to the chevron in a minute after I establish a point of reference. The bold black "bars" and loops behind the crescent is a knot- another popular heraldic item. It was chosen to show the "tie that binds" or the close relationship that is evident in the Chapman family. If you will draw two imaginary lines across the crescent where it is counterchanged the lines will meet near the center of the knot and those lines are the chevron.
The colors are red, white, and black, with some gold edging. For use as a logo we add a circle around the design that says "Chapman Family Association" and when used as an emblem or badge the word Chapman can be placed below the design.
©Chapman Family Association
All contents copyrighted by the Chapman Family Association unless copyrighted by individual contributors.