Coat of Arms
Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (London: Harrison, 1884), pp. 1105-1106.
Whitney. (Whitney, co. Hereford; a knightly family of remote antiquity, founded by EUSTACE, living in 1086, styled DE WHITNEY, from the lordship of Whitney, which he possessed). Az. a cross chequy or and sa. Crest--A bull's head couped sa. armed ar. the points gu.
Whitney. Ar. on two bars az. three cinquefoils of the field. Crest--A bull's head couped sa. armed ar. the points gu.
Whitney. Ar. a cross componée or and gu. Same Crest as the last.
Whitney. Paly of six or and az. a chief vair.
Whitney. Ar. a griffin segreant sa.
Whitney. Ar. a lion ramp. sa. on a chief of the last three mullets ar.
Whitney (FETHERSTON-WHITNEY, Newpass, co. Westmeath; exemplified to EDWARD WHITNEY FETHERSTON, Esq., of Newpass, on his assuming, by royal license, 1859, the additional surname and arms of WHITNEY). Quarterly, 1st and 4th, az. a cross chequy or and sa. in the dexter quarter a crescent of the second, for WHITNEY; 2nd and 3rd, gu. on a chev. betw. three ostrich feathers ar. a pellet, for FETHERSTON. Crests--1st, WHITNEY: A bull's head couped sa. horned ar. tipped gu. gorged with a collar chequy or and sa.; 2nd, FETHERSTON: An antelope statant ar. armed or. Motto--Volens et valens.
Whitney (Dublin; confirmed to BENJAMIN WHITNEY, of Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, Clerk of the Crown for co. Mayo, only son of NICHOLAS WHITNEY, of Old Ross, co. Wexford). Az. a cross chequy or and sa. in the dexter quarter a cross crosslet ar. Crest--A bull's head couped sa. armed ar. tipped gu. gorged with a collar chequy or and sa. and charged on the neck with a cross crosslet also ar. Motto--Magnanimater Crucem sustine.
From S. Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut (New York: privately printed, 1878), vol. 1, frontispiece (courtesy of Bev Hanner).
Melville, Henry, The Ancestry of John Whitney (New York, NY: The De Vinne Press, 1896), frontispiece, gives a similar illustration, and below it a description of the arms:
"Arms. Azure, a cross chequy or and gules.
Crest. A bull's head couped sable, armed argent, the points gules.
As registered in the College of Arms."
Nota Bene: The reader knowledgeable about heraldry will realize that there is a conflict here. Burke, who is considered authoritative, says the cross is chequy or and sable [i.e., gold and black]. Melville and Phoenix say and show the cross as chequy or and gules [i.e., gold and red]. An additional oddity is that shown are the arms of the Whitneys of Whitney, Herefordshire, not those of the Whitneys of Coole Pilate, Cheshire, the latter of which is put forward as ancestral to Henry1 WHITNEY in the text of Phoenix's book, from which the illustration is taken.
