The Winner of the Family Crest Design Contest is…

Sarah Schmidt family crest submissionHappy New Year, Schmidts! With 210 days to go until our record-breaking family reunion, we would like to present our winning Schmidt Family Crest!

For the last several centuries, wealthy European families received official family crests from the authorities for noble deeds, academic achievement, or exceptional service to one’s ruler. Our Schmidt ancestors were humble, hard-working peasants in a tiny village called Machtlos, hidden away in the dense Wildeck Forest. As such, they were never recognized in this way. This is all about to change.

Multiple family members submitted designs, and over 80 families across the country voted on their favorite design. With 48% of the vote, the clear-cut winner is the “Generations Journey Together” design by cousin Sarah Schmidt of Gaylord, Minnesota!

This crest will be redrawn and polished up by a professional graphic designer in order to abide by heraldic requirements, and the finished design will then be registered with a German heraldic society to become our family’s official coat of arms. Keep your eyes peeled for the final product!

Sarah provided a legend to explain each of the elements of her beautiful design:

This crest tells the living history of our Schmidt Family as her members went from local to global.

The outside bands of color represent the German flag – with one additional band of purple. The purple band represents those of us who joined the Schmidt family by choice – not by blood. The bands say, “It doesn’t matter how you got here; we’re all in this together”.

The compass and flag in the center of this crest recognizes those who have stayed in Machtlos as well as those who have journeyed in all directions from Machtlos.

The upper left quadrant— Whether they stayed or left, our family ancestors discovered that the eagle (a sign of bravery) is the national bird of both Germany and the United States. You can see that even though she is flying free, she is also firmly hanging on to her German heritage.

The upper right quadrant— The leaves of the oak tree represent the strength and perseverance of generations – past and present.

The lower left quadrant — The image of a plow is superimposed upon an open Bible. Both then and now, hard work is honorable when based upon strong values.

The lower right quadrant — The unending road binds together those who wrote the Schmidt family history and those generations to come. The journey continues.

Hence, the words at the top of the crest — Generations Journey Together.

The winning designer, Sarah Schmidt, is the wife of Gordon Schmidt, daughter-in-law of Arnold Schmidt, granddaughter-in-law of Henry Schmidt Jr., great-granddaughter-in-law of Henry Schmidt Sr., 2xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Conrad Schmidt, 3xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Dietrich Schmidt Sr., 4x-great-granddaughter-in-law of Friedrich Schmidt, 5xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Johannes Schmidt Jr., 6xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Johannes Schmidt Sr., 7xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Hans Heinrich Schmidt, and 8xgreat-granddaughter-in-law of Hans Schmidt.

 

One thought on “The Winner of the Family Crest Design Contest is…

  1. Thank you so much for selecting my submission as the official Schmidt Family Crest! This is exciting! I am looking forward to seeing the final rendition. And then to see it on merchandise???? I already know what my kids are going to get for Christmas!

Leave a Reply to Sarah Schmidt Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.