Lancashire, England Visitations, 1567

This database contains genealogies of the palatine (those with royal privileges) of Lancashire, England. These genealogies were taken in the year 1567 by William Flower, Esquire, Norroy king of arms. Heralds (those in charge of controlling the use of coats of arms under the direction of the Crown) conducted visitations to record the use of arms. Part of this recording included recording the pedigrees of the families using coats of arms. Pedigrees were recorded because families had to prove their right to bear the arms by showing their connections back to the original bearers. Because coats of arms were passed down through the generations, armory, or heraldry, has much genealogical value. In this particular database about 120 pedigrees are listed.

Some information taken from: Herber, Mark D. Ancestral Trails. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1998, pp. 492-494.