Visitations of Bedfordshire, 1566, 1582, and 1634

This database contains genealogies of some of the citizens of Bedfordshire, England that were taken in the years 1566, 1582, and 1634 by the officers of the College 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. These visitations, therefore, are significant because they provide several pedigree charts of families from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Bedfordshire.

Taken from: Herber, Mark D. Ancestral Trails. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1998, p. 492-94.