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Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 13 Jul 2008 11:31PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gutwasser
Hello everyone. I’m not terribly experienced with coats arms, so I’m hoping someone will be able to help me find out a little more information from a hand-painted family crest that has been passed down in my family.

I’ve attached a jpeg of the scanned image, but I’ll describe it briefly:

The shield’s field is blue and there is an odd image of something that looks like what could be a fancy gold colored cup (grail/goblet-like) with a four streams of silver (water maybe) pouring into it from a black dot (maybe its supposed to be a hole) just above it. It also gives the impression of a fountain.

The crest itself is a golden symbol that looks similar to a tall 4 with another line running horizontally through the leg of the four (see image). It is perched atop a silver helmet with blue and white wings springing up from the base to frame the 4 shape.

1588 is written across the upper part of the paper (split into 15 and 88 on either side of the crest).

Below the shield, in neat German calligraphy, is written:

Gutwasser ~
N.W. Böhmen b. Schneeberg.

My last (and only that I know of so far, I cannot locate any other members of her family) Gutwasser relative was my great great great grandmother whose maiden name was Anna Marie Gutwasser. She lived from 1849 to 1902 and I believe this framed coat of arms dates from about that time period. My research shows she was born in Mühlhausen, Thüringen, Prussia/Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1857.

I find this coat of arms to be very curious, and would like to ask anyone with experience with German heraldry, exactly what the text mentioned above means. Does the date 1588 apply to origins of the name Gutwasser or the city of Schneeberg? I know there are many cities, towns and villages named Gutwasser in Prussia (now Germany, Austria, etc.), could this maybe be a reference to a town named Gutwasser (maybe one my Gutwasser relatives were named after or vice versa)?

I’ve been researching the location of Schneebergs that were once Prussian (most of Bohemia is now in Austria) but have found nothing conclusive yet. There are a couple of prospects, but I can’t make any further suggestion without further research.

I would like it very much if anyone with experience in Germanic heraldry could possibly help me identify the symbols in this coat of arms and help me track down more information about this coat of arms and where it came from. As I’ve said, I’m not really experienced with heraldry of any kind, so I would be open to any suggestions of resources which I could use to identify when this coat of arms came to be (is there an index of dates and names granted crests in Bohemia, Prussia?)

If there is anything further, or any one has any questions, please leave a post. I will try and attach a decent sized jpeg of the Gutwasser coat of arms; please let me know if it doesn’t come through.

Thanks for your time. I haven’t come across anyone else researching the Gutwassers and fear I am treading in unexplored waters, so I’m looking forward to figuring out this little enigma in my genealogy research.
Attachments:

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:32PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi there,
I've done a search through the main documents that record continental European arms for any entries in the surname of GUTWASSER. Those documents are Rietstap's Armorial General, Rolland & Rolland's Illustrations to Rietstap's AG, Siebmacher Wappenrolle von 1605 and Siebmacher's Wappenrolle Ungarn - all to no avail.

The crest itself appears to be of Polish origin as it is similar to some of the devices to be found in Polish heraldry.

Sorry I can't help any more than that.

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 7:16PM GMT
Classification: Query
so which connection with the below stated in german language "Nordwest-Böhmen bei Schneeberg"/ north-west Bohemia at Schneeberg (snow-mountain)? this is in the sonamed Sudeten-german-area of present Czech rep. on border to Germany.
Hoher Schneeberg(high snow-mountain)at ground is the place Schneeberg, now in Sněžník:http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C4%9B%C4%8D%C3%ADnsk%C3%BD_Sn...
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%ADlov%C3%A9_u_D%C4%9B%C4%8...
http://maps.google.at/maps?hl=de&biw=1016&bih=536&am...

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 7:19PM GMT
Classification: Query
and "Gutwasser" is german and means "good water" and in fact think means a fountain, springwater very clearly when i look on teh coat of arms.

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 7:32PM GMT
Classification: Query
"I’ve been researching the location of Schneebergs that were once Prussian (most of Bohemia is now in Austria) but have found nothing conclusive yet."

in present Austria there is not anything of Bohemia (Böhmen)!!! in fact Bohemia was for nearly 400 years a crownland of the austrian-Hungarian Empire and is now the czech Republic!
and Schneeberg, like stated in the posts before is now named
Sněžník in czech language and its located at the Hoher Schneeberg now named Děčínský Sněžník.

old map of Austrian-Hungarian Empire > 1 Bohemia:
http://www.brainworker.ch/Oesterreich/Austria-hungary.png
history of Bohemia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 7:49PM GMT
Classification: Query
My thinking Bohemia was today in Austria was a slight mistake on my part as I wasn’t too familiar with the history of central Europe when I first made this post. However, I have since 2008 I have spoken to other people who were kind enough to help me locate present day Schneeburg in Sněžník in the Czech Republic. I was aware that Gutwasser most likely stemmed from “Good Water” and also found it evidently reflected in the coat of arms itself.

I also came in contact with a German man from Hamburg who was also researching the Gutwasser family. He sent me some pages from an old book in German concerning the Gutwasser family. It’s written in Fraktur and as I myself do not speak German very well it has taken me a long time to translate what it says bit by bit. In this book there are a about six or so other family crests belonging to different branches of the Gutwasser family. At least two branches ended up in Muhlhausen, Thuringen, where my ancestor was from. I still do not have a connection further back than my ancestor Anna Marie Gutwasser Fuehr, but I am certain she ties into this family somehow.

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 12:09AM GMT
Classification: Query
"At least two branches ended up in Muhlhausen, Thuringen, where my ancestor was from. I still do not have a connection further back than my ancestor Anna Marie Gutwasser Fuehr, but I am certain she ties into this family somehow."

i also would think so, if there two branches ended up in your ancestor´s area!

Re: Prussian Coat of Arms - Gutwasser

Posted: 22 Nov 2014 7:02PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 22 Nov 2014 7:21PM GMT
Hi, please contact :
www.jeanlouis-lambert.fr .......about Schneeberg/ Gut(t)wasser

1681 H. Christianus Guttwasser, Bürger und Handelßmann
(Citizen and Salesman)

(In Zwickau(City in Germany), there is also a Gutwasserstr. /Gutwasser Street

Böhmen is an area/Landscape or region, Schneeberg is a small city, known for its silver mines and trading in those times. I think politically subordinated to Zwickau at that time. Try also Gutwasser, Guttwasser, Guthwasser.
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