The Guédry Crest / Armoiries des Guédry

The Story Of Our Family

The Guédry Crest tells the story of the Guédry family from its French origins through the struggle of its exile and eventually its resettlement throughout North America and Europe. It is the crest of the Guédry family in all of its name variations.

Each item and color on the crest has special significance. Below is an explanation of the colors and components of the Guédry crest as they tell the story of the Guédry family.

ESCUTCHEON - The field of the escutcheon (shield) is divided into two parts: the chief (broad band across the top) and the field per quarterly with simple cross charge.

CHIEF - The chief is divided into three sections per pale (vertical lines) of blue, white and red tinctures (colors). Blue, white and red are the colors of the Acadian flag. These colors, the same as the Tricolor of the French flag, signify the French origins of the Acadians and the Guédry family.

BLUE represents the personal color of the Holy Virgin Mary - the patron saint of the Acadians. It also signifies loyalty and truthfulness - traits the Guédry family exhibited throughout their lives in Acadie and during the bleakness of deportation.

WHITE represents peace. In Acadie our Guédry forefathers remained neutral between the English and French, striving for peaceful lives. Even while being deported, they maintained their peaceful demeanor.

RED represents fortitude - the strength of mind that enabled our Guédry ancestors to endure the almost unbearable treatment by the English and emerge a stronger people.

The YELLOW STAR symbolizes Our Lady of the Assumption (the Virgin Mary), the patron saint of the Acadians.

The CREEL (fish basket) symbolizes the unique relationship between the Guédry family of Merligueche and the Mi'kmaq nation. The Mi'kmaq taught their Guédry neighbors how to survive the harsh Merligueche environment using the bounty of the land and the sea.

The FIDDLE symbolizes the unique culture of the Guédry family - their music, their food, their faith, their joie de vivre. Although their culture has evolved and changed through the generations and where they may live, it has remained uniquely theirs. An old musical instrument, the fiddle has remained a constant of this culture wherever the music is played: in old Acadie, in Louisiana, in Nova Scotia, on Prince Edward Island, in New Brunswick or in France.

CHARGES - The four symbols in the quarterly fields represent the evolution of the Guédry family from the days of Old Acadie to today. The silver tincture of two fields represents the neutrality and peace that our ancestors strove to maintain during their two hundred years in Acadie. The blue tincture of two fields represents loyalty and truthfulness - qualities exhibited by our Guédry forefathers through much adversity.

The FLEUR-DE-LIS symbolizes the French origin of Claude Guédry, the North American forefather of our family.

The GOLD color symbolizes the generosity of our ancestors toward others - striving for better lives for all.

The COAST-PILOT (boat) represents the early life of the Guédry family in North America. Settled near the Mi'kmaq at Merligueche, the Guédry's were excellent coasting pilots - plying the waters between Merigueche and Ile Royale. They lived a difficult life - learning critical skills from the Mi'kmaq, harvesting their needs from the land and sea, growing strong as a family.

The weather-beaten OAK TREE symbolizes the difficult days of deportation for our Guédry ancestors and their survival through it. It represents the strength of our family as they were uprooted and exiled, separated from mother and father, brother and sister, cousin and friend; spread throughout the world. They endured the hardships, the persecution and the oppression; they survived and they spread their roots firm and deep.

The BLACK color denotes the grief experienced during the dark days of exile.

The GLOBE symbolizes the worldwide breadth of our family today - throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and even the Southern Hemisphere. Because of the firm, deep roots laid by our Guédry ancestors, we are truly a global family today tied closely together by the strong beliefs, characteristics and traits of our forefathers and passed along to us - generation by generation.

GOLD CROSS - The cross quartering the field symbolizes the strong Christian faith of our Guédry forefathers - the faith that helped them survive the early days of Acadie, endure the difficult years of deportation and overcome the struggle for survival afterwards to build the strong family that we are today. The gold tincture represents the generosity of our forefathers throughout their lives - a cornerstone of their faith.

MOTTO - The motto "Dieu, Famille, Acadien" translates to "God, Family, Acadian" - the guiding lights that have held our Guédry family together for over three hundred years and will continue to serve us well in the future.

The Guédry crest represents all direct descendants of Claude Guédry and Marguerite Petitpas. The Guédry name has many variations in spelling today. All variations are represented by the Guédry crest. These variations include:

SPECIAL THANKS

We thank Lindsey Hardee and Nicki Lock of "Design to the Rescue" for taking the rough drawing of Crest Committee, recommending improvements and professionally designing the final Guédry Crest. They have given all of us a wonderful crest of which we truly can be proud. Please visit their website to see their innovative services and solutions: http://www.designtotherescue.com/