Family Coat of Arms

Introduction

4. The Family Coat-of-Arms

Schömbs from Undenheim, Kreis Mainz
Oldest known Coat-of-Arms:
Johann Schömbs, Farmer,
(*10.9.1771 Undenheim. +13.9.1841)

The coat of arms is divided into two sections. Upper: blue background with two silver lilies; Lower: a checkered pattern in red and silver. The red-silver-blue-silver rounded helmet has a red-silver layer on the right and a blue-silver layer on the left side. At the top sits a red-silver swan. The coat of arms was later adopted in 1979 by Carl Franz Schömbs, businessman, Mannheim, for himself and the descendants of his great-grandfather Johann Schömbs mentioned above. Designer: Dr. Ottfried Neudecker, Wiesbaden. Submission of Pro Heraldica, Stuttgart. Registered by Nr. 79296.[1] The coat of arms depicted below was created at the initiative of Johann Schömbs I. He was the owner of a wine-growing estate in Oppenheim. Presumably in 1949 he gave the order to the following coat of arms to use it as a label for advertising purposes:

Wappen Joh. Schömbs I., Oppenheim

According to the daughter of Johann Schömbs I. it is registered under Johann Schömbs 1949, pap.413 [2] in the "Archiv für Wappenkunde/ Archives of Heraldry" in Karlsruhe. But this institution didn't exist in Karlsruhe. The origin of the coat of arms, which shows a date of 1477 (a possibly wrong date), is unclear. It is unknown whether it was designed by fantasie or from a historical draft, maybe in relation to the Schömbs family. Possibly the so-called registration in Karlsruhe is an error. On an identical copy of the coat of arms found in Dexheim at Maria Michel born Schömbs (Dexheim Line) is a handwritten note as a comment to "Archiv Magdeburg/Archives Magdeburg". This coat of arms went a long way round from Philipp Schömbs, Oppenheim to Dexheim. (The mother of Mrs. Ruf, Oppenheim was born a Schömbs).

On the reverse of the coat of arms is a typewritten description. It reads:
Upper: in blue two silver Bourbon-lilies – a french honouring
On the crowned helmet a silver swan – purity on cast of mind
Lower: chequered pattern red and silver decoration
– predilection for sport and game

Exactly the same description was found in a letter between Johann Schömbs I. (Oppenheim Line) and Bertha Brömme a born Schömbs (Offenbach Line). Johann happened to meet Bertha Brömme on a health cure.

Label of the winery estate of Joh. Schömbs I.
with the Family Coat-of-Arms in the lower left

The same coat of arms was also in possesion of the Offenbach Line at that time. Presumably at some time it made its way from Oppenheim to Offenbach because the origin would be found in Oppenheim. A remark of Bertha Brömme was that her father Hermann Schömbs born in 1858 had a great predilection in fencing. Awarded with numerous prizes he was one of the best fencers in the Rhein-Main-area in his time. Those characteristics Bertha Brömme saw in combination with the coat of arms. This could be really a hint to the background of the coat of arms. There are some good reasons that the creator, concious of the Middle Age meaning, used his knowledge for the coat of arms. Whether this original meaning of the name " game, joke..."in 1949 was created for the first time before an old, historical coat of arms with the corresponding meaning is unknown. As a result of the investigations it is likely that such an ancient coat of arms of the family existed.

Nevertheless, thirty years later in 1979 this coat of arms became an official accepted one by the Schömbs family looking only a little bit different. It is used by several branches of the family (Carl Schömbs, Mannheim-Neckarstadt; Hanns Schoembs, Neu-Isenburg). The official acceptance as a family coat of arms of the Schömbs goes back to Carl Franz Schömbs born 07.06.1910 in Mannheim-Neckarstadt. His ancestors came from Nackenheim and Undenheim. His 70 th birthday was the reason to check the coat of arms, which was used by the family of Johann Schömbs I. in Oppenheim by the "Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft für Familienwappen und –chroniken "Pro Heraldika", Stuttgart. (Research Council). The heraldic legitimacy was checked, the coat of arms was reworked and registered in the "Allgemeine Dt. Wappenrolle, Berlin Nr. 79296.[3] (Register oef Heraldry). The original text is shown at the beginning of the chapter. The two lilies and the sitting swan on the coat of arms are obviously decorations, but the checkered pattern stands for "game, entertainment". The changes of "Pro Heraldica" concerns only the depicted helmet. The former form (open) is reserved only to the nobility. So the rules made a change necessary.

Despite the named and by "Pro Heraldica" registered version of the coat of arms, two other versions also turned up.

The first version is the same as the coat of arms of Johann Schöembs I, Oppenheim. It was discovered in an art-store-house in Berlin. It gives a hint to an archives in Magdeburg. The second version is an older one or maybe only a version which is painted as an old one. It's a draft of Willy Schömbs, Wiesbaden, probably drawn from an older production, since it includes a reference to the year 1760 and the name Schömbs. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to clear up the background of this Coat of arms and the named year on it.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Allgemeine Deutsche Wappenrolle Berlin, Nr. 79296, German Coats-of-Arms, Berlin Archives

[2] information from Hanns Schoembs, Neu-Isenburg, 07.06.87

[3] published in the "Wappen-Herold" of the German Heraldry Society, Berlin, Band 2, 1980, page 451, German publisher of family crests and chronicles, Stuttgart.