The Provoost Family Crest

The arms we give were those borne by the Venerable and Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, First Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York. He descended in the fifth degree from the original colonist, David Provoost, a Huguenot, who came over in 1638 to New Amsterdam by way of Holland, where his family had settled at first. The provoosts, or, rather, prevosts, or Provosts (as they must have been called in their native land), came, originally, from Normandy, where the name is still largely represented. Our example is copied from a bookplate of the Bishop, engraved by Maverick, in 1769, and, undoubtedly, copied from old and trustworthy family documents. The Bishop married, in 1766, Miss Maria Bousfield; but the impalement found on his shield does not represent the arms given by Burke to the Irish family of Bousfield. We are, therefore, induced to think that we have here a clear example of French heraldry, showing, not a marriage, but the juxtaposition of two shields, having belonged successive

Family

Provoost

Motto

Pro libertate.For liberty's sake.

Blazon

An Arm Embowed In Armour, The Hand, Proper, Grasping An Arrow Fessways.

Source

America Hereldica