Heraldry: In medieval times, subjects under the rule of a king were required to have a coat of arms, and his approval thereof to own and use weapons. In some cases, this extended to even include using weapons to hunt. In the 13th and 14th centuries, these coats of arms were passed from father to son.

No evidence has been found that the Palmertree family owned or used a coat of arms. Anyone who has done research on our family will know that the Palmertree surname appears to have evolved from several root names, and has appeared in various forms in public records. Some of which are: PARMYNTREE, PALMATREE, PARMINTER, and PALMATERRY. In absence of a verified coat of arms for our family, I am including a few theories that have been presented on the origin of the PALMERTREE surname.

(a) Family story: - a white man named Palmer came to Mississippi to settle before the Native Americans were removed from their lands. He married the daughter of a Choctaw Indian chief, her name in Choctaw meaning "tree". When they were married by the chief, as was the custom, their names were combined into "Palmer-tree".

(b) Family story: - the Palmertrees descend from a Choctaw chief named Yobalarunehahubbee (name shortened to JoHo), a signer of the treaty of Dancing Rabbitt Creek.

(c) Family research - Greg Palmertree had a genealogist research the Palmertree family when he was stationed in Germany. The genealogist stated that the PALMERTREE surname evolved from the surname PALMQUIST, which means "carriers of virtue".

(d) Family research - When I first started doing research on the PALMERTREE family back in 1985, I corresponded with a professor of history that had researched the surname. He stated that during the middle ages and the crusades, the English pilgrims who couldn't go to the Holy Land made their own "pilgrimages" in England. The pilgrims who carried the palm branches on their pilgrimage became known as "palmers", and the palm branches they used came from the "palmers trees", those who provided the branches to them. The name became the surname Palmertree.

I welcome any additional theories or family stories regarding heraldry or the origin of the Palmertree surname. You may submit them to the "HeirMail" link on the Home Page.