This Certificate and Information was provided by George Machia.
I have re-typed the Certificate's contents for easier reading.
This historiography was prepared individually for the Machia surname on January 15th, 1974 at the request of
Mr. George A. Machia
The coat-of-arms illustrated, was drawn by heraldic artist based upon information about the Machia surname and its association with heraldry. In the language of the ancient heralds, the arms are described as follows;
“Quartered: 1st, or; the letter “M” sa.; 2nd and 3rd, ga.: a griffin sergeant arg.; 4th barry of 4. or./na. Charged with a small inner shield gu.”
The Machia arms is translated:
Divided into quarters: 1st quarter, gold background: a black initial “M”, 2nd and 3rd quarters, red background: a silver griffin upright, displayed; 4th quarter, divided: 4 horiz. Banis, gold and black. A small red inner shield placed over all.
A griffin is symbolic of perseverance and valor. Seven vivid colors were chosen for sue or shields of armor-clad knights to easily identify them at a distance. The heraldic color gold, silver, purple, blue, green, black, and red were preserved on colorless drawings by dot and line symbols. The Machia coat-of-arms incorporated red. The color red represents fortitude, creative power.
Information available indicates that in 1972, there were less then 99 households in the U.S. with the old and distinguished Machia name. In comparison, some family names represent over 400,000 households in the United States.
This report does not represent individual lineage of the Machia family tree and no genealogical representation is intended or implied.