Tenney Family Crest
Coat Of Arms

Note:  An original copy of the text/explanation is included in the documentation.

Tenney, Salsbury per Chevron sable and Argent, three Griffin’s heads erased and countercharged.

Being translated signifies the following:

Chevron means slanting from the middle each way.  Sable means black.  Argent means white.  Griffin, a fabled animal, a mixture of Lion and Eagle, denotes power.  The head, talons, wings and claws were those of the Eagle; neck, body, legs and tail, of the Lion.  Erased means torn off.  Countercharged means white heads on black ground and black heads on white ground.

 Crest, Griffins’ head, couped gules

Couped means cut off as by one stroke of the sword.  Gules means Red; the crest must be red.

According to the WORLD BOOK OF TENNEYS; published by Halberts, 1996; “there are often a number of different Coat of Arms recorded for specific surnames”.  Below is detailed (in their opinion) a Coat of Arms most representative of the TENNEY surname.  (A copy is included in the original documentation).  The TENNEY Coat of Arms hereby illustrated is officially documented in Rietstap Armorial General.  The original description of the Arms (Shield) is as follows:

“De Gu.  Au Chev.D’Or Ch.  De Trois Annelets du Champ Et  Acc. De Trois Fleurs-De-Lis Du Sec”

When translated the Blazon also describes the original colors of the TENNEY Arms as follows: 

“Red; a gold Chevron charged with three red rings and accompanied by three gold Fleurs-De-Lis”.  Above the shield and helmet is the crest which is described as:  “A silver castle surmounted by two silver towers, each tower surmounted by a red banner, floating to the right”.

The TENNEY FAMILY Book written by M.J. Tenney; 1891 details the family crest including drawings and explanation.  Assistant credit is given to Professor Jonathan Tenney of Albany , New York;  Lt. E.A. Tenney of La Crosse, Wisconsin for the Coat of Arms; and Mr. L. Tenney Peck.