Wehner Family Crest

Our last blog noted that the Wehner families of Ste. Genevieve and of Pilot Knob, Missouri, were being honored by Project Pioneer at this year's Jour de Fete. For those who have not read my book Bier und Brot, The Wehners of Southeast Missouri, Nicholas Wehner founded the Ste. Genevieve line and his brother, Lorenz, founded the Pilot Knob line.

I found that the Project Pioneer folk were searching for a family crest to put on the cover of their Wehner publication and for other uses. I had to tell them that extensive research has found no family crest, at least an authentic one. Wehner "Family Crests” can be found on the internet. But these are 20^th-century creations made to sell plaques, mugs, stationary, T-shirts. Since others, with only a commercial interest, have invented Wehner crests, I felt that my Wehner connection (my lovely wife is Nicholas’s great, great granddaughter) allowed me to do the same.

There are two things that should be part of the Wehner crest. First, the Ste. Gen Wehner family was known for its involvement in baking and in beer. Nicholas ran a saloon and a great many of his descendants were bakers. Indeed the connection with baking and beer gave rise to the title Bier und Brot (“Beer and Bread” in German) for my Wehner family history book. Second, Nicholas and his wife to be, Clara, came to Missouri from Fulda, State of Hesse, Germany, in 1847. And his brother Lorenz and future wife, Flora, came from there the following year.

I first proposed two Wehner family crests, which are much more authentic that those on the internet with their armor, shields, and battle flags, none of which the Fulda Wehners possessed. The German Wehners were farmers, not knights! And in Ste Genevieve they were millers and merchants. Nary an armorial bearing among them.

So here are my first proposed crests. What they lack in mythical regalia is made up for by honesty. I would like to have included a crest with images of Lorenz and his wife, Flora, but we have no photos of this Pilot Knob couple.

The proposed crests have caught on, even without heraldry or armorial trappings, neither of which are needed by the already respected Wehner family. But modifications have been requested, particularly for use in a T-shirt design. And here is the T-shirt crest, with additions to show the role of Wehners in electrical utilities, the lime works, and the Ste. Genevieve lumber yard. 

And here is the final T-shirt, made by Deb Says Sew, a Ste. Genevieve retail establishment. An outstanding job, Debbie.

An attempt to include the millers, the Pilot Knob iron workers, and Nicholas's lumbering ventures makes the crest a little busy to be practical but it is striking: