I volunteer at various genealogical events. I will be working the Sunday of the Irish Festival in Canton, MA this September in The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) tent. Last year, I was in the tent with my laptop open, patiently listing off some sources for a researcher into their Irish heritage, while a young gent was impatiently waiting for one of us at the table. My inquirer had taken notes and would get back to us with any further questions. I shook his hand and wished him well. Within seconds the impatient gent was in my face wanting a download of his family tree to the progenitor described on the family coat of arms paper he had just purchased at one of the "bucket" tents. I held a silent groan as I saw that the surname, Brown, was on his rather colorful sheet. I was dressed in my Lamont kilt and accessories, with my TIARA badge proclaiming that my name was also Brown. I carefully read the blather on this made up mess, then looked up at the gent and asked if he had noticed that the two of us had the same surname. He stopped for a second, and stated that should make it easier. I then pointed to my bonnet, and the clan crest badge. He looked at the Lamont Clan badge on my bonnet, then looked at his sheet. His puzzled look gave me the opportunity I needed to point out that my heritage as a Brown lead me back to a particular clan crest, which I proudly display on my bonnet, belt buckle and kilt pin. In no way did this resemble what was on his piece of paper. He settled down, and I carefully explained that the Lord Lyon issues coats of arms to an individual and not to a family name. I also explained the trail to truly finding ones ancestors, and to document each step of the way. He went away with a stack of worksheets. I ran into him a month ago at "Hist-Gen" (The New England Historic Genealogical Society), where he was making progress in his research. He has saved the "Brown Coat of Arms" as a reminder of the work it really takes.