Hirt Family Crest

In recent years, members of the family had questioned why the Hirt family crest included a knight when much of the family’s roots were firmly planted in agriculture rather than in the nobility! While we got many great years of Hirt family pride out of the previous logo, the general consensus was that it lacked symbolism relating to the actual life of Casper and Verena Hirt. As such, the members of the family present at the 105th Hirt Family Reunion voted to approve the following logo designed by Benjamin and Matthew Hirt as the new family crest. We will also be adding “Est. 1919” to the new design, in reference to the date of the first family reunion, rather than when Casper and Verena settled in Fremont.

Symbolism of the new crest:

  1. Juxtaposition of the shape of the state of Ohio and the Aargau flag: Ohio was founded in 1803 and the flag of the Swiss canton or “state” of Aargau where Casper and Verena were from was also adopted in 1803.
  2. The three squiggles represent the three rivers than converge in Stilli, native village of Casper. They are the Aare, the Reuss and the Limmat. Waterways played an essential role for Casper in Switzerland and in America. Much like these three Swiss rivers, three bodies of water (rivers, oceans and the Great Lakes) were all necessary to bring our family to Ohio from Switzerland.
  3. The black color on the left represents the fertile soil along the three Swiss rivers as well as the fertile soil of the Great Black Swamp in Ohio.
  4. The three stars on the seal represent not only the three regions in Switzerland that make up the Aargau region (Baden, Fricktal and the Free Bailies), but also Casper’s village of Stilli (1), Verena’s village of Villigen (2) and Fremont, Ohio (3).
  5. The pitchforks represent the agrarian roots of the family and the shepherd’s crooks symbolize the Germanic name “Hirt” which means “Shepherd” in English.
  6. As with previous years, each branch of the family can have their shirt printed with the name of and on the color that represents their common ancestor (see image of shirts below for details).

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