Harnett County

HARNETT COUNTY

Origin/meaning

The arms have been adopted by the County of Harnett on February 17, 1986.

The county is named after Cornelius Harnett an American merchant, farmer, and statesman from Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a leading American Revolutionary statesman in the Cape Fear region, and a delegate for North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1779. Being from a farmer's background his family did not bear arms. The county therefore uses the arms of a certain Harnett family outlined in John Burke’s “Encyclopaedia of Heraldry”, 1847. It is described as “Argent a pale sable surmounted by a saltire gules a chief azure. Crest - A hornet fly, wings elevated, proper." There is most likely no relation between Cornelius Harnett and the family that used the arms.

The county, however, uses a chief silver instead of blue and the crest is shown in black and white, not proper. The proper colours are shown below based on Burke:

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