Jessie and John,
Since early Congregational churches in New England were often called _meeting houses_, I
didn't infer that Jessie's inquiry pertained to the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers). In fact, while early Quakers might have called each other (and perhaps even
non-Quakers [I'm guessing]) _brother_ and _sister_, their strong commitment to the
values of modesty and egalitarianism precluded the use of status-related titles such as
_Mr/Mrs_ and _Goodman/Goodwife_. Today, Quakers still tend to eschew titles and may be
conflicted when other organizations' forms ask for them.
Gene Z.
---- Original Message ----
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:05:23 -0800
From: "John R. Carpenter" <jrcrin001(a)cox.net>
Subject: Re: [CARPENTER] titles
To: <carpenter(a)rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <F1F32A6A920D4E52B820080438411C2E@owner421fd458f>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
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Jessie,
Regarding Quaker terminology, most of the online material I found deals with
modern usage. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Society_of_Friends#Quaker_terminology
http://www.rtpnet.org/friends/Quaker_Terminology_Y50808.pdf
http://swarthmore.quaker.org/Glossary.htm
Older terminology often focuses on abbreviation in older records. See:
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/vermilion/richlandquakers.htm#terminology
I hope this helps.
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA
Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project
http://members.cox.net/johnrcarpenter/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jessie Deith" <jessydeith(a)aol.com>
To: "Carpenter mailing list" <CARPENTER(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 5:34 PM
Subject: [CARPENTER] titles
> When reading a seating list for a New England Meeting-house I noticed
> many different titles and wondered if anyone could explain what the
> differences were. Among the men were - Goodman, Brother, Mr and
> sometimes just their name. Among the women there were similar titles
> - Goody, Goodw., Mrs. and Sister but never just their name.
> Jessie Deith