---- Frostfreedet@aol.com wrote: > Kate wonders, > >>How would one get the designation "Captain". Would one have to have served > with the military or were merchant mariners given that title, also?<< > > A ship's captain may have no military rank whatever. He need not be a member > of an organized establishment such as today's Merchant Marine. > > He would only have to be hired for the job by the vessel's owner(s). > > But don't discard the possibility that he might have been Captain of a > militia or other unit at a previous time. Depending on how they were thought of in > the community, some people continued to be called "Captain" long after they'd > been out of any such post. I also have a distant cousin who was called > "Captain" for no discernible reason! He was a millwright, not a mariner, and as far > as I've been able to learn was never made a militia officer. > During the war of the revolution, neighborhoods were divided up for the purposes of collecting taxes in the state of Virginia and were assigned to one local who was responsible for collecting information such as personal property taxables. The person responsible for their 'neighborhood districts' were often called "Captain" all though, according to a researcher at the Library of VA, they were not necessarily 'captains' in the sense that we think of a captain today. Sometimes these districts which were originally intended for the purpose of collecting taxes were also used as designated militia districts but not necessarily. One of the easiest ways to differenciate between a tax and militia district is that a tax list may contain the names of women (widows) while a militia list will never contain the names of women. I have an ancestor who served as a navy captain during the Rev. War; he was born in Rhode Island and came from a long line of seafaring ancestors. After a short 'stint' as a navy captain he found it was far more profitable to be a 'privateer' than a navy captain ... he retained his title of 'captain' dispite the fact that he was no longer in the services of the fledgling navy. Hope this helps - good luck with your research. Cindy in WI