<< A woman would never be refereed to as yeowoman. >> Of course not. "Goodwife" (sometimes "goody") was a term of respect for the mistress of a household, typically derived from her husband's status. << Husbandmen and yeoman were different animals. . . . I am sure a husbandman could refer to himself as yeoman, but I am sure his neighbors were acutely aware of class differences and would have snickered at him. . . . If William's family could be identified in England, I am sure they would be yeoman and would have referred to themselves in their wills as such etc. >> The inconsistency with which yeoman and husbandman were used in early colonial land records implies that the line separating these two statuses (in New England, at least) was not as clear as one might think. It was not uncommon, for example, that the same man would be described as husbandman in one or more deeds dated *later* than one or more in which he is identified as yeoman. But the point of my remarks has been lost. In that "goodman" is a vague title of respect for a man below the rank of gentleman (especially--but not limited to--yeoman), it lacks the appropriate distinctiveness and specificity to be used as a modern means of identifying him clearly and accurately. << These widely spaced references to Goodman Paine, and to no one else except William Carpenter, point to these two individuals receiving a special deference in the plantation. >> This is not based on anything remotely resembling a complete examination of the records, either town or colony. We don't know who else was called "goodman." But based on a large sample of recorded references to William2 Carpenter of Rehoboth, it is certain that he was almost always identified by his name alone. His having been an object of deference and how we should refer to him in the present are separate matters. Presumably we are interested in clearly and accurately distinguishing William2 from others of the same name. In that the term "goodman" can apply to any man belonging to the broad stratum below the gentry, it fails even to distinguish William2 of Rehoboth from his own namesake son. Gene Z.