Thank you for this response. I knew that it had to be an explanation like this. Barbara -----Original Message----- From: Norris <nmt1@ix.netcom.com> To: SPENCER-L@rootsweb.com <SPENCER-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 7:06 PM Subject: Re: The "Junior" Problem >On Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:45:11 -0700 (PDT), you wrote: > >>The other day I was complaining about how nicknames >>impede research. Here's another problem: our >>ancestors' unusual usage of "Jr." when naming a child. > >Our ancestors, pre-revolution, and probably for a time after, didn't >name their sons as Jr. > >That was an identification "label" placed on the younger of two >individuals in the community with the same name, usually just by >practice, but then carried out by the town clerk. > >And those labels would change as one got older. > >For example, you could have three John Smith's in a community. One not >related, one an uncle and one a nephew. The nephew might be Jr., the >uncle, Sr and the one not related not given any label. > >In the next decade, the uncle died and the nephew might have a nephew >named John Smith. The first nephew would become Sr and the new nephew >would become Jr. > >And so on and so on. > >This label was also occasionally used for women and only meant there >was someone else in town who had that name, who was older. When you >run into a Jr. reference, you should generally endeavor to identify >who the Senior in that town was, and when the label changed. > >It is a very useful label, as clerks were generally careful to >consistently name a person by their "label", at least until the label >changed. Therefore, it is a good way to distinguish between >individuals in references to an individual in deeds, etc. > >For pre-revolution entries in your database, and even up to 1800 or a >skosh later, it can be very confusing to enter Sr, Jr, etc. I >generally don't enter them. > > >Norris > >-- >Silver Bullet <nmt1@ix.netcom.com> >Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ntgen/index.html >--------------------------------------- >