"Bruce L. Nicholson" <brucen@maine.edu> wrote: > Now, I gather from this discussion that my William Nicholson's "friend" James Nicholson indeed could have been his "cousin" James Nicholson.  Is this a correct interpretation of this current discussion of the use of the term "friend" in colonial times? Bruce, and other friends, Romans and countrymen (or, as one of our incipient Presidential candidates says in about every other sentence, "My friends"): I can only repeat that "friend" is a very busy word, into which anyone can be stuffed, as needed. So the answer to your question is "He could have been a cousin, yes. But definitely? You need more data." As far as the Quaker possibility goes in the original inquiry, not at all likely. The general sense from all records is that when the term Friend, meaning Quaker, shows up, there's usually immediate contextual evidence to validate it. I can add here, not to introduce new confusions, that the word "cousin" actually once served a similar sort of general purpose, beyond kinship. As the OED says, one of its meanings was "as a friendly or familiar term of address or designation". It also served legally once upon a time as equivalent to "next of kin", when applied to anyone more distantly related than parents or children. The more one knows, the less certain anything gets. John

John L. sez: "The more one knows, the less certain anything gets." Maybe should be altered to state "The more one knows, the less one finds one actually knows..." Best Regards, Mike Hitch "So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key." -Eagles |-----Original Message----- |From: lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com |[mailto:lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf |Of Johnlyon0@cs.com |Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 3:21 PM |To: lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com |Subject: Re: [LDR] Understanding Cousins: But what about aunts |and uncles?? | |"Bruce L. Nicholson" <brucen@maine.edu> wrote: |> Now, I gather from this discussion that my William |Nicholson's "friend" James Nicholson indeed could have been |his "cousin" James Nicholson.  Is this a correct |interpretation of this current discussion of the use of the |term "friend" in colonial times? | |Bruce, and other friends, Romans and countrymen (or, as one of |our incipient Presidential candidates says in about every |other sentence, "My friends"): I can only repeat that "friend" |is a very busy word, into which anyone can be stuffed, as |needed. So the answer to your question is "He could have been |a cousin, yes. But definitely? You need more data." | |As far as the Quaker possibility goes in the original inquiry, |not at all likely. The general sense from all records is that |when the term Friend, meaning Quaker, shows up, there's |usually immediate contextual evidence to validate it. | |I can add here, not to introduce new confusions, that the word |"cousin" actually once served a similar sort of general |purpose, beyond kinship. As the OED says, one of its meanings |was "as a friendly or familiar term of address or |designation". It also served legally once upon a time as |equivalent to "next of kin", when applied to anyone more |distantly related than parents or children. | |The more one knows, the less certain anything gets. | |John |*************************************** |QUESTIONS about POSTING GUIDELINES, SUBSCRIBING or UNSUBSCRIBING? |Visit The Lower DelMarVa Roots Mailing List FAQ: |http://www.tyaskin.com/handley/ldrfaq.htm |------------------------------- |To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to |LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word |'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body |of the message |