Thank you for the reference. It confirms what I have found recently. I wonder whether all churches had them, or perhaps only the larger churches, or perhaps only in some areas? I also wonder who appointed them, discharged them if they did not carry out their duties, and fixed their salary? Because of all the opportunities for references to them in the ongoing business of each church, I would have expected to have found references to them in the Session minutes. Another of life's little mysteries. Robert Slater