yeo-man (yomn)n. Abbr. yeo., Y 1. An attendant, a servant, or a lesser official in a royal or noble household. A yeoman of the guard. 2. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy. 3. An assistant or other subordinate, as of a sheriff. 4. A diligent, dependable worker. 5. A farmer who cultivates his own land, especially a member of a former class of small freeholding farmers in England. --------------------------------------------------------- Excerpted from American Heritage Talking Dictionary Copyright © 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. -----Original Message----- From: HELefevre@aol.com [mailto:HELefevre@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 9:53 PM To: PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PACHESTE] "Yeoman" In a message dated 7/18/2000 7:34:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, clehr@quik.com writes: > Hmm...I always thought that the term "yeoman", which I have often found in > the land records, meant more of a laborer type of occupation...like that of > a yeoman on a ship. If you look in the tax records and find the term > "freeman" then yes that means that they owned land. But I haven't found > anywhere that Yeoman means a land owner. > > Good luck to you, > > Chris Lehr > Chrisman, Root, Heigh, Titlow, Moyer Hello Listers: My curiosity was aroused about the definition of "yeoman" so I did a bit of researching in "A to ZAX" - A Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians. According to this source there are a number of choices for "yeoman": 1) an experienced man capable of account of supplies and costs; 2) a farmer who tills his own small acreage; 3) a person who can be called upon to work diligently and effectively; and 4) a clerk or writer in the navy. Take your choice, but it sounds as though 2) is closest to an earlier "lister's" understanding of the meaning. Cheers: Harold Lefevre HELefevre@aol.com ==== PACHESTE Mailing List ==== To post a message to this list, send your message to PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com