ITEMS FROM THE EDITOR'S VIRTUAL DESK. What's a Squire? From Christine M. Burton thehoyan@bellsouth.net Question. A friend and I had a discussion about the title, "Esquire." Both of us read somewhere that the title "Esquire" before a name meant That person was a lawyer. I am a reader. I'll read anything. If I can't Find a good book, I'll resort to reading cereal box and canned good labels, but what I really like are classics, such as, David Copperfield and Tale of Two Cities. I also enjoy a well-written "who done it" especially one by a British author (they seem to have made of the genre a science). In all those novels, I have continually met fictional "esquires" and never got the impression that any of them were lawyers. The impression I got was that they were men of importance in their communities, but not royalty. My friend expressed the opinion that the title of esquire may be one applied only to American lawyers. Could you or some of your readers shed some light on this? I've found several "esquires" in my family tree and if they were lawyers it's news to me, but then, just their names amounts to "news to me." Answer: Esquire was "the title given to any owner of a large tract of land. It was also the title given to a Justice of the Peace, but as nearly every lawyer in Colonial America at one time became a J. P., the title ultimately devolved on all lawyers. The word was originally squire from the Latin scutarius -- 'shield-bearer.'" (Richard M. Lederer, Jr., Colonial American English (Essex, Connecticut: A Verbatim Book, 1985) page 80. However, like with so many things we learn in genealogy, there are other meanings, so one must take the time and locality into consideration for how this term might apply in a particular situation. For example, esquire also: --Refers to a man or boy who is a member of the gentry in England ranking directly below a knight. --Is used as an honorific usually in its abbreviated form, especially after the name of an attorney or a consular officer: John Doe, Esq.; --Used in medieval times for a candidate for knighthood who served a knight as an attendant and a shield bearer. --Refers to an English country gentleman; a squire. (archaic) -- from the Middle English esquier, from the French escuier.] Black's Law Dictionary points that the term esquire, as used in the United States, is different from its usage in English law. It says: "In English law, a title of dignity next above gentleman, and below knight. Also a title of office given to sheriffs, serjeants and barristers at law, justices of the peace, and others. In United States, title commonly appended after name of attorney; e.g. John J. Jones, Esquire."