A useful resource for odd or archaic words is: A to Zax:  A Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians by Barbara Jean Evans.  Hearthside Press.  1995.  Third edition.  ISBN 0-945231-02-4. Indeed, there are eight different definitions of 'ordinary', three of which have to do with church / clergy, interestingly enough. Chris D. Thank you. Older relatives claim he was a brewer.  Also according to the newspaper I looked at he was fined for selling alcohol without a license.  Lori An Ordinary is what we later called a saloon and now a bar.  The owner sold alcohol by the drink.  To obtain the license he usually needed two local citizens of upstanding character to sign that he would keep an orderly place. Betty S. ------------------------------ End of ROOTS Digest, Vol 11, Issue 117 **************************************