Presbyterianism is above everything else a form of Church Government. The key issue is parity of Presbyters and Hierarchy of Courts. What this means is that in theory all those who have been ordained to the Eldership are equal, and the Government is through some or all of the traditional courts of the Church, Kirk Session, Presbytery Synod and General Assembly. Different bodies, and even Presbyterians organised in different countries may do it slightly different, but that is the framework. In a tradition of Presbyterianism, the elders are divided up into teaching elders and ruling elders. The Ministers are the teaching elders and members of the congregation who have been ordained into the office of the Eldership are the Ruling elders. The exact position of the elders varies from tradition to tradition. In the Church of Scotland the ordination of elders is carried out by the Kirk Session of which they are going to be members, while for example in Ireland the ordination of elders is carried out by the Presbytery. Strictly speaking you do not have "clergy" in the Reformed Tradition (Presbyterianism) you have Ministers of Word and Sacrament. (However the difference between them and clergy is so small that no one ever bothers with the difference.) The people whom you are talking about therefore would have been members of the Congregation called and ordained to the government of the congregation. Very often this office ran in families and there were certain social and economic advantages. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Joyce Hamilton [mailto:jhamilton4@earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 8:10 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] RE: Rev. Holmes to Boston, 1718 Dear Charles: If this is not your line, Bolton also lists "Holmes" settlers, some of whom were Ruling Elders, but do not appear to be clergy: Thomas Holmes from Coleraine settled in Dracut John Holmes, his brother, settled in Boston