Hi Harry, As shown in the list of occupations set to me by GBAlum@aol.com http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/terms.html it shows Husbandman as a tenant farmer...... I knew there must be a difference between a farmer and husbandman as they were both shown in this list...... Thanks for your help, Bryan Keddy Halifax, N.S. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harry Duckworth wrote: > Dear Brian: > > I'm quite certain that "husbandman" is simply an old-fashioned term for a > farmer. It has nothing to do with marital status. It may have something > to do with whether the land was owned or rented - I think that in older > English documents (17th C) "farmer" tended to be used for a man who owned > the land - but the exact usage probably varied over time. Similarly, if > you called someone a "good husband", you were complimenting his skill in > farming, not how he treated his wife. > > The full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary probably has lots of > detail on how the word "husbandman" developed and was used at different > times. > > Regards, > > Harry Duckworth