At 01:31 AM 12/10/1999 -0500, you wrote: >Jane: > What an interesting question.!!!!!! I am forwarding this to my >lists and lets see what they have to say...... > Lists: does any one have answer to the question below ?? >Cynthia [snip - "Junior" issue] >> > Now for the question - it appears that the marriages of many >> ministers were to women with the title Mrs. - for example, The Rev. >> Mr. Benjamin Bowers of Middle Haddam & Mrs. Ann Hosmer and >> Rev. Samuel Hull & Mrs. Hannah Butler married in Cromwell. >> Does anyone know if the Mrs. was a title of respect given to the >> bride of a minister or did ministers tended to marry widows more >> often than they married younger single women? >> >> Jane Hi, Cynthia and Jane: In my researches in New England spanning the time period 1630 to present, limited to my own families (which include many of the early Great Migration pioneers), I have never discovered an instance of a woman being called "Mrs." except when she had been previously married. It would be interesting to speculate (meaning, that's what I'm doing <grin>) that when a new minister arrived in town fresh out of seminary, one of the earliest issues to pop up would be the problem that so many of his congregation would be women and he was likely to be single. Hmmmm. But, of course, the Biblical admonition is to "take care of the widow and orphan." What better way to demonstrate one's practical religion than to select a widow to take care of? Of course, it is a pity that the new minister could only take care of one . . . And if she be of comely form, so much the better <big grin>. Seriously, I would imagine that it would have been VERY difficult for a minister to court, once he had been ordained and settled in a church. The infighting among the eligibles might have on occasions gotten way out of hand, and the resentments of the unchosen might have lasted for years. The selection of a widow could at least reduce the tension, even if it were unlikely to eliminate it. Darrell Darrell A. Martin formerly of Springfield, Vermont currently in exile in Addison, Illinois darrellm@sprynet.com