Hi Rose, Normally I believe dea stands for Deacon, as in a Deacon of the Church. Every one in new england usually refers to Worcester as either Wooster or Wusster from what I've heard (I'm in Vermont). Hope that helps some Ellen Emerson http://www.VermontProgrammers.com -----Original Message----- From: Rose Zella [mailto:" zella"@vcn.com] Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 12:36 AM To: WHITNEY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Naive and still learning I'm really getting into this family stuff but find myself still incredibly stupid. I do believe that the practice of genealogy is 'disturbing the dead and irritating the living' so I have been going real slow as I really don't want to irritate or offend some of the really hard working researchers. But I do have some questions that I just don't know-for instance I have found an ancestor, Capt. Jonathan Whitney also know as Dea. Jonathan Whitney. What does the Dea. mean? Then this is just a "What do you think?" I have been watching the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) at Worcester, Mass. I can't help but wonder what our hard working and probably stately Whitney ancestors would think of making money riding bulls! Also how do you pronounce Worcester? The announcer says-Wooster like rooster. Sorry I know the last one is dumb. Rose Zella