Person talk:William Sanborn (11)

Esquire [7 September 2014]

William is consistently styled as "Esq.", esquire, in sources. However, his brothers are not. Does anyone know under what circumstance someone in 17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony would use this title? Today in the U.S. it is generally used for lawyers, but it was originally use for squires of a knight, and later for gentlemen of one kind or another. Why was William called esquire, but John and Stephen were not? Was it due to his later position as a constable? Parsa 02:14, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Usually the person was, or had been at one time, a judge, or justice of the peace. --Jrich 03:05, 8 September 2014 (UTC)