{"id":1975,"date":"2023-09-11T22:28:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T02:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/?p=1975"},"modified":"2023-09-11T22:41:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T02:41:24","slug":"two-william-smiths-or-the-decline-of-junior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975","title":{"rendered":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &#8220;junior&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two adult William Smiths were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1775 and 1776. They were perhaps 12 years apart in age, and I have no evidence they were related. One of them\u2014the older one\u2014is my ancestor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1775, the older colonial New England habit of distinguishing same-name men by &#8220;senior,&#8221; &#8220;junior,&#8221; &#8220;3rd,&#8221; etc., in order of their age, in public records was on its way to disappearing.\u00a0 These two Williams are never distinguished in any town or civil records I\u2019ve found: marriages, births of children, deeds, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I can be relatively sure* that &#8220;my&#8221; William Smith served in the Revolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How? Because they both enlisted in the same militia company in Gloucester in February 1776. &#8220;William Smith&#8221; and &#8220;William Smith junior&#8221; appear side by side in two muster rolls in that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"495\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1977\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg 495w, https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1978\" style=\"width:496px;height:323px\" width=\"496\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-2.jpg 653w, https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-2-300x195.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Distinguishing them this way in the muster and pay rolls was contextually important. The older William left the unit on June 10, 1776, serving only 10 days in that quarter. William &#8220;junior&#8221; stayed in for several more months, but in the rolls drawn up in subsequent quarters, the clerk did not bother to call him &#8220;junior.&#8221; It wasn&#8217;t contextually necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the two Williams had not served together in the same unit, I would never have known for sure who was who, and that &#8220;my&#8221; William served for those four months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*&#8221;relatively sure&#8221;: This of course depends on the argument from silence, that a third adult William Smith did not sojourn in Gloucester in 1776, or that this company, mustered and stationed at Gloucester, and looking, from its roster, like it included all Gloucester men, had no interlopers from other towns at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Images: Capt. Daniel Giddings&#8217;s Co., Col. Joseph Foster&#8217;s Regiment, Coastal Defense [Mass. Militia], muster \/ pay rolls: Mass. State Archives, Revolutionary War Muster Roll Records Coll. (77 vols.), 36:13 (Feb., April, May 1776) and 36:48 (June, July, Aug. 1776) [FS DGS 008092197, images 28 and 43].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two adult William Smiths were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1775 and 1776. They were perhaps 12 years apart in age, and I have no evidence they were related. One of them\u2014the older one\u2014is my ancestor. By 1775, the older colonial New England habit of distinguishing same-name men by &#8220;senior,&#8221; &#8220;junior,&#8221; &#8220;3rd,&#8221; etc., in order [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &quot;junior&quot; - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &quot;junior&quot; - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two adult William Smiths were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1775 and 1776. They were perhaps 12 years apart in age, and I have no evidence they were related. One of them\u2014the older one\u2014is my ancestor. By 1775, the older colonial New England habit of distinguishing same-name men by &#8220;senior,&#8221; &#8220;junior,&#8221; &#8220;3rd,&#8221; etc., in order [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"495\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nat Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nat Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nat Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9\"},\"headline\":\"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &#8220;junior&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\",\"name\":\"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of \\\"junior\\\" - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &#8220;junior&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/\",\"name\":\"a genealogist's sketchbook\",\"description\":\"medieval and modern genealogy, memory and history \u2014 part of nltaylor.net\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9\",\"name\":\"Nat Taylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg\",\"width\":349,\"height\":366,\"caption\":\"Nat Taylor\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/author\/nat\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of \"junior\" - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of \"junior\" - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook","og_description":"Two adult William Smiths were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1775 and 1776. They were perhaps 12 years apart in age, and I have no evidence they were related. One of them\u2014the older one\u2014is my ancestor. By 1775, the older colonial New England habit of distinguishing same-name men by &#8220;senior,&#8221; &#8220;junior,&#8221; &#8220;3rd,&#8221; etc., in order [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975","og_site_name":"a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook","article_published_time":"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":495,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nat Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nat Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975"},"author":{"name":"Nat Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9"},"headline":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &#8220;junior&#8221;","datePublished":"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975"},"wordCount":319,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975","url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975","name":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of \"junior\" - a genealogist&#039;s sketchbook","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-12T02:28:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-12T02:41:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/roll-1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/1975#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Two William Smiths, or, the decline of &#8220;junior&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/","name":"a genealogist's sketchbook","description":"medieval and modern genealogy, memory and history \u2014 part of nltaylor.net","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/#\/schema\/person\/813beaf90cc5894d9b08c1aedc7b96e9","name":"Nat Taylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg","url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg","width":349,"height":366,"caption":"Nat Taylor"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/moonman.jpg"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook"],"url":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/author\/nat"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ydid-vR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1984,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}