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understanding a record please

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  • understanding a record please

    i just received the marriage of 'mr mathew (should read matthias) brown and mrs eliz sanders' 27 jun 1695 at elton, huntingdon/cambridge.

    i know from other sources, that they are both gentry families (brown of horbing and saunders of elton) so is that why they are referred to as mr and mrs? no one else on the page is referred to as such. though why is she 'mrs' and not miss? is 'mrs' indicative she may have been married before, or is she 'mrs' because she just got married?

  • #2
    No the record was simply using the honorific title in the way it was originally used. This changed in the 17th century and the writer was possibly traditional or thought it "proper" to refer to a lady of substance in that way still.

    Mrs is a contraction of Mistress which was used for both married and unmarried women.
    Cheers
    Guy
    Guy passed away October 2022

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    • #3
      thank you guy, i had wondered about that. i didn't know mrs was from mistress though.

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