Abbreviations

[Neil Wilson]

I asked this question on a mailing list about 5 years ago, this is one answer

I always thought a nurse-child was a young child or baby who was "nursed" (breast-fed) by a person other than its mother. Some Victorian Ladies either couldn't or wouldn't breast feed their babies and so paid another woman to do this for her. These women would have just lost their own baby and still
have milk. It was quite common in the towns. Children were said to be "at nurse" until about 5 years old. Sometimes the nurse-mother would live in with the child's family, and sometimes the child would stay for periods with the nurse-mother.

Also see
http://victoria.tc.ca/~tgodwin//dunc...nts/nurse.html

For full Q & A's see my question at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read...-08/1029221822 and the replying threads below that.

[canuck1]

children to be "nursed" or fed mother's milk was not uncommon in some areas of europe and asia thru-out the ages. in france for example where water was limited and food sometimes scarce; the elder or lactating woman would be well fed so that she could provide nurishing "milk" to a child. from baby to up to 6 or 7 was not uncommon. this way 1 adult and 2 children could be fed with the same food and water/wine. think of it as a woman has 2 breasts = 2 children. a woman would not have to have lost her child to be a "nurse"

[charlie7]

thats what I thought and also that 4 was a bit old,that was why i queried my own assumption. thanks for telling me
fiona

[Perriss]

Hi there,

Do = Ditto ie, the same, meaning the same as the line above. Dittos are quite often carried down the page for several lines.
S = single ie, not married

Hope this helps

Brenda

I have also discovered that the ditto marks used in the early 1600s meant that there was nothing to put in that box rather than the way we use them today. Confusing but true!

Eileen Goodall