I have several questions. One of my ancestors is named Robert Pyle and was born in 1660. He was a Quaker and he is listed as a "maltster" and "yeoman". Can anyone give me information for the following questions: 1.Why would he have been listed as Yeoman when most of the people during that era also owned land? 2. I had always thought Quakers would not drink until I researched the title Thanks
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Thread: calendars and dates
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30-07-2020, 1:22 AM #1
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calendars and dates
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30-07-2020, 9:31 AM #2
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1.Why would he have been listed as Yeoman when most of the people during that era also owned land?
2. I had always thought Quakers would not drink until I researched the title
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30-07-2020, 9:33 AM #3
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Hello, and welcome to British-Genealogy.
By coincidence a couple of days ago I was reading a query in a magazine about yeoman,
The reply given was that the term was often used in a general sense, and the author thought that most times the correct word to use would have been husbandman. The term yeoman usually refers to a freeholder farming his own land, not to a tenant farmer.
I am very willing to be proved wrong, but personally, I would have thought that in the 1600s in England most of the people didn't own land,
Back in ye olde days people drank what was known as 'small beer' (a very weak beer) because it was safer to drink than water. From what I can see a maltster is not a brewer.
(Just seen that, as usual, Peter typed faster than I did. Probably because he used fewer words. )
PamVulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
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30-07-2020, 2:37 PM #4
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From the Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, yeomen:
Under the Tudors the use of the term was gradually widened to include the prosperous working farmers below the rank of the gentry, the class formerly known as franklins. They worked their own land, but did not necessarily have to be freeholders. Yeomen increasingly held their land by a variety of tenures: freehold, copyhold, and leasehold.
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31-07-2020, 3:04 AM #5
Farming, malting, brewing and selling beer were all separate occupations, but some people combined two or more of these occupations.
Malting was a simple process where barley was soaked in water then spread out on the floor of a long room called the malthouse.It was then shovelled along the floor and was turned as it was shovelled.
Then the barley began to grow/germinate and the first step in germination converted the starch to sugar.
By the time the barley got to the end of the malting floor it had been germinating for a few days and would be about to sprout but brewers did't want shoots, they needed the sugar which the yeast used in brewing will turn into alcohol. To stop the germinated grain from sprouting it was roasted which stopped the growth and preserved the sugar.
The colour of the malt and then the beer depended on how long the grain was roasted. As Pam has said it was safer to drink beer than water. I don't know about in the 1600's but I read somewhere that in the 1800's malting was big business and heavily taxed.
I need a drink
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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31-07-2020, 9:59 PM #6
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The utube video below states, quite reasonably thta the early quakers did drink beer, because it was a safe thing to drink:
https://
youtube/gJ2kPDjojPELast edited by Pam Downes; 01-08-2020 at 12:51 AM. Reason: Direct link to commercial site de-activated as per our T&Cs.
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01-08-2020, 1:51 AM #7
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Thank you for your answers. I often thought a maltster would have to taste the product to ensue the quality, but I may be unsure of the correct definition of maltster. I was under the impression when the term used Maltster was used back then it referred to a master brewer. Am I mistaken? Dona
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01-08-2020, 2:04 AM #8
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Thanks for all your answers. This has given me a better understanding of my family history, it is always a learning journey for me. I appreciate the help and was glad to find this site the other day. Thanks to all for your time. Dona
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