Throughout this work you will note that various Carltons have used titles in their wills and other records. In other instances, several persons of the same name have been differentiated through the use of descriptive titles. When no record could be found of the person describing himself, we have taken the liberty of assigning either an occupational or residential title to assist in avoiding confusion.

It is of much interest to explore the descriptive titles that our ancestors used themselves, particularly those of husbandman, yeoman, and gentleman. In the Elizabethan (1558-1603) and Stuart (1603-1714) eras much importance was attached to the idea of status or degree as the populace began to emerge from the villeinage designation of the middle ages. However, we find Carltons using the terminology as late as 1816, as did many others. Basically, a gentleman stood above a yeoman and both were above a husbandman. However, to complicate matters, as time went on the dividing lines between these designations became less and less distinct.

The term husbandman derives from those who husbanded, or cared for, the land and farm stock. The term only came to it's modern designation of a married man much later after centuries of use for a man who was married to a woman in order to husband her farm lands. The husbandman usually held 30-40 acres, often just above the subsistence level. His stock might consist of a dozen sheep, half a dozen pigs and horses, a plough and a cart or two. A newly married man often was classified as a husbandman until he had worked long enough to accumulate the additional land and goods to qualify for the higher yeoman status.

A yeoman was a free man who farmed his own land. The legal definition is often given as those who "may dispend of their own free land in yearly revenue to the sum of forty shillings sterling." The yeomanry of England has often been credited with maintaining the freedom of the common people through the ages. What is certain is that they established the idea of private enterprise for all through their hard work on their modest holdings. Although traditionally yeomen sprang from old free tenant families who were long settled on the land of their fathers, the majority of them had worked their way up to the title. The Carltons were without doubt members of this latter group. The yeomen were hard working farmers who cultivated their own modest freeholdings, usually only a few hundred acres. Sons of yeomen were often reckoned to be husbandmen, and indeed we find this to be true in the Carlton records. In Stuart England it is estimated that there were between 70,000 and 200,000 yeomen. Their yearly incomes ranged from £40 to £200 and the Carltons were usually at the lowest end of this range. Inevitably the yeoman farmer would put his earnings back into his farm and this resulted in few worldly goods accumulating. Their reputations were for making wise and calculated investments and for improving their economic conditions on a regular basis, a trait which is consistent with what we know about our family today. One son described his yeoman father as "a man that always loved money well and disposed to great thrift, and was careful to increase that portion which he had." A poem of the day ran:

A knight of Wales,

A gentleman of Cales,

A laird of the North Countree,

A yeoman of Kent,

Sitting on his penny rent,

Can buy them out all three.

Most of the yeomen were well educated for their times. They would learn their letters at the petty village schools or on their own family hearths, they would attend the free grammar schools and sometimes even went on to a university. They read the Bible and other religious books and sometimes they even had a few books of their own. We know that from William of Ash onward the Carltons have been literate, additional proof of our status in the yeomanry. Their education made them natural candidates for local offices of constable, overseer of the poor, surveyor of the highways, and churchwarden.

Finally, the term gentleman was originally applied to those of gentle, or noble, birth. Eventually the term came to represent a non-noble status for a man who could live on the income from his properties without performing any manual labor himself.

The Carltons used the titles as follows:

• 1618 yeoman            William of Little Hards in his will
• 1628 yeoman            Stephen of Ashe as witness to a marriage
• 1630 husbandman     Stephen of Ashe in his will
• 1630 yeoman            William of Ash on his marriage license
• 1662 yeoman            William of Ash on a guarantor bond
• 1816 gentleman         Edward the Gentleman in his will

Local community duties were fulfilled by the Carltons when John the Churchwarden often served in that position for Tilmanstone between 1766 and 1787 and when Edward the Gentleman became the common village witness. One page of marriages in the Tilmanstone Register for 1770-1772 has all 4 entries signed by Edward. Of course we suspect that this was not so much for his literary ability or penmanship but because he was living in St. Mary's Grove Cottage, which lies across the street from the rear steps to the churchyard. And then again, one of the entries was for his own marriage to Ann.

We twice found the occupational title of Cordwainer used in wills, in 1734 Edward the Cordwainer gave himself his title in his will and in 1796 his son, John the Churchwarden, used the same title. Cordwainers were shoemakers and our family seems to have established a cottage industry to fulfill this village need for 2 generations, approximately between 1700 and 1800.

All the interesting details and much more are contained within this book. We hope you find enjoyment, and if you are a member of our family, great satisfaction in your heritage as you continue reading.

This page was updated on 2-21-98. If you have queries or comments, email rcarlton@arkansas.net