What is a Freeman in Colonial America?
Being made a freeman was so important to a person the fact is often listed in a brief paragraph about a person in lieu of other facts. Why? What was SO important about being made a freeman that it is recorded if the person has anything written about him. And yes, the pronoun is him. Women could not attain this title.
Freeman Definition
Subtitle
1. a person who is entitled to full political and civil rights.
2. HISTORICAL – a person who is not a slave or serf.
~ Oxford Dictionary
1. one enjoying civil or political liberty
2. one having the full rights of a citizen
~ Merrium-Webster Dictionary
omitted freeman “…meant that he had earned the right to be considered a member in good standing of the community. Once admitted, he would have a voice in the community’s affairs.
~ from comments on reddit.com
A good discussion found is on freeman(Colonial) on Wikipedia. It’s all the prior things and more. Becoming a freeman could also mean, he and his family could become members of a church.
Another excellent explanation:
“If you can trace your ancestry back to New England in the 17th century, chances are that one of your male ancestors took the ‘freemen’s oath.’ You may see him referred to in the records as a ‘freeman.’ This designation has nothing to do with slavery, or former slavery, but refers to a person’s position in his church and community. This position as a ‘freeman’ had to be earned by those who settled among the New England Puritans.” ~ GENEALOGY: Settlers with New England Puritans had to earn ‘freeman’ position by Tamie Dehler, May 8, 2011. Note: the bolding is mine.
In other words, it was a big deal.
My 8th great-grandfather, one of an unexpected number of ancestors from the 1600s, John GORE of Roxbury, Massachusetts Colony [part of the Livingston-Smith ancestry] came to the Colonies from England in 1635. He was made a freeman on April 18, 1637 and died June 2, 1657. These two facts are actually in the *same* sentence.
~ from Memorials of the Pilgrim fathers. John Eliot and his friends, of Nazing and Waltham Abbey. From Original Sources. Written for the Royal Historical Society by W. Winters, 1882. [free on Google Books]
The GORE family was a prominent one in Roxbury Massachusetts in Colonial history.