Widow

[ElizabethHerts]

On a Facebook group to which I belong, we are discussing this:

"A Dictionary of Old Trades, Titles and Occupations" :
Widow: In the 1700s (widow) was used to indicate a woman living alone on private means. At that time it did not always indicate that the woman had been previously married . Old records such as Widow Jane Smith, Spinster can be confusing"

Family historians, beware of assuming that widows were previously married.

In a similar vein, the first time I came across "Mrs" as a courtesy title was for the marriage of my ancestors Mrs Sarah Williams and Mr James Barker in 1690. Sarah was a minor and her father was the Rev. John Williams, personal chaplain to King William and Queen Mary and later Bishop of Chichester.

[Phoenix]

Are they using that quotation as an indication of marital state?

Spinster could equally mean someone earning a living from spinning.

Certainly Mistress is status, rather than marital state.

[Kit]

Thanks for this. I had not heard of widow being used as anything other than a woman whose husband had died. I have had the Mrs thing confuse me in the past but someone on here kindly set me straight.