From: myths@ic24.net   
      
   On Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:49:16 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"   
    wrote:   
   >On Sat, 15 Aug 2020 at 15:32:15, Ian Goddard    
   >wrote:   
   >>On 15/08/2020 11:15, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:   
   >>> in Britain suffixes like Jr. are far less common than in the USA   
   >>   
   >>It depends where you're looking.  I've come across them, especially in   
   >>manorial records.  What's not necessarily clear is whether you're   
   >>looking at a parental relationship, a wider family relationship such as   
   >>cousins, two people of more remote, if any, kinship who just happen to   
   >>have the same name or, in really pathological situations, siblings.  I   
   >>started off assuming the first but now I'm more wary.   
   >   
   >Yes, I've occasionally found it, but often in contexts where, as you   
   >say, it's just that two people in the area have the same name (though of   
   >course that often _is_ father and son); also, it's rarely clear whether   
   >the person adding the suffix is even a member of the family, or just   
   >someone adding it - possibly using it as the Latin comparative ("[the]   
   >older" or "[the] younger") only.   
   >[...]   
      
   I've transcribed a 1639 will in which the testator (an ironmonger)   
   describes himself as   
                    thelder   
   the other local  person with the same name in the area being the   
   younger of his two sons.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)