Regarding:
>What were the differences between "freemen" and "commoners" in Southold
> during the 1700s?

I would look to Langdon Wright's 1974 Cornell dissertation "Local Government
in Colonial New York, 1640-1710" for a discussion in chapter four, 'Town
Meetings and Town Magistrates,' on the differences (or non-differences)
between the terms "freeholder," "freeman," "townsman," and "inhabitant" used
on Long Island in this period.


Edward Knoblauch
Managing Editor, The Encyclopedia of New York State