What's in a name?

By a show of hands, I asked the students at Bergen Community College who new what a Freeholder is. Not surprisingly, barely a hand was raised. The students are not the only people stymied by this question. While the simple answer is that Freeholders serve as the legislature in NJ counties, the history is much more interesting. Dating back over 300 years ago, the title of Freeholder was pretty common. Back then, in order to hold elected office, you had to be a landowner, free of any holdings, liens, mortgages, etc. Thus the term Freeholder. In other jurisdictions today, this position is more commonly called a county commissioner, county council, etc. .........and certainly not to be confused with freeloader!