The term Yeoman generally referred to the Yeomanry in medieval England, later tenants and small landowners. Moreover, yeomans were also called higher servants in the noble court.
To this day, the word in the United Kingdom has been preserved in terms of authority such as Yeoman Warder or Yeoman of the Guard. Derived from this is the collective Yeomanry, “Free peasantry”.
In the context of the history of the United States, yeoman or yeoman farmer, on the other hand, refers to a farmer who – unlike the planters – ordered his fields without the use of slaves.
Source: A Voyage to Viking-Land by Thomas Sedgwick Steele. Publisher: Estes and Lauriat, Boston 1896.
