"Esq." in 1870's

[Mark A. Mandel]

A friend and co-worker of mine poses the following question. Can anyone
here answer it?

  Both my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather are referred to
  in the Panama newspapers of the 1870s with an "Esq." after their names.
  I don't believe that either of them was a lawyer. What does this mean?

   Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
          Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com