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"TIDBITS" -
GLOSSARY OF GENEALOGY
TERMS...
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Here is a long list
of genealogy terms and their meanings. Hope they are of help, especially
when reading census records or wills...
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- ABSTRACT - Summary of
important points of a given text, especially deeds
and wills.
- ACRE - See measurements.
- ADMINISTRATION (of estate)
- The collection, management and distribution of an
estate by proper legal process.
- ADMINISTRATOR (of estate)
- Person appointed to manage or divide the estate of
a deceased person.
- ADMINISTRATRIX - A female
administrator.
- AFFIDAVIT - A statement in
writing, sworn to before proper authority.
- ALIEN - Foreigner.
- AMERICAN REVOLUTION - U.S.
war for independence from Great Britain 1775-1783.
- ANCESTOR - A person from
whom you are descended; a forefather.
- ANTE - Latin prefix
meaning before, such as in ante-bellum South, "The
South before the war"
- APPRENTICE - One who is
bound by indentures or by legal agreement or by any
means to serve another person for a certain time,
with a view of learning an art or trade.
- APPURTENANCE - That which
belongs to something else such as a building,
orchard, right of way, etc.
- ARCHIVES - Records of a
government, organization, institution; the place
where records are stored.
- ATTEST - To affirm; to
certify by signature or oath.
- BANNS - Public
announcement of intended marriage.
- BENEFICIARY - One who
receives benefit of trust or property.
- BEQUEATH - To give
personal property to a person in a will. Noun --
bequest.
- BOND - Written, signed,
witnessed agreement requiring payment of a specified
amount of money on or before a given date.
- BOUNTY LAND WARRANT - A
right to obtain land, specific number of acres of
unallocated public land, granted for military
service.
- CENSUS - Official
enumeration, listing or counting of citizens.
- CERTIFIED COPY - A copy
made and attested to by officers having charge of
the original and authorized to give copies.
- CHAIN - See measurements.
- CHATTEL - Personal
property which can include animate as well as
inanimate properties.
- CHRISTEN - To receive or
initiate into the visible church by baptism; to name
at baptism; to give a name to.
- CIRCA - About, near, or
approximate -- usually referring to a date.
- CIVIL WAR - War between
the States; war between North and South, 1861-65.
- CODICIL - Addition to a
will.
- COLLATERAL ANCESTOR -
Belong to the same ancestral stock but not in direct
line of descent; opposed to lineal such as aunts,
uncles & cousins.
- COMMON ANCESTOR - Ancestor
shared by any two people.
- CONFEDERATE - Pertaining
to the Southern states which seceded from the U.S.
in 1860 - 1, their government and their citizens.
- CONSANGUINITY - Blood
relationship.
- CONSORT - Usually, a wife
whose husband is living
- CONVEYANCE - See deed.
- COUSIN - Relative
descended from a common ancestor, but not a brother
or sister.
- DAUGHTER-IN-LAW - Wife of
one's son.
- DECEASED - Dead.
- DECEDENT - A deceased
person.
- DECLARATION OF INTENTION -
First paper, sworn to and filed in court, by an
alien stating that he wants to be come a citizen.
- DEED - A document by which
title in real property is transferred from one party
to another.
- DEPOSITION - A testifying
or testimony taken down in writing under oath of
affirmation in reply to interrogatories, before a
competent officer to replace to oral testimony of a
witness.
- DEVISE - Gift of real
property by will.
- DEVISEE - One to whom real
property (land) is given in a will.
- DEVISOR - One who gives
real property in a will.
- DISSENTER - One who did
not belong to the established church, especially the
Church of England in the American colonies.
- DISTRICT LAND OFFICE PLAT
BOOK - Books or rather maps which show the location
of the land patentee.
- DISTRICT LAND OFFICE TRACT
BOOK - Books which list individual entries by range
and township.
- DOUBLE DATING - A system
of double dating used in England and America from
1582-1752 because it was not clear as to whether the
year commenced January 1 or March 25
- DOWER - Legal right or
share which a wife acquired by marriage in the real
estate of her husband, allotted to her after his
death for her lifetime.
- EMIGRANT - One leaving a
country and moving to another.
- ENUMERATION - Listing or
counting , such as a census.
- EPITAPH - An inscription
on or at a tomb or grave in memory of the one buried
there.
- ESCHEAT - The reversion of
property to the state when there are no qualified
heirs.
- ESTATE - All property and
debts belonging to a person.
- ET AL - Latin for "and
others".
- ET UX - Latin for "and
wife".
- ET UXOR - And his wife.
Sometimes written simply Et Ux.
- EXECUTOR - One appointed
in a will to carry out its provisions. Female =
Executrix
- FATHER-IN-LAW - Father of
one's spouse.
- FEE - An estate of
inheritance in land, being either fee simple or fee
tail. An estate in land held of a feudal lord on
condition of the performing of certain services.
- FEE SIMPLE - An absolute
ownership without restriction.
- FEE TAIL - An estate of
inheritance limited to lineal descendant heirs of a
person to whom it was granted.
- FRANKLIN, STATE OF - An
area once known but never officially recognized and
was under consideration from 1784 - 1788 from the
western part of North Carolina.
- FRATERNITY - Group of men
(or women) sharing a common purpose or interest.
- FREE HOLD - An estate in
fee simple, in fee tail, or for life.
- FRIEND - Member of the
Religious Society of Friends; a Quaker.
- FURLONG - See
measurements.
- GAZETTEER - A geographical
dictionary; a book giving names and descriptions of
places usually in alphabetical order.
- GENEALOGY - Study of
family history and descent.
- GENTLEMAN - A man well
born.
- GIVEN NAME - Name given to
a person at birth or baptism, one's first and middle
names.
- GLEBE - Land belonging to
a parish church.
- GRANTEE - One who buys
property or receives a grant.
- GRANTOR - One who sells
property or makes a grant.
- GREAT-AUNT - Sister of
one's grandparent
- GREAT-UNCLE - Brother of
one's grandparent.
- GUARDIAN - Person
appointed to care for and manage property of a minor
orphan or an adult incompetent of managing his own
affairs.
- HALF BROTHER/HALF SISTER -
Child by another marriage of one's mother or father;
the relationship of two people who have only one
parent in common.
- HEIRS - Those entitled by
law or by the terms of a will to inherit property
from another.
- HOLOGRAPHIC WILL - One
written entirely in the testator's own handwriting.
- HOMESTEAD ACT - Law passed
by Congress in 1862 allowing a head of a family to
obtain title to 160 acres of public land after
clearing and improving it for 5 years.
- HUGUENOT - A French
Protestant in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of
the reformed or calvinistic communion who were
driven by the thousands into exile in England,
Holland, Germany and America.
- ILLEGITIMATE - Born to a
mother who was not married to the child's father.
- IMMIGRANT - One moving
into a country from another.
- INDENTURE - Today it means
a contract in 2 or more copies. Originally made in 2
parts by cutting or tearing a single sheet across
the middle in a jagged line so the two parts may
later be matched.
- INDENTURED SERVANT - One
who bound himself into service of another person for
a specified number of years, often in return for
transportation to this country.
- INFANT - Any person not of
full age; a minor.
- INSTANT - Of or pertaining
to the current month. (Abbreviated inst.)
- INTESTATE - One who dies
without a will or dying without a will.
- INVENTORY - An account,
catalog or schedule, made by an executor or
administrator of all the goods and chattels and
sometimes of the real estate of a deceased person.
- ISSUE - Offspring;
children; lineal descendants of a common ancestor.
- LATE - Recently deceased.
- LEASE - An agreement which
creates a landlord - tenant situation.
- LEGACY - Property or money
left to someone in a will
- LEGISLATURE - Lawmaking
branch of state or national government; elected
group of lawmakers.
- LIEN - A claim against
property as security for payment of a debt.
- LINEAGE - Ancestry; direct
descent from a specific ancestor.
- LINEAL - Consisting of or
being in as direct line of ancestry or descendants;
descended in a direct line.
- LINK - See measurements.
- LIS PENDENS - Pending
court action; usually applies to land title claims.
- LODGE - A chapter or
meeting hall of a fraternal organization.
- LOYALIST - Tory, an
American colonist who supported the British side
during the American Revolution.
- MAIDEN NAME - A girl's
last name or surname before she marries.
- MANUSCRIPT - A composition
written with the hand as an ancient book or an
un-printed modern book or music.
- MARRIAGE BOND - A
financial guarantee that no impediment to the
marriage existed, furnished by the intended
bridegroom or by his friends.
- MATERNAL - Related through
one's mother, such as a Maternal grandmother being
the mother's mother.
- MEASUREMENTS - Link - 7.92
inches; Chain - 100 Links or 66 feet; Furlong - 1000
Links or 660 feet; Rod - 5 1/2 yds or 16 1/2 ft
(also called a perch or pole); Rood - From 5 1/2
yards to 8 yards, depending on locality; Acre -
43,560 square ft or 160 square rods.
- MESSUAGE - A dwelling
house.
- METES & BOUNDS - Property
described by natural boundaries, such as 3 notches
in a white oak tree, etc.
- MICROFICHE - Sheet of
microfilm with greatly reduced images of pages of
documents.
- MICROFILM - Reproduction
of documents on film at reduced size.
- MIGRANT - Person who moves
from place to place, usually in search of work
- MIGRATE - To move from one
country or state or region to another. (Noun :
migration)
- MILITIA - Citizens of a
state who are not part of the national military
forces but who can be called into military service
in an emergency; a citizen army, apart from the
regular military forces.
- MINOR - One who is under
legal age; not yet a legal adult.
- MISTER - In early times, a
title of respect given only to those who held
important civil officer or who were of gentle blood.
- MOIETY - A half; an
indefinite portion
- MORTALITY - Death; death
rate.
- MORTALITY SCHEDULES -
Enumeration of persons who died during the year
prior to June 1 of 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 in
each state of the United States, conducted by the
bureau of census.
- MORTGAGE - A conditional
transfer of title to real property as security for
payment of a debt.
- MOTHER-IN-LAW - Mother of
one's spouse.
- NAMESAKE - Person named
after another person.
- NECROLOGY - Listing or
record of persons who have died recently
- NEE - Used to identify a
woman's maiden name; born with the surname of.
- NEPHEW - Son of one's
brother or sister.
- NIECE - Daughter of one's
brother or sister.
- NONCUPATIVE WILL - One
declared or dictated by the testator, usually for
persons in last sickness, sudden illness, or
military.
- ORPHAN - Child whose
parents are dead; sometimes, a child who has lost
one parent by death.
- ORPHAN'S COURT - Orphans
being recognized as wards of the states, provisions
were made for them in special courts.
- PASSENGER LIST - A ships
list of passengers, usually referring to those ships
arriving in the US from Europe.
- PATENT - Grant of land
from a government to an individual.
- PATERNAL - Related to
one's father. Paternal grandmother is the father's
mother.
- PATRIOT - One who loves
his country and supports its interests.
- PEDIGREE - Family tree;
ancestry.
- PENSION - Money paid
regularly to an individual, especially by a
government as reward for military service during
wartime or upon retirement from government service.
- PENSIONER - One who
receives a pension.
- PERCH - See measurements.
- POLE - See measurements.
- POLL - List or record of
persons, especially for taxing or voting.
- POST - Latin prefix
meaning after, as in post-war economy.
- POSTERITY - Descendants;
those who come after.
- POWER OF ATTORNEY - When a
person in unable to act for himself, he appoints
another to act in his behalf.
- PRE - Latin prefix meaning
before, as in pre-war military build-up.
- PRE-EMOTION RIGHTS - Right
given by the federal government to citizens to buy a
quarter section of land or less.
- PROBATE - Having to do
with wills and the administration of estates.
- PROGENITOR - A direct
ancestor.
- PROGENY - Descendants of a
common ancestor; issue.
- PROVED WILL - A will
established as genuine by probate court.
- PROVOST - A person
appointed to superintend, or preside over something.
- PROXIMO - In the following
month, in the month after the present one.
- PUBLIC DOMAIN - Land owned
by the government.
- QUAKER - Member of the
Religious Society of Friends.
- QUITCLAIM - A deed
conveying the interest of the party at that time.
- RECTOR - A clergyman; the
ruler or governor of a country.
- RELICT - Widow; surviving
spouse when one has died, husband or wife.
- REPUBLIC - Government in
which supreme authority lies with the people or
their elected representatives.
- REVOLUTIONARY WAR - U.S.
war for independence from Great Britain 1775 - 1783.
- ROD - See measurements.
- ROOD - See measurements.
- SHAKER - Member of a
religious group formed in 1747 which practiced
communal living and celibacy.
- SIBLING - Person having
one or both parents in common with another; a
brother or sister.
- SIC - Latin meaning thus;
copied exactly as the original reads. Often suggests
a mistake or surprise in the original.
- SON-IN-LAW - Husband of
one's daughter.
- SPINSTER - A woman still
unmarried; or one who spins.
- SPONSOR - A bondsman;
surety.
- SPOUSE - Husband or wife.
- STATUTE - Law.
- STEP-BROTHER / STEP-SISTER
- Child of one's step-father or step-mother.
- STEP-CHILD - Child of
one's husband or wife from a previous marriage.
- STEP-FATHER - Husband of
one's mother by a later marriage.
- STEP-MOTHER - Wife of
one's father by a later marriage.
- SURNAME - Family name or
last name.
- TERRITORY - Area of land
owned by the united States, not a state, but having
its own legislature and governor.
- TESTAMENTARY - Pertaining
to a will.
- TESTATE - A person who
dies leaving a valid will.
- TESTATOR - A person who
makes a valid will before his death.
- TITHABLE - Taxable.
- TITHE - Formerly, money
due as a tax for support of the clergy or church.
- TORY - Loyalist; one who
supported the British side in the American
Revolution.
- TOWNSHIP - A division of
U.S. public land that contained 36 sections, or 36
square miles. Also a subdivision of the county in
many Northeastern and Midwestern states of the U.S.
- TRADITION - The handing
down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs,
genealogies, etc. from generation to generation,
especially by word of mouth.
- TRANSCRIBE - To make a
copy in writing.
- ULTIMO - In the month
before this one.
- UNION - The United States;
also the North during the Civil War, the states
which did not secede.
- VERBATIM - Word for word;
in the same words, verbally.
- VITAL RECORDS - Records of
birth, death, marriage or divorce.
- VITAL STATISTICS - Data
dealing with birth, death, marriage or divorce.
- WAR BETWEEN THE STATES -
U.S. Civil War, 1861 - 1865.
- WARD - Chiefly the
division of a city for election purposes.
- WILL - Document declaring
how a person wants his property divided after his
death.
- WITNESS - One who is
present at a transaction, such as a sale of land or
signing of a will, who can testify or affirm that it
actually took place.
- WPA HISTORICAL RECORDS
SURVEY - A program undertaken by the US Government
1935 - 1936 in which inventories were compiled of
historical material.
- YEOMAN - A servant, an
attendant or subordinate official in a royal
household; a subordinate of a sheriff; an
independent farmer.
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