Definitions - Terms
ALL THESE PAGES ARE MISSING. Does anyone have the URL?
http://www.rootsquest.com/~jmurphy/lessons/tip04.htm old terms, mostly legal
old terms, mostly medical
Medical terms and remedies
dates/calendars
legal terms
ramblings - includes tombstone carvings
old definitions F-G
old definitoins G-H-I
old definitions I-J-K-L
old definitions M
old definitions N-P
old definitions Q-S
old definitions S-Y
old time remedies
professions: pewterer, coppersmith, silversmith, miller, cabinetmaker
professions: wainwright,coachmaker, bookbinder, limner
Conversion Tables
If you go to the following URL, you will find conversion factors for almost
any unit of measurement that you can think of.
http://pos.net/guest/ref/conversion.htm
Chains(Gunter) = Feet 66
Links (Gunters) = Feet 0.66
Links (Gunters) = Feet (US Survey) 0.659998
Links (Gunters) = Inches 7.92
Links (Gunters) = Meters 0.2012
Links (Gunters) = Miles (statute) 0.000125
Links (Gunters) = Rods 0.04
Links (Ramdens) = Centimeters 30.48
Links (Ramdens) = Chains (Ramdens) 0.01
Old Handwriting
Von Stachon's page. (Missing, send the URL to us) Images of many of the common
words found in old documents with a table showing the
image with the transcribed word.
[email protected]
In regard to reading old deeds, it applies to reading any of the old
literature. You need to know how people wrote in those days. There were a
number of things written differently and there were writing rules for such
things. Jesse is a good example. I ran into the same problem with a Jesse
that I was tracking. It was written Jefse. The first "s" of a double "s" was
written like an "f." It was called a tailed "s." In handwritten documents,
the "f" and "s" together often resembled a fancy "p" or Jepe, for example,
instead of Jesse. Another one that can throw you is the capital "F." It was
written "ff."
There is an excellent book that covers a number of these
oddities. It is NORTH CAROLINA RESEARCH Genealogy and Local History by Helen
F.M. Leary. It is put out by the North Carolina Genealogical Society.
On-Line help:Deciphering Old Handwriting http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html
Researching in Bertie County - Check these
(Shared by Cathy Farris)
1. Birth Certificate
2. Marriage Bonds
3. Consents
4. Applications
5. Certificates
6. Divorce Petition
7.Divorce Decree
8. Annulments
9. Death Certificate
10. Will
11. Codicil
12. Estate Appraisal(s)
13. Real Estate
14. Personal Property
15. Guardians
16. Conservators
17. Warrants
18. Notice to Heirs (newspaper)
19. Notice of Sales ""
20. Notice to Creditors ""
21. Advertisements ""
22. Administrator
23. Executor
24. Inventories
25. Pensions
26. Estate Taxes
27. Dower Rights
28. Legitimation
29. Appeals
30. Deed(s)
31. Grants
32. Patents
33. Titles
34. Abstracts
35. Liens
36. Tax Lists (by year)
37. Naturalizations Petition
38. Oaths of Allegiance
39. Naturalization Decree
40. Name Changes
41. Manumissions
42. Petition for Freedon
43. Certificate of Freedon
44. Inquistions of Lunacy
45. Adoptions
46. Orphans Records
47. Appeals
48. Apprenticeship(s)
49. Legislative papers
50. Congressional
51. Petitions
52. Minutes
53. Subpoena
54. Affidavit(s)
55. Jury Duty
56. Final Sentencing
57. Bankruptcy
58. Civil Suits
59. Veteran Discharges
60. Autopsy
61. Licences
62. Voter Registration
Researching 1900's in Bertie County
Social Security Index - on-line sites
Military Service Records - WWI, WWII, recent service records
Census 1900, 1910, 1920 (major libraries)
Deeds - Courthouse
Wills - Courthouse
Delayed Birth Certificates - Courthouse
Marriage Records - Courthouse
Death Records- Courthouse
Naturalization papers - Courthouse
City directories/telephone books
Business directories (on-line Branson Directories)
Funeral home info
Church records
Bertie-Ledger files - Newspaper office
Organizations
Rotary, American Legion, VFW, Masons
Old School Annuals
Churches in Bertie County tend to be smaller without full time staff. It would be best to make an appointment even for churches in larger towns. Genealogy is not the primary function of the church, and sometimes they designate a "historian" for the church who might meet with you and be of assistance.
Not all churches allow outsiders to see their records.
Visit the Bertie County Church Page which is already on-line to learn as much as possible.
Garrett Funeral Home in Ahoskie has always handled burials and re-burials in Bertie County. Their records have never been microfilmed and some of their older records no longer exist.
If interested, call in advance and make an appointment to see their records.
Virginia Money
Simply put, VA (Virginia) Money was paper money issued by the Colony of
Virginia. England couldn't/wouldn't provide much in the way of money to the
Colonies for commerce so the Colonies resorted to printing their own. It was
common that money issued by one Colony be accepted in a neighboring Colony,
especially in the case with Virginia - North Carolina. Virginia had nearly a
hundred year head start over North Carolina and many early settlers of North
Carolina came via Virginia, so their were a lot of close ties between people
of Virginia and North Carolina in North Carolina's early Colinial history.
Contributed by Jeff Seawall to the Bertie Mailing List.
________________________________
Codes on how to read old legal stuff, like Wills and deeds
a.a.s.=died in the year of his/her age (anno aetitis suae) ( 86 y/o died in
year 86)
d.s.p.=died without issue (Child)(decessit sine prole legitima)
d.s.p.l.=died without legitimate issue (decessit sine prole mascula supesita)
d.s.p.m.s.= died without surviving male issue (decessit sine prolem
asculasupersita) d.s.p.s =died without surviving issue (decessit sine prole
supersita)
d.unm=died unmarriedd.v.p. died in the lifetime of his father (decessit vita
patris) d.v.m.=died in the lifetime of his mother (decessit vita matris)
Et al=and others (et alia)
Inst= present month (instans)
Liber=book or volume
Nepos= grandson
Nunc=Nuncapative will, an oral will, written by a witness
Ob=he/she died (obit)
Relict=widow or widower (relicta/relictus)
Sic=so, or thus, exact copy as written
Testes=witnesses
Utl =late (ultimo)
Ux or vs=wife (uxor)
Viz= namely (videlicet)
In reading newspapers, books and magazines from the 18th Century you will
invarably notice that an "f" is apparently used where there should be an
"s."
For instance, the word "vessel" is printed as "veffel," the word "same"
appears as "fame" and "castle" becomes "caftle." Because of the confusion
encountered by readers new to 18th Century documents, we have asked three
individuals knowledgeable in the history of typography to render their
views on the subject.
Their explanations follow:
"The Long S is a legitimate form of "S." See the American Heritage
Dictionary "S" entries. The Long S is similar to a lowercase f but the
horizontal stroke does not go through the top of the letter. The long s
still survives in German (or at least it was available when I studied
German). German has an uppercase S, a lowercase long f and a lowercase s.
"The Rules Are:
"Regular uppercase S; "Terminal lowercase s and medial s under certain
conditions; initial long f and medial long f."
"Examples:
"In the 1791 Bradford edition of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, the
Introduction reads:
"Perhaps the fentiments contained in the following pages are not yet
fufficiently fathionable to procure them general favor...."
"You will note that both fentiments and pages end with a normal lowercase
"s" and both fentiments & fufficiently have an initial lowercase long f."
- Richard Irby
The typographic script "s" is an analogue of the handwritten letter, a
sort of double loop, and used in the middle of the word. PrintersSsetSthe
graphic version of the handwritten letter, which differs from the "f" in
having a very minimal cross-stroke. They (the "s" and the "f") are not the
same.
To be precise, the script "s" was used in all positions except the last.
Thus the word "success" would have begun with a script s, the penultimate
letter would have been a script s, but the final letter would have been
what we consider a normal "s".
- Philip A. Metzger
Special Collections Librarian
The symbol ("s") was not an "f" although it looked like one. The long s
letter can better be described as an "f" without the crossline traveling
through the vertical line. The crossline only extends to the right of the
vertical line. Also, the long s was never used at the end of a word or to
denote the possessive or to pluralize. Since handwriting was considered an
art form, the placement of the long s depended on what the "clark" felt
would be visually pleasing to his audience. In a hand-written document,
the top of the long s looked like the lower case fS."
- Lawrence Davis
Please send comments and suggestions to
Virginia Crilley varcsix at hot.rr.com
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