GENEALOGY TERMS

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. 
BASEBORN - Of illegitimate birth.
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 
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.