| ABSTRACT |
Summary
of important points of a given text, especially deeds and wills |
| ADMINISTRATOR |
A
person appointed by the court to administer the estate of an incompetent
person or an intestate who differs from an executor in that he is
court appointed whereas the executor is appointed by the deceased.
|
| ADMINISTRATIX |
A
female administrator |
| ADOPTION |
To
take into one's family through legal means and raise as one's own
child. |
| ADOPTION
BY BAPTISM |
A
spiritual affinity contracted between godfathers and godchildren in
the baptism ceremony, and entitled the godchild to a share of the
godfathers estate. |
| ADOPTION
BY MATRIMONY |
The
act of taking the children of a spouse's former marriage as one's
own upon marriage. |
| ADOPTION
BY TESTAMENT |
To
appoint a person heir if he follows the stipulations in the will to
take the name, arms, etc. of the adopter |
| ALIEN |
Foreign
born person |
| ANCESTORS |
Person
from whom you are descended in a direct line. |
| APPURTENANCES |
The
rights, duties, and perquisites of one who held manorial land - usually,
grazing rights, payment of fines, submission to the manorial court,
and a pew in church. |
| ARCHIVES |
Reference
to the storage of older records. |
| ASCENDANT |
Ancestor
|
| BANNS |
Publication
or posting of intended marriages, published for three consecutive
Sundays prior to the event. |
| BASTARD |
An
illegitimate child; born out of wedlock. |
| BENEFICIARY |
One
who receives benefit of trust of property |
| BEQUEST |
A
gift, personal property or money handed down in a will. |
| BORN
IN THE COVENANT |
In
LDS records, one born to a couple who has been sealed in marriage,
and thus is sealed to the parents. |
| CENSUS |
Official
listing or counting of persons; the Federal Census has been taken
every 10 years since 1790; there also are state censuses in some states
which may have been taken every 5 to 10 years. |
| CENSUS
INDEX |
Alphabetical
listing of names enumerated in a census. |
| CERTIFIED
COPY |
A
copy made and attested to by officers having charge of the original
and authorized to give copies. |
| CHRISTEN |
To
receive or initiate into the visible church by baptism, to name at
baptism, to give a name to |
| CIRCA |
About
or approximately, usually used in front of a date or year. |
| COAT
OF ARMS |
Shield
with certain distinctive symbols or emblems painted on it in definite
fixed colors identifying one person and his direct descendants. |
| CODICIL |
A
supplement to a will. |
| COLLATERAL
ANCESTOR |
Relatives
descended from the same ancestors, but in a different line (aunts,
uncles, cousins, those not in your direct line. |
COMMON
ANCESTOR
|
Ancestor
shared by two people. |
| COMMON
LAW MARRIAGE |
A
marriage without ceremony, civil or ecclesiastical, which may or may
not be recognized as a legal marriage. |
| COUSIN |
[1]
A child of one's aunt or uncle; also called first cousin; [2] A relative
descended from a common ancestor, such as a grandparent, by two or
more steps in a diverging line; [3] A relative by blood or marriage;
a kinsman or kinswoman; [4] A member of a kindred group or country.
|
| DECEDANT |
A
deceased person. |
| DECLARATION
OF INTENTION |
First
papers filed in the naturalization process, stating that the person
wants to become a citizen. |
| DEGREE
OF A RELATIONSHIP |
The
distance between two persons related by blood - under Canon Law (used
in most states) two persons who descend from a common ancestor, but
not one from the other (brother, cousins, etc.) have a collateral
consanguinity and a degree of relationship of the same number as the
number of generations the furthest is removed from the closest common
progenitor; for example, an uncle and nephew are related in the seconddegree
because the nephew is two generations from the common ancestor (his
grandfather and his uncle's father); two brothers are related in the
first degree and first cousins are related to each other in the second
degree; in linial relationships (direct lines) each generation is
a degree. |
| DESCENDANT |
One
whose ancestry can be traced to a particular individual. |
| DESCENDANT
CHART |
Graphic
document that shows descendants of a source couple for a specified
number of generations. |
| DEVISE |
To
give real property by will. |
| DEVISEE |
The
person to whom real property is left in a will. |
| DIRECT
LINE |
Descent
from an ancestor through succeeding children. |
| DISTRICT
LAND PLATT BOOK |
Maps
which show location of the land patentee. |
DISTRICT
LAND TRACT BOOK
|
Books
which list individual entries by range and township. |
| EMIGRANT |
One
who leaves one country or region to settle in another. |
| ENUMERATION |
The
process by which persons are counted for purposes of a census. |
| ESTATE |
The
whole of one's possessions; especially all the property left by a
deceased person. |
| EXECUTOR |
The
individual appointed by the one making the will to dispose of his
or her property after death in accordance with the terms of the will.
|
| EXECUTRIX |
A
female executor. |
FAMILY
HISTORY LIBRARY (FHL)
|
Of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) located
in Salt Lake City has the world's largest collection of genealogical
information.
|
| FAMILY
HISTORY CENTER (FHS) |
Located
in may towns throughtout the United States, these are local research
centers where one may access the information of FHL through the use
of microfilm, microfiche and computers. |
| FORBID
THE BANNS |
Public
or formal objection to a marriage. |
| GEDCOM |
Acronym
for GEnealogical Data COMmunication; file format supported by most
genealogy database programs for the exchange of genealogy information
between different programs and computers. |
GENEALOGY
|
A
study of family history and descent.
|
| GIVEN
NAME |
Name
given to a person at birth, or baptism - ones first and middle names.
|
| GUARDIAN |
Person
appointed to care for and manage property of a minor, orphan, or adult
incompetant of managing his own affairs. |
| HEIRS |
Those
entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit property from
another. |
HOLOGRAPHIC
WILL
|
One
written entirely in the testators own handwriting. |
HOMESTEAD
|
The
house and adjoining land where the head of the family lives, which
passes to the widow when her husband dies and is exempt from the claims
of his creditors; this is similiar to a widow's dower, the difference
being that the homestead includes the dwelling. |
| HOMESTEAD
ACT |
Any
of several legislative acts authorizing the sale of public land. |
| ILLEGITIMATE |
Born
to a mother who was not married to the childs father. |
| IMMIGRANT |
One
who settles in a country having emigrated from another. |
| INSTRUMENT |
A
formal document such as a deed or a will. |
| IN-LAW |
Colonists
used this term for any familiar relationship that occurred from a
marriage; a woman's father-inlaw could be her husband's father or
her stepfather; her son-in-law could be her daughter's husband or
her own stepson. |
| ISSUE |
Offspring,
children, lineal descendants of a common ancestor. |
| LEGACY |
Similar
to a bequest, although it often has the meaning of money, whereas
bequest usually means personal property. |
| LEGATEE |
The
person to whom a gift is given or left to in a will; a person receiving
real or personal property by will. |
LEGATOR
|
A
person who makes a will and leaves property to others. |
| LIEN |
A
claim against property as security for payment of a debt. |
LINEAGE
|
[1]
direct descent from a particular ancestor; ancestry [2] the descendants
of a common ancestor considered to be the founder of the line. |
LINEAL
CONSANGUINITY
|
Being
descended in a direct line from another such as son, father and grandfather.
|
| MAIDEN
NAME |
A
females last name or surname before marriage. |
| MICROFILM |
A
reproduction of documents on film at a reduced size. |
| MIGRANT |
A
person who moves from place to place to search for work. |
| MIGRATE |
To
move from one county, state, or region to another. |
| MULATTO |
The
offspring of one white and one black parent - somtimes used, especially
on census schedules, for Indians. |
| MUSTER
OUT |
A
discharge from military service. |
| NAMESAKE |
Person
named after another person. |
| NATURALIZATION |
The
process of becoming a citizen of the U.S.. |
| NATURALIZE
|
To
grant full citizenship to one of foreign birth. |
| NECROLOGY |
A
listing of obituaries, as in a newspaper; records of death. |
| NEE |
Born;
usually refers to a woman's maiden name. |
| NEPHEW |
A
son of one's brother or sister; also an illegitimate son of an eccleasiastic,
a niece, or a male or female grandchild. |
| NIECE |
A
daughter of one's brother or sister; sometimes, granddaughter; (pre-senenteenth
century England) any descendant, male or female, and occasionally,
any younger relative. |
| NUNCUPATIVE
WILL |
Oral
will which, to be valid, must be given by a person in their last hours,
witnessed by two or more witnesses, and written withina period of
six to twelve days. |
| NOW
WIFE |
Exclusively
found in wills, this term implied that there was a former wife. |
OBIT
|
[Latin]
died without issue. |
| OBITUARY |
Published
notice of a death, sometimes with a brief biography of the deceased.
|
| PASSENGER
LISTS |
Names
and information of passengers who arrived by ship, often including
their age, sex, occupation, place of origin. |
| PATERNAL |
Related
to one's father. Paternal grandmother is the father's mother. |
| PATRONYMIC |
In
strict usage, a name formed by the addition of a prefix or suffix
indicating sonship or other relationship to the name of one's father
or paternal ancestors, as Johnson (son of John), MacDonald (son of
Donald), etc. |
PEDIGREE
CHART
|
Graphic
document that begins with one person and moves backward in time, showing
the parents of each person in the tree. |
| PENSIONER |
One
who receives a pension. |
| PROBATE |
Having
to do with wills and the administration of estates. |
| PROGENY |
The
issue or descendants of a common ancestor. |
PROGENITOR
|
An
originator of a line of descent, frequently used in referenceto the
immigrant ancestor. |
PROLES
|
Offspring.
|
| PROVED |
Documents
such as wills, deeds, bills of sale, etc., having their accuracy and
honesty attested to through legal proceedings in a court of law. |
| QUADROON |
A
child of a mulatto and a white; a child with one black grandparent.
|
| RELICT |
A
widow or widower; the surviving spouse |
| SIBLING |
A
brother or sister |
| SOCIAL
SECURITY DEATH INDEX |
An
index of records containing names of deceased Social Security recipients
whose relatives applied for Social Security Death Benefits after their
passing which includes the individual's name and Soundex code, birthdate,
death date, and Social Security. |
SOUNDEX
|
A
card index system prepared by the Works Progress Administration for
the federal censuses; names are arranged by letter and number codes
according to the sounds of their consonants; thus, even if a name
is misspelled or spelled in an unexpected way, it can often be located
in the Soundex index. |
SPOUSE
|
A
husband or wife. |
| STATUTE |
Law
|
| STEERAGE |
A
section in a passenger ship for those paying the lowest fare. |
| SURNAME |
The
last or family name that a person bears in common with others in his/her
family. |
| TAIL |
An
estate which does not descend to heirs generally, but to the heirs
of the donee's body in a direct line if the posterity continues in
a regular order and upon the death of the first owner without issue
the estate is terminated. |
| TESTAMENTARY |
Referring
to, given by, or appointed by a will. |
| TESTAMENTARY
BOND |
Security
posted with the court by the executor of an estate to insure that
the wishes of the deceased be followed. |
| TESTAMENTUM |
[Latin]
will; testament |
| TESTATE |
Having
a valid will upon death. |
| TESTATOR |
The
person who makes a will. |
| TESTATRIX |
A
female who leaves a valid will. |
| TOWNSHIP |
A
division of US public land that contains 36 sections or 36 square
miles. A subdivision of the county. |
| TRADITION |
The
handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, and genealogies
from generation to generation. |
| UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD |
The
system which took slaves to freedom in fourteen Northern states by
1830, and about 50,000 between 1840 and 1860. |
| WARD |
Chiefly
the division of a city for election purposes. |
| WILL |
A
document declaring how a person wants his property divided after his
death. |
| WITNESS
|
One
who is present at a transaction, such as, the sale of land or the
signing of a Will, who can testify or affirm that the event actually
took place.
|