Glossary of 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. 

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 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 an allocated 

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 mane 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 the North and South, 1861-1865. 

CODICIL – Addition to a will. 

COLLATERAL ANCESTOR – Belong to the same ancestral stock but not in direct line of decent; 

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, 

government and citizens. 

CONSANGUINITY – Blood relationship. 

CONSORT – Usually a wife whose husband is living. 

CONVEYANCE – See deed. 

COUSIN – Relative descended from a common ancestor, but on 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 become 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 oral testimony of a witness. 

DEVISE – Gift of real property by will. 

DEVISEE – One to which 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 an 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 as 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 decent. 

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 and 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 on common. 

HEIRS – Those entitled bylaw 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. 

HUGENOT – A French Protestant in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the reformed or Calvinistic 

communions 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, catalogue 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 descendents 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. 

LEIN – A claim against property as security for payment of a debt. 

LINEAGE – Ancestry; direct decent from a specific ancestor. 

LINEAL – Consisting of or being in as direct line of ancestry or descendents; 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 

good 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 yards or 16 1⁄2 feet (also called a perch or pole); Rood – from 5 1⁄2 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 office 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. 

ORPHANS 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 from 

Europe. 

PATENT - Grant of land from a government to an individual. 

PATERNAL – Related to one’s father. Paternal grandmother is father’s mother. 

PEDIGREE – Family tree; ancestry. 

PENSION – Money paid regularly to an individual, especially by a government as a reward for 

military service during wartime or upon retirement from government service. 

PENSIONER – One who received 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 is 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 county. 

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 spurprise 

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. 

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 during the American Revolution. 

TOWNSHIP – A division of U.S. public land that contained 36 sectins, 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 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 U.S. Government 1935- 

1936 in which inventories of historical material were compiled. 

YEOMAN – A servant, an attendant or subordinate official in a royal household; a subordinate of a 

sheriff; an independent farmer. 

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