Glossary of Genealogy Terms
Account [Administration Account]
A record of debit and credit entries to cover transactions involving a [deceased] person.
Acre
A unit of land in the U.S. and England equal to 43,560 square feet (4047 square meters).
Administration [Letters of Administration]
A letter evidencing the right of an administrator to administer the goods or estate of a deceased person.
Administrator
A person legally vested with the right of administration of an estate.
Administratrix
A woman administrator especially of an estate.
aka
also known as
Approve
To testify, bear witness or affirm to be true, genuine or authentic.
Banns [after banns]
An official formal public announcement, especially in church,
of a proposed marriage.
Branch
A body of water which extends from or enters into a main body or source,
such as a stream that flows into another usually larger stream, creek or tributary.
Cattle Marks
Marked cattle (possibly by cropping or branding).
Registered cattle.
Chattel
Item(s) or property (including a person held in servitude as the chattel of another),
except for real estate and things such as buildings connected with real property.
Consort
Spouse.
Convey
To transfer or deliver to another especially by a sealed writing.
To cause to pass from one place or person to another.
Creditor
One to whom a debt is owed; a person to whom money or goods are due.
Deponent
One who gives evidence.
Deposition
A declaration, statement or testimony taken down in writing under oath.
Testifying before a court.
Devise
The act of giving or disposing of real property by will or clause of a will.
dtl
departed this life
Esquire [Esq.]
A landed proprietor.
A member of the English gentry ranking below a knight.
A candidate for knighthood serving as shield bearer and attendant to a knight.
Used as a title of courtesy usually placed in its abbreviated form after the surname (i.e. Philemon Horney, Esq.)
Folio
A leaf or page number of a manuscript or book [Liber].
Friend
A member of the "Society of Friends", also known as "Quakers".
Hundred
A subdivision of some English and American counties.
Indenture
A document stating the terms under which a security (as a bond) is issued.
A formal certificate (as an inventory or voucher) prepared for purposes of control.
A contract binding one person to work for another for a given period of time.
Indentured
To bind (as an apprentice) by or as if by indentures.
Indentured Servant
A person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another
for a specified time
especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance.
Instant
The present or current month.
Instrument [Instrument of Writing]
A formal legal document (as a deed, bond, or agreement).
Inventory
An itemized list of current assets of an individual or estate, (which may include Additional Inventories).
Liber
Manuscript or Book.
Majority
The age at which a persons full civil rights are accorded.
Minority
The period before a persons attainment of majority [Legal minor.]
Moiety
One of two equal parts or approximately equal parts (Half.)
One of the portions into which something is divided (Part.)
One of two basic subdivisions.
Mulatto
The first-generation offspring of a black person and a white person.
Naturalization
To be admitted to citizenship.
nok
next of kin
Orphan's Court
A probate court which in some states (or provinces) has jurisdiction over the affairs of minors and the administration of estates.
Perch
A measure of length, equal to 5 1/2 yards; a rod.
Personalty
Personal property other than real estate consisting of things temporary or movable [Chattels].
Pillory
A device formerly used for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a
wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked.
Planter
One who settles or founds a place and especially a new colony.
One who owns or operates a plantation.
One who cultivates land or crops or raises animals or fish.
Probate
The action or process of proving before a competent judicial authority that a document
offered as the last will and testament of a deceased person is genuine and valid.
Probate Court
A court that has jurisdiction chiefly over the probate of wills and administration of deceased persons' estates.
Proprietor
One granted ownership of a colony (as one of the original American colonies)
and full prerogatives of establishing a government and distributing land.
One who has the legal right or exclusive title to something (owner).
Prove [Proved; Proven]
To test the truth, validity, or genuineness of [Prove a will at probate].
Relict
A widow; a woman who has lost her husband by death.
Surety
One who has become legally liable for the debt, default, or failure in duty of another.
Surety Bond
A bond guaranteeing performance of a contract or obligation.
Temporal
Relating to earthly time as opposed to eternity,
Temporal Estate
Earthly or worldly estate.
Testator
A person who dies leaving a will or testament in force.
Testatrix
A female testator.
Tract
An area of land.
Ultimate
The previous month.
Viz [Videlicit]
To wit; to know; that is to say; namely.
Widow
Relict; a woman who has lost her husband by death.
Widower
A man who has lost his wife by death.
Will
A legal declaration of a person's wishes [orally or by written instrument]
regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death.
As I began to research old wills, administration accounts, inventories and other early North American
colonial and post colonial records, I began to compile a glossary of terms.
Most of the terms in this glossary were gleaned from:
http://reference.aol.com/dictionary
Dee Horney - Gabler
October 22, 2005
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