ABSTRACT – Summary of important points of a given text, especially deeds and wills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ACRE – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ADMINISTRATION (of estate) – The collection, management and distribution of an estate by proper legal process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ADMINISTRATOR (of estate) – Person appointed to manage or divide the estate of a deceased person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ADMINISTRATRIX – A female administrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AFFIDAVIT – A statement in writing, sworn to before proper authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ALIEN – Foreigner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AMERICAN REVOLUTION – U.S. war for independence from Great Britain 1775 – 1783.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ANCESTOR – A person from whom you are descended; a forefather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ANTE – Latin prefix meaning before, such as in ante-bellum South, “The South before the war”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
APPURTENANCE – That which belongs to something else such as a building, orchard, right of way, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ARCHIVES – Records of a government, organization, institution; the place where records are stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ATTEST – To affirm; to certify by signature or oath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BANNS – Public announcement of intended marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BENEFICIARY – One who receives benefit of trust or property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEQUEATH – To give personal property to a person in a will. Noun — bequest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BOND – Written, signed, witnessed agreement requiring payment of a specified amount of money on or before a given date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BOUNTY LAND WARRANT – A right to obtain land, specific number of acres of unallocated public land, granted for military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CENSUS – Official enumeration, listing or counting of citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CERTIFIED COPY – A copy made and attested to by officers having charge of the original and authorized to give copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CHAIN – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CHATTEL – Personal property which can include animate as well as inanimate properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CHRISTEN – To receive or initiate into the visible church by baptism; to name at baptism; to give a name to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CIRCA – About, near, or approximate — usually referring to a date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CIVIL WAR – War between the States; war between North and South, 1861 – 65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CODICIL – Addition to a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COLLATERAL ANCESTOR – Belong to the same ancestral stock but not in direct line of descent; opposed to lineal such as aunts, uncles & cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COMMON ANCESTOR – Ancestor shared by any two people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONFEDERATE – Pertaining to the Southern states which seceded from the U.S. in 1860 – 1, their government and their citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONSANGUINITY – Blood relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONSORT – Usually, a wife whose husband is living<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONVEYANCE – See deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COUSIN – Relative descended from a common ancestor, but not a brother or sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DAUGHTER-IN-LAW – Wife of one’s son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DECEASED – Dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DECEDENT – A deceased person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DECLARATION OF INTENTION – First paper, sworn to and filed in court, by an alien stating that he wants to be come a citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DEED – A document by which title in real property is transferred from one party to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DEVISE – Gift of real property by will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DEVISEE – One to whom real property (land) is given in a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DEVISOR – One who gives real property in a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DISSENTER – One who did not belong to the established church, especially the Church of England in the American colonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DISTRICT LAND OFFICE PLAT BOOK – Books or rather maps which show the location of the land patentee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DISTRICT LAND OFFICE TRACT BOOK – Books which list individual entries by range and township.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EMIGRANT – One leaving a country and moving to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ENUMERATION – Listing or counting , such as a census.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EPITAPH – An inscription on or at a tomb or grave in memory of the one buried there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESCHEAT – The reversion of property to the state when there are no qualified heirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESTATE – All property and debts belonging to a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ET AL – Latin for “and others”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ET UX – Latin for “and wife”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ET UXOR – And his wife. Sometimes written simply Et Ux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EXECUTOR – One appointed in a will to carry out its provisions. Female Executrix<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FATHER-IN-LAW – Father of one’s spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FEE SIMPLE – An absolute ownership without restriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FEE TAIL – An estate of inheritance limited to lineal descendant heirs of a person to whom it was granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FRATERNITY – Group of men (or women) sharing a common purpose or interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FREE HOLD – An estate in fee simple, in fee tail, or for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FRIEND – Member of the Religious Society of Friends; a Quaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FURLONG – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAZETTEER – A geographical dictionary; a book giving names and descriptions of places usually in alphabetical order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GENEALOGY – Study of family history and descent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GENTLEMAN – A man well born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GIVEN NAME – Name given to a person at birth or baptism, one’s first and middle names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GLEBE – Land belonging to a parish church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GRANTEE – One who buys property or receives a grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GRANTOR – One who sells property or makes a grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GREAT-AUNT – Sister of one’s grandparent<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GREAT-UNCLE – Brother of one’s grandparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GUARDIAN – Person appointed to care for and manage property of a minor orphan or an adult incompetent of managing his own affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HEIRS – Those entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit property from another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HOLOGRAPHIC WILL – One written entirely in the testator’s own handwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ILLEGITIMATE – Born to a mother who was not married to the child’s father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IMMIGRANT – One moving into a country from another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INFANT – Any person not of full age; a minor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INSTANT – Of or pertaining to the current month. (Abbreviated inst.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INTESTATE – One who dies without a will or dying without a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISSUE – Offspring; children; lineal descendants of a common ancestor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LATE – Recently deceased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LEASE – An agreement which creates a landlord – tenant situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LEGACY – Property or money left to someone in a will<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LEGISLATURE – Lawmaking branch of state or national government; elected group of lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LIEN – A claim against property as security for payment of a debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LINEAGE – Ancestry; direct descent from a specific ancestor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LINEAL – Consisting of or being in as direct line of ancestry or descendants; descended in a direct line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LINK – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LIS PENDENS – Pending court action; usually applies to land title claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LODGE – A chapter or meeting hall of a fraternal organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LOYALIST – Tory, an American colonist who supported the British side during the American Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MAIDEN NAME – A girl’s last name or surname before she marries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MANUSCRIPT – A composition written with the hand as an ancient book or an un-printed modern book or music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MARRIAGE BOND – A financial guarantee that no impediment to the marriage existed, furnished by the intended bridegroom or by his friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MATERNAL – Related through one’s mother, such as a Maternal grandmother being the mother’s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MESSUAGE – A dwelling house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
METES & BOUNDS – Property described by natural boundaries, such as 3 notches in a white oak tree, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MICROFICHE – Sheet of microfilm with greatly reduced images of pages of documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MICROFILM – Reproduction of documents on film at reduced size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MIGRANT – Person who moves from place to place, usually in search of work<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MIGRATE – To move from one country or state or region to another. (Noun : migration)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MINOR – One who is under legal age; not yet a legal adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MISTER – In early times, a title of respect given only to those who held important civil officer or who were of gentle blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOIETY – A half; an indefinite portion<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MORTALITY – Death; death rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MORTGAGE – A conditional transfer of title to real property as security for payment of a debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOTHER-IN-LAW – Mother of one’s spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAMESAKE – Person named after another person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NECROLOGY – Listing or record of persons who have died recently<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEE – Used to identify a woman’s maiden name; born with the surname of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEPHEW – Son of one’s brother or sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NIECE – Daughter of one’s brother or sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NONCUPATIVE WILL – One declared or dictated by the testator, usually for persons in last sickness, sudden illness, or military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ORPHAN – Child whose parents are dead; sometimes, a child who has lost one parent by death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ORPHAN’S COURT – Orphans being recognized as wards of the states, provisions were made for them in special courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PASSENGER LIST – A ships list of passengers, usually referring to those ships arriving in the US from Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PATENT – Grant of land from a government to an individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PATERNAL – Related to one’s father. Paternal grandmother is the father’s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PATRIOT – One who loves his country and supports its interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PEDIGREE – Family tree; ancestry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PENSION – Money paid regularly to an individual, especially by a government as reward for military service during wartime or upon retirement from government service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PENSIONER – One who receives a pension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PERCH – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POLE – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POLL – List or record of persons, especially for taxing or voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POST – Latin prefix meaning after, as in post-war economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POSTERITY – Descendants; those who come after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POWER OF ATTORNEY – When a person in unable to act for himself, he appoints another to act in his behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PRE – Latin prefix meaning before, as in pre-war military build-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PRE-EMOTION RIGHTS – Right given by the federal government to citizens to buy a quarter section of land or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROBATE – Having to do with wills and the administration of estates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROGENITOR – A direct ancestor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROGENY – Descendants of a common ancestor; issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROVED WILL – A will established as genuine by probate court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROVOST – A person appointed to superintend, or preside over something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROXIMO – In the following month, in the month after the present one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PUBLIC DOMAIN – Land owned by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
QUAKER – Member of the Religious Society of Friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
QUITCLAIM – A deed conveying the interest of the party at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RECTOR – A clergyman; the ruler or governor of a country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RELICT – Widow; surviving spouse when one has died, husband or wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
REPUBLIC – Government in which supreme authority lies with the people or their elected representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
REVOLUTIONARY WAR – U.S. war for independence from Great Britain 1775 – 1783.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ROD – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ROOD – See measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SHAKER – Member of a religious group formed in 1747 which practiced communal living and celibacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SIBLING – Person having one or both parents in common with another; a brother or sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SIC – Latin meaning thus; copied exactly as the original reads. Often suggests a mistake or surprise in the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SON-IN-LAW – Husband of one’s daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SPINSTER – A woman still unmarried; or one who spins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SPONSOR – A bondsman; surety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SPOUSE – Husband or wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STATUTE – Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STEP-BROTHER \/ STEP-SISTER – Child of one’s step-father or step-mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STEP-CHILD – Child of one’s husband or wife from a previous marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STEP-FATHER – Husband of one’s mother by a later marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STEP-MOTHER – Wife of one’s father by a later marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SURNAME – Family name or last name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TERRITORY – Area of land owned by the united States, not a state, but having its own legislature and governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TESTAMENTARY – Pertaining to a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TESTATE – A person who dies leaving a valid will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TESTATOR – A person who makes a valid will before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TITHABLE – Taxable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TITHE – Formerly, money due as a tax for support of the clergy or church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TORY – Loyalist; one who supported the British side in the American Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TRADITION – The handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, genealogies, etc. from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TRANSCRIBE – To make a copy in writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ULTIMO – In the month before this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNION – The United States; also the North during the Civil War, the states which did not secede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VERBATIM – Word for word; in the same words, verbally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VITAL RECORDS – Records of birth, death, marriage or divorce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VITAL STATISTICS – Data dealing with birth, death, marriage or divorce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WAR BETWEEN THE STATES – U.S. Civil War, 1861 – 1865.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WARD – Chiefly the division of a city for election purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WILL – Document declaring how a person wants his property divided after his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WPA HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY – A program undertaken by the US Government 1935 – 1936 in which inventories were compiled of historical material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YEOMAN – A servant, an attendant or subordinate official in a royal household; a subordinate of a sheriff; an independent farmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dees-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentuckianagenealogy.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}