Subject: [OHLORAIN-L] Glossary of Terms Resent-Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 07:27:32 -0700 (PDT) Resent-From: OHLORAIN-L@rootsweb.com Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 21:45:49 -0500 From: Ellen Bisson To: OHLORAIN-L@rootsweb.com This is the last of the three general data msgs. I must correct my error: the information came from Mr. DANIEL (not George) H. Burrows through another list, and note again that the original posting indicated the information could be forwarded or re-published without permission. Many items on this Glossary of Terms are obvious and well known; others are less familiar. Again, please accept my apologies if you receive duplicate msgs. > 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. > 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 > 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. > 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. Regards, Ellen Bisson ==== OHLORAIN Mailing List ==== Ancestry Map Search http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/maps.asp