When doing genealogy research there will be terms you consistently run across. Unsure of what they mean, or how to explain them? This glossary of terms will be able to help you understand the meaning behind some of those words.
A
Adoption –To take and rear (the child of other parents) as one’s own child, specifically by a formal legal act.
Age of Consent – The age at which a person may marry without legal parental permission. This age varies from state to state.
Ahnentafel – German for ancestor table, this is a numbering system for listing a persons direct ancestors in a fixed sequence of ascent. This shows a compact version of genealogy without a diagram, such as a family tree.
Ancestors – Those relatives your family who came before you; such as grandparents, great grandparents, etc.
Ancestral File – Developed by the Family History Center of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, this is a computerized collection of genealogies that links families into pedigrees, showing ancestors and descendants.
Apprentice – To bind to or place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade. In ancestry it usually meant a teenaged child . It can also be referred to as ‘placing out or putting out.’
Archives – The collection and storage of documents and records.
B
Baptismal Records – Church record of baptism. Usually recorded with parents name, childs name, birth date and date of baptism.
Bastard or Base-born – A child born to an unwed mother, an illegitimate baby.
Bequest – Personal property, money or gifts given to other people as stated in a person’s Will.
Bible Family Records – Pages in the family Bible where names, births, marriages and deaths are written of family members covering many generations.
Birth Record – An official civil registered record of an individual’s birth. Included on the document would be the baby’s full name, date and time of birth, location, race and sex of the baby, the mother and father’s full name, along with the mother’s maiden name, the full address of the parents, the parent’s birth location and possibly how many other children the mother had previous given birth to.
C
Cemetery – Church and community places for human burials and cremated remains. Many will be marked with a headstone or grave marker which provide information on the deceased person. Some cemeteries may have a written record of the deceased and their family members.
Census – An official government counting of a given area’s human population. Federal Census is done every 10 years. Items that may appear on the census include names, ages, sex, occupation, home address, education, immigration date, ethnic background, military experience and ownership of property.
Certified Copy – A true and accurate facsimile of an original document. It is authorized by the issuing agency or a notary public.
Circa – “about” or “approximately” Referring to an approximate time period;
Christian Name – An individual’s given names (first and middle) at birth and confirmed at their baptism.
Church Records – Documents relating to the congregation members of a church over the existence of the church. The written records will have births, baptisms, christenings, marriages and deaths documented along with church ceremonies.
Coat of Arms – Colorful emblems and symbols on a shield used as a visual to identify an individual and his descendants.
Collateral Relative – Blood relative who is not your direct ancestor. It is a legal term for a relative descended from a brother or sister of an ancestor. This would be aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Common Ancestor – An ancestor that 2 or more descendants have in common.
Consort – a wife, husband, or companion, in particular the spouse of a reigning monarch.
D
Descendant – a person that comes from from a specific ancestor; offspring. There can be direct descendants(child, grandchild, great grandchild) , or collateral descendants (cousins, aunts, uncles, niece, nephew)
Direct Line or Blood Line – Direct Descent from grandparents to parents to children and grandchildren.
Double Date – When many locations switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; documented dates of years were written in both forms for periods from the late 16th century into the early 17th century.
Dowry – the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband or his family in marriage.
E
Emigrant – someone who leaves their place of residence, or country to live elsewhere.
Enumeration – The listing of names, addresses, property, homes, etc as is done in a census.
Epitaph – The inscription on a tombstone providing information about the person buried
Expatriate – A person who lives outside their native country.
F
Family Group Sheet – The genealogical information written on a sheet of paper about a nuclear family; which would included a husband, a wife, and their children. Data listed would be births, marriages, deaths and locations.
Family History Center – Local branches of the Family History Library. The FHL is owned and run by of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake, City, Utah. There are Family History Centers across the world, which provide resources for individuals to conduct their own genealogy.
Family Tree – A graphic display or diagram of a person’s family lineage.
Freedman – a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. They were usually freed through emancipation, or self purchase, or given release by their captor.
Free People of Color – Historically these were people of mixed African, European, and sometimes Native American descent who were not enslaved. The term free negro was often used to cover the same class of people – those who were legally and visibly free of ethnic African descent. Many were people of mixed race, freed because of relation to their owner.
G
Genealogist – One who pursues the study of a family lineage.
GEDCOM – A database which represents Genealogy Data Communications, a standardized format for all genealogy databases. This allows for easier transfer of information using different computer software programs.
Given Name – First names (first and middle names) given to a baby at birth or at their baptism.
Gregorian Calendar – Named for Pope Gregory, a newer and improved method of measuring days, months and years. It replaced the older Julian calendar. It began in 1582, but was not accepted by Great Britain, her colonies and other European counties until 1752.
Guardian – An individual selected by a family or a legal agency to look after the interests and well-being of an underage child, an elderly person, one incompetent to take care of their own affairs.
H
Heraldry – The science of tracing and recording genealogies to determine those with the rights to bear arms.
Homeland – An individual’s native or birth country or region.
Homestead –(as provided by the federal Homestead Act of 1862) an area of public land in the West (usually 160 acres) granted to any US citizen willing to settle on and farm the land for at least five years.
I
Indentured Servant – An individual who has made contract to work for a specific amount of time exclusively for the person who paid for their passage and costs associated with immigrating. Can also be known as a ‘bond servant.’
Index – An alphabetical list of places, dates or names that were available from a specific set of records;
International Genealogical Index (IGI) – Over 250 million names listed with the Family Search Library of the Latter-Day Saints Church. The indexed listing is from various resources (churches, civil or military) to assist in genealogy research.
Intestate –not writing a will before dying.
Issue – The children born or adopted by a couple.
J
Julian Calendar – A calendar named for the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, which was used from 45 BC until 1582 AD. It was replaced by the Gregorian calendar, considered a more accurate calendar.
L
Legacy – A bequest or giving of personal property and / or money.
Local History – The history , stories and documents of a small localized area, such as a city, town or village. Many family names and individuals will be included in a local history write-up.
M
Majority Age – The age at which someone may legally enter into contracts. Majority age differs from region or area.
Maiden Name – A woman’s last name(family name) at her time of birth.
Manifest – A written listing of passengers or cargo on a ship or other transport device such as a plane.
Marriage Bond – A written document between a bride and groom that there are no illegal or ill- moral barriers for a future wedding. It will include information that the groom is able to support and wife and future children.
Marriage Records – A written document with the bride and groom’s full names, their ages, date of birth and location, their parents’ names, if they were married before, their occupation, along with the names of witnesses to the marriage.
Maternal Line – A person’s lineage through their mother’s side of the family.
Microfilm and Microfiche – Reproduction of documents placed on rolls of film.
Militia – A community or local civilian army used in times of emergencies.
Mortality Schedule – During the U. S. Censuses of 1850 through 1900, the takers were to ask about anyone who had died in the household between June of the previous year to May 31 of the census year. The questions answered included name, sex, age, race, occupation, number of days ill, date of death and cause of death. The 1880 mortality census questions included about where the deceased contracted the disease and how long they had lived in the area where they died.
N
Namesake – A person named for another individual, either a relative or non-relative.
National Archives and Records Administration – A governmental agency for the United States which manages all federal documents, records, photos, films and historical collections.
National Archives for the United Kingdom – The official governmental archive and records management for the United Kingdom.
Nationalization Records – The formal governmental written documents when an immigrant becomes a citizen.
O
Obituary – A published notice of a person’s death which might include biographical information on the individual and their family.
Of Color – Those individuals labeled as non-white; Native American, black, and people of mix-racial lines.
Oral History – Families stories handed down in the form of verbal tales.
P
Passenger List – Information from ship records of the passengers traveling on a certain ship.
Paternal Line – A person’s lineage through their father’s side of the family.
Pedigree – The lineage or listing of one’s ancestors.
Pedigree Chart – A chart illustrating the lineage of ancestors .
Posthumous Child – A baby born after the death of their father.
Primary Source or Record – Document created at the time of an event;
Q
Quinquennial Census – A census taken every five years;
S
Secondary Source or Record – A document created years or decades after a certain event.
Social Security Death Index (SSDI) – From the U. S. Social Security Administration, an index of deceased persons who had received Social Security benefits or their surviving relatives related death benefits.
Source – Written material in the form of a vital record, document, manuscript, photo, journal, newspaper, book, magazine, Bible, etc. which can help prove a fact.
Soundex – Begun in the United States during the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s for the federal censuses to arranged surnames by letter and number codes according to the sounds of their consonants. It became a more effective method to locate names, even if they were misspelled.
Spinster – An unmarried woman.
Steerage – The least expensive section for passengers on a ship.
Surname – The family name or last name for an individual, inherited from their father.
V
Vital Records – The governmental or civil official documents at the time of a birth, marriage, divorce, and death.
