| arr/ | arrived/ (date/ship) | aft or > | after |
| anc | ancestor; ancestry | anc/o | ancestry of |
| b | birth; born | bef or < | before |
| bet | between | br/o | brother of |
| bp or bap | baptized | bur | buried |
| ca | circa (approximately, about) | ch | child |
| chn | children | ch/o | child of |
| crsp | correspondence | cs | census |
| d | death; died | desc/o | descendent of |
| dob | date of birth | dod | date of death |
| dom | date of marriage | d/o | daughter of |
| dsp | died without issue (no children) | dy | died young |
| f/o | father of | gp | grandparent |
| g-gp | great-grandparent | gg-gp | great-great-grandparent |
| h/o | husband of | int | intent to wed |
| m | married | m/o | mother of |
| n/m | not married | p/o | parent(s) of |
| SASE | self-addressed stamped envelope | s/o | son of |
| sr/o | sister of | VR | vital records |
| w/o | wife of | wid/o | widow of |
| w/2 | wife # 2 |
| Ague | used to define the recurring fever & chills of malarial infection |
| Aphonia | stroke |
| Apoplexy | laryngitis |
| Bad Blood | syphilis |
| Biliousnes | jaundice or other symptoms associated with liver disease |
| Blood Poisoning | septicemia (overwhelming bacterial infection) |
| Bright's Disease | glomerulonephritis (serious kidney disease) |
| Camp Fever | typhus, typhoid fever |
| Canine Maddness | hydrophobia, rabies |
| Chlorosis | iron deficency anemia |
| Consumption | tuberculosis, pulmonary |
| Corruption | infection |
| Coryza | a cold |
| Costiveness | constipation |
| Cramp Colic | appendicitis |
| Cretinism | hypothyroidism, congenital |
| Dropsey | congestive heart failure; edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease |
| Dysepsia | acid indigestion |
| Extravasted Blood | rupture of a blood vessel |
| Falling Sickness | epilepsy |
| Fatty Liver | cirrhosis |
| Flus of Humor | circulation |
| French Pox | veneral disease |
| Glandular Fever | mononucleosis |
| Green Sickness | anemia |
| Grippe | influenza (flu) |
| Hip Gout | osteomyelitis |
| Jail Fever | typhoid fever, typhus |
| King's Evil | tubercular infection of the throat lymph glands |
| Lock Jaw | tetanus |
| Lues Venera | veneral disease |
| Lumbago | back pain |
| Lung Fever | pneumonia |
| Lung Sickness | tuberculosis |
| Mania | insanity |
| Mortification | infection |
| Nostalia | homesickness |
| Plague or Black Death | Bubonic plague |
| Podagra | gout |
| Pott's Disease | tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae |
| Putrid Fever | diptheria |
| Quinsy | streptococcal tonsillitis |
| Remitting Fever | malaria |
| Sanguinous Crust | scab |
| Screws | rheumatism |
| Scrofula | tubercular infection of the neck lymph nodes |
| Ships Fever | typhus |
| Strangery | rupture |
| Summer Complain | baby diarrhea caused by spoiled milk |
| Toxemia of Pregnancy | eclampsia (high blood pressure & seizures) |
| Venesection | bleeding |
| administration | the management and settling of an estate |
| administrator | a person appointed by a court to settle the estate of a deceased person who has died without leaving a valid will |
| affidavit | a signed Written statement sworn before a notary or other court officer |
| assignee | one to whom some right, privilege, or property is signed over by the court |
| assignor | one who signs over the title or interest in some-thing (e.g., a part or whole of an estate) to another in-dividual or party |
| bequest | commonly used to denote a gift of real estate by will; also a legacy |
| bound land | land given by the government to induce men to enter military service; it usually consisted of a specific number of acres of previously unallocated public land |
| bound land warrant | a gift of bounty land due a person, his heirs, or assigns and entitled by military service |
| canon law | a law or statute of the church |
| codicil | document created by the testator to amend his/her will |
| collateral ancestor | an ancestor not in direct line of ascent, but of the same ancestral stock (e.g. the brother or sister of a direct ancestor) |
| consanguinity | relation by blood; descended from a common ancestor |
| decedent | a deceased person |
| deed | a formal written instrument, signed, sealed, and delivered according to law and conveying title to real estate |
| denizen | a person who has been admitted to residence in a foreign country |
| deposition | the testimony of a witness in writing and duly authenticated, given in the course of a legal proceeding |
| descendant | one who is descended, however remotely, from another |
| devise | to grant real property by will |
| devisee | one to whom real property is given by will |
| direct heir | one who is an individual's direct line of ascent or descent |
| dower | the legal right of a wife to use or own some portion of her husband's real estate, should she survive him |
| escheat | reverting of property to the state upon the death of an owner without heirs |
| estate | the property of a deceased person: a right, title, or interest in that property |
| Et Uxer (Et. Ux.) | and wife |
| executor | the person named in a will and appointed by a court to carry out the provisions of the will |
| executrix | feminine form of executor |
| fee simple | an estate of inheritance in land, absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs |
| fee tail | an estate of inheritance in land, limited to a partic-ular class of heirs |
| freeholder | a person who held land in fee simple. He had the right to vote and hold public office |
| grant | a term used in deeds for transferring title to real property |
| grantee | one to whom a grant is made |
| grantor | one who makes a grant (e.g. transfers title to real property) |
| guardian | a person appointed by a court to care for the property and rights of a minor or someone otherwise incapable of administering his own affairs |
| heir | a person who by descent or right of relationship inherits an estate upon the death of his ancestor |
| holographic will | a will entirely in the handwriting of the testator |
| imprimis | "first of all" |
| indenture | any deed, written contract, or sealed agreement; a contract by which a person, as an apprentice, is bound over for service; the formal agreement between a group of bondholders and the debtor as to the terms of the debt |
| infant | a person not of legal age; a minor |
| intestate | a person who has died without having left a valid will or otherwise disposed of his real and personal property |
| inventory | a list of goods or valuables in the estate of a, deceased person, filed in probate court by an executor or administer |
| kindred | persons related by blood |
| legacy | a gift by will |
| lineal descendant | a person in the direct line of descent |
| Notorial (Authentic) Will | will made by the testator before a Notary It is retained in the Notary's file until the testator's death |
| nuncupative will | an oral or unwritten will, declared by the testator in his last sickness and in the presence of wit-nesses, and later reduced to writing by someone other than the testator |
| personal property | all property other than real property |
| posthumous | born after the death of a parent |
| primogeniture | condition of being the first-born child of the same parents; in law, the right of inheritance by the eldest son |
| probate | the process of proving a will |
| relicit | a widow; sometimes (rarely) used to mean a widower |
| sibling | a brother or sister; all children of the same parents |
| spouse | a husband or wife |
| trustee | a person to whom another's property or the manage ment of another's property is given in trust |
| testament | the disposition of one's personal property by will |
| will | the legal document containing the statement of a per-son's wishes regarding the disposal of his property after his death |
| Details of Will: |
ADOPTION AND GUARDIANSHIP: name of the child(ren), parents, guardian(s) or foster parents; age and sex of child(ren); residences of the parties involved; inheritance(s); and guardians' bond.
BOND: name of the administrator or executor(s), bondsmen, the deceased; amount and date of bond. CASE FILE: copy of will; inventory of estate; copies of the court order; miscellaneous letters and papers pertaining to the probate action. DOCKET, CALENDAR or INDEX: date of court action; name(s) of executor(s) or administrator(s), and of the deceased; reference to the order book and case files. ORDER BOOK: court order; date of order; name(s) of executor(s) or administrator(s); identification of the estate. WILL: date of will; name of testator; name(s) and relationship(s) of heir(s) (if any); description of property and its deposition; name(s) of executor(s) and witnesses; date of probate |