Happy Saturday Genealogy Fam! National Family History Month is quickly coming to an end and I’m a little sad because I’ve been loving not only creating content for this month, but also getting involved with some of the online events that have been taking place throughout August. The genealogy community is such a wonderful one, and I’m glad to be a small part of it. For this week, I wanted to take it back to basics and look at some genealogical terms that we tend the throw around, but are not necessarily known by everyone. So I’ve rounded up a list of THIRTY terms that are really handy to know and that you can start using when talking about and describing your family history research. circa A lot of the time in genealogy, we aren’t always sure of a birth, death or marriage date, so it will often be written as before a certain date, between two dates, or circa a certain date (i.e. circa 1950). Also written as c., this is honestly just a fancy way of writing approximately in the context of dates. collateral line To be honest, this was a term I only learned this year, but it’s such a handy one to know. Where your direct line is those who we are directly connected to through parent/children relationships, your collateral line is the line is descent of people whom share a common ancestor, but are connected through aunt/uncle/cousin/nephews. It’s really important to research your collateral ancestors because they can shed light on your direct ancestors and fill in blanks that you’ve had trouble finding answers to. common ancestor This is the person through whom two or more people claim descendant or lineage. For example, you and your second cousin share a common ancestor in your great grandmother. We use a common ancestor when we are trying to figure out how we are related to someone in our family tree, usually using an ancestral relationship chart to help us. descendant Where ascendants and ancestors are who come before, descendants are the people who come after a given person in the family, like children, grandchildren, etc. So while your grandmother is your ancestor, you are her descendant! deed A document transferring ownership and title of property. These records are super interesting to delve into when it comes to tracing the chain of ownership of your ancestor’s land. direct line This is typically the line that we tend to focus our research on, as it is the line of descent of people who are directly connected to us through parent/child relationships. emancipated While most commonly used to describe someone who was freed from slavery, it can also refer to someone who has been freed from their parent’s control, or someone of legal age. emigration vs immigration I remember learning the difference between these two words back in high school, but to this day I’m still not certain of which is the correct word to use in certain situations. Emigration is to depart from one’s home country to live in another country, while immigration is the process of moving into a new country to live. family group record This chart is probably how most people will record, display, print and share their family history, other than a straight up family tree. It is a form that presents the genealogical information of a nuclear family, including: birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial dates and locations; religion; occupation; any other marriages; the parents of each spouse; and a list of children and their birth, marriage and death dates, and any spouses names. freedman vs freeman These two terms can get so easily confused, so it’s important to get on top of their differences. A freedman is a man released from slavery or their convict status – an emancipated person to use the previously mentioned term. Whereas as freeman is a man of legal age with the right to vote, own land and participate in trade gedcom You’ve probably heard this term before but didn’t really know what it meant. An acronym for GEnealogy Data COMmunications, GEDCOM is the standard file type used to store genealogical information. If you’re transferring your tree between genealogy websites and/or programs, it will be in the form of a GEDCOM file. heir While probably not a term you’re throwing around all the time, unless maybe you’re talking about the Royal family or a Legacy Challenge in The Sims, it’s a really handy way to describe people during your research. The heir is the person, by the rules of law, who is the successor to an estate upon the death of an ancestor. index Record indexes are some of the most comment things we come across during our research. The index is an alphabetical list of names, and sometimes other information too, that was taken from a particular set of records. issue While probably not used often, issue is another way to describe the children or offspring of a person. So you are an issue of your parents. maiden name This is a woman’s last name prior to marriage. It’s important to remember to search for your female ancestor’s by their maiden names as well as their married names! maternal vs paternal Maternal is in relation to your mother, while paternal is in relation to your father. Using both terms is a great way to easily differentiate between, for example, your maternal and paternal grandparents. naturalization For those in our family tree who immigrated, most will no doubt have been naturalized, which is the legal process in which a non-citizen of a country becomes a citizen of that country. nee This is used to denote a woman’s maiden name, e.g. Mary Gosper nee Hipwell. parish A term you will probably come across more with UK research, a parish is an ecclesiastical division or jurisdiction, usually connected to the site of a church. pedigree chart This is the other super common chart used to display your family history. This chart shows the ancestor’s of a selected individual. primary source vs secondary source It is super important that our research as family historians covers both primary AND secondary sources. Primary sources are the original or first-hand record created at the time of the event, like BDM records, census records, war files, land records, and diaries etc. Secondary sources are ones that are created a significant amount of time after an event has occurred, like biographies, encyclopaedias, general histories, and documentaries etc. probate & probate records A probate is a legal process used to determine the validity of a will before the court can authorise the distribution of an estate. The probate records are the documents recording the disposition of a deceased individual’s property, which can include a person’s last will and testament. sic You’ve probably seen this pop up in the middle of quotes, but maybe haven’t really known what it means. Written as sic, it is a term that signifies that the quote reads exactly as the original, possibly including mistakes that appeared in the original copy. transcript If we’re not working with the original documents, it’s the transcripts that we will be mulling over and extracting every single little detail from. Also known as an extract, these can be a handwritten or typed version of the original. A good extract is one that is rendered exactly as the original – spelling, punctuation, abbreviations, mistakes and all. Extracts aren’t the only transcripts in genealogy. There are also oral history transcripts that allow you to make accessing oral history interviews a lot easier. vital records These are the records that are going to be your starting point for each person in your family tree – birth, marriage and death information. Once you have any or all of this information, you will be in a much better position to delve into other records. These records can be in the form of the actual certificates and indexes, or even in the form of announcements in newspapers. There are obviously SO many more terms out there that are really great to know, but I think this list is a pretty great starting point. Let me know in the comments some of the terms you really like knowing and using, and maybe by National Family History Month next year I’ll have a whole new list to be able to share!
I’d love to know what you’ve been up to during August in celebration of NFHM – aside from writing all these blog posts and posting on my Uncovering Family History socials, I’ve attended a few online events, which included:
I definitely recommend getting on Eventbrite and searching for family history events because there are So many of them, and a lot are free online events. There’s just one more post left for National Family History Month (if I manage to get it written while busy with one of the most hectic times of year for me, so fingers crossed), and then it’s back to regularly scheduled content with genealogy sprinkled in! Happy Researching! Victoria :) |
Categories
All
Affiliates
See DISCLAIMER.
|