Meet the Boddie's

ABSTRACT – Summary of important points of a given text, especially deeds and wills.

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.

Ancestry – 1. Descent or lineage. 2. Ancestors collectively.

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.

Aunt – 1. The sister of one’s father or mother. 2. The wife’ of one’s uncle.

BANNS – Public announcement of intended marriage.

BENEFICIARY – One who receives benefit of trust or property.

BEQUETH – 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 an allocated 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 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 – 1865.

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, government and 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.

DECLARATIONS OF INTENTION – First paper, sworn to and filed in court, by an alien stating that he wants to become 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 oral testimony of a witness.

Descendancy – A person’s offspring, children, grandchildren and succeeding generations.Descendant – Offspring of a person, even into remote generations.

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.

Enumeration – Listing or counting, such as a census.

Estate – All property and debts belonging to a person.

Executor – One appointed in a will to carry out the provisions.

Genealogy – 1. A record or table of ancestry. 2. Direct descent from an ancestor. 3. The study of ancestry.

Given name – name given to a person at birth or baptism; one’s first and middle name.

Grantee – One’s who buys property or receives a grant.

Grantor – One who sells property or makes a grant.

Great Aunt – 1. The sister of one’s grandparents. 2. The spouse of one’s great uncle.

Great Uncle – 1. The brother of one’s grandparents. 2. The spouse of one’s great aunt.

Heir – One entitled by law or by terms of a will to inherit property from another

.Illegitimate – Born to a mother who was not married to the child’s father.

Indentured servant – One bound into service of another person for a specified number of years, often in return for transportation to this country.

Intestate – One who dies without a will; One dying without a will.

Issue – Offspring; children; descendants

Late – Recently deceased; now deceased.

Legacy – Property or money left to someone in a will.

Legatee – One who inherits money or property through a will.

Lineage – Ancestry; direct descent from a specified ancestor.

Maiden name – A girl’s surname before marriage.

Maternal – Related through one’s mother. Maternal grandmother is the mother’s mother.

Microfiche – A sheet of microfilm containing rows of pages in reduced form.

Microfilm – 1. A film on which documents are photographed greatly reduced in size. 2. A reproduction on microfilm.

Mortality – Death; death rate.

Namesake – Person named after another person.

Patent – Grant of land from a government to an individual.

Paternal – Related through one’s father. Paternal grandmother is the father’s mother.

Pedigree – Family tree; ancestry; lineage.

Pension – money paid regularly to an individual, esp. by a government as reword for military service during wartime or upon retirement from government service.

Pensioner – One who receives a pension.

Poll – List or record of persons, esp for taxing or voting; one head or taxable person.

Probate– legal process of determining that a will is valid before authorizing distribution of the estate, appointing someone to administer an intestate estate, and overseeing the settlements of estates.

Progenitor - 1. A direct ancestor. 2. An originator of a line of descent.

Relict – Widow.

Sic – Latin. Thus, copied exactly as the original reads.

Surname – One’s last name.

Territory – Area of land owned by the United States, not a state, but having its own legislature and governor,

Testator – Person who makes a valid will before death.

Tithable – taxable; a person who owes tax to a specified jurisdiction.

Uncle – 1. The brother of one’s father or mother. 2. The husband of one’s aunt.

Vital records – Records of birth, death, marriage, divorce.

Warranty deed – Deed in which the settler of the property guarantees a clear title to the buyer.

Will – A legal declaration of how a person wishes one’s possessions to be disposed of after one’s death.