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Glossary of Genealogical Terms
• Ancestors: a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.
• Ancestral: of, belonging to, inherited from, or denoting an ancestor or ancestors.
• Ancestry: one's family or ethnic descent.
• Ancient: belonging to the very distant past and no longer in existence.
• Archives: a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.
• Attest: the status of being born to parents who were not married
• BarSinister: To affirm; to certify by signature or oath.
• Bequeath: To give personal property to a person in a will.
• Biographer: someone who writes an account of a person's life
• Biography: The history of an person's life
• Census: Official enumeration, listing or counting of citizens.
• Codicil: Addition to a will
• CollateralAncestor: Belong to the same ancestral stock but not in
direct line of descent; opposed to lineal such as aunts, uncles &
cousins.
• Descendants: a person that is descended from a particular ancestor.
• Discovery: the action or process of discovering or being discovered
• Estate: All property and debts belonging to a person.
• FamilyHistory: the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history.
• FamilyRoots: A progenitor or ancestor from which a person or family is descended.
• FamilyTree: a diagram showing the relationships between people in several generations of a family; a genealogical tree.
• Genealogy: a line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor.
• GenealogyRecord: A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
• Grantee: One who buys property or receives a grant
• Grantor: One who sells property or makes a grant.
• Heir: a person who inherits or succeeds to the property of a deceased person legally; any successor to property or money by will or law
• Heritage: property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance.
• Historical: of or concerning history; concerning past events.
• History: the study of past events, particularly in human affairs.
• Illegitimate: Born to a mother who was not married to the child's father
• Intestate: One who dies without a will or dying without a will.
• Investigation: the action of investigating something or someone; formal or systematic examination or research.
• Legacy: property left to someone in a will.
• Lineage: lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.
• Lodge: a chapter or meeting hall of a fraternal organization
• MaidenName: the surname that a married woman used from birth, prior to its being legally changed at marriage.
• Maternal: of or relating to a mother during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth.
• Messuage: a dwelling house
• 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
• Morality: death; death rate
• Mortgage: a conditional transfer of title to real property as security for payment of a debt
• Names: give a name to.
• Namesake: person named after another person
• Necrology: listing or record of persons who have died recently
• Offspring: a person's child or children.
• OralHistory: the collection and study of historical information using sound recordings of interviews with people having personal knowledge of past events.
• Paternal: of or appropriate to a father.
• Progenitor: a person or thing from a person is descended or originates; an ancestor or parent.
• Progeny: a descendant or the descendants of a person; offspring
• Quest: a long or arduous search for something.
• Records: a thing constituting a piece of evidence about the past, esp. an account of an act or occurrence kept in writing or some other permanent form.
• Roots: the basic cause, source, or origin of something.
• Search: try to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly.
• Sib: a person's brother or sister, having one or both parents in common with another; sibling
• Spinster: a woman still unmarried; or one whose occupation is spinning
• Surname: family name; or last name