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Genealogy definitions

  • ABSTRACT -- noun: A short form of a record that keeps only the important genealogical information.
  • ANCESTOR -- noun: A person from whom one is descended. Your grandparents and great-grandparents are your ancestors.
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY -- noun: A list of works or writings on a subject.
  • BOND -- noun: A duty or binding agreement.
  • CENSUS -- noun: An official count of the people in an area. To find out how many people there are, and their age, sex and kind of work they do.
  • CITIZENSHIP -- noun: The position of being a citizen of a country with all the rights, duties, and privileges that come with it.
  • COLLATERAL -- adjective: Relatives such as cousins, aunts, and uncles who are part of the family and come from the same ancestor but coming from a different line. Not in your direct line of descent.
  • DEED -- noun: A record of the transfer of a piece of real property (land or house) from one person to another.
  • DESCENDANT -- noun: A person who comes from a particular ancestor or group of ancestors.
  • DOCUMENT -- noun: An official certificate or other written-down information saying that something is true under law.
  • EMIGRANT -- noun: A person who leaves his own country to live in another.
  • GENERATION -- noun: One step in the line of descent of a family. A grandfather, father, and son make up three generations.
  • GRANTOR -- noun: A person selling property.
  • GRANTEE -- noun: A person buying property.
  • HERALDRY -- noun: The study of coats of arms and family histories.
  • HERITAGE -- noun: Something that is handed down from earlier generations or from the past; tradition.
  • IMMIGRANT -- noun: A person who comes to live in a country in which he or she was not born.
  • LINEAGE -- noun: Direct descent from a particular ancestor; ancestry.
  • LINEAL -- adjective: Belonging to or being in the direct line of descent from an ancestor.
  • MAIDEN NAME -- noun: A woman's last name before she is married.
  • MATERNAL -- adjective: Your mother's family line.
  • PASSPORT -- noun: A document given to a person by the government of his country. It proves that a person is a citizen of a country and gives him official permission to travel to other countries.
  • PATERNAL -- adjective: Your father's family line.
  • PEDIGREE CHART -- noun: A chart showing a person's lineal ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) without the other members of their families.
  • PENSION -- noun: A sum of money or other wages that is paid regularly to someone for past work or past military service.
  • PERIODICAL -- noun: A magazine or journal that is printed at regular times.
  • PROBATE -- adjective: To legally say that a will is right and correct.
  • SOUNDEX -- noun: An index to the 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 census.
  • SURNAME -- noun: A person's last name or family name.
  • VITAL RECORDS -- noun: A record of birth, marriage, or death.
  • WILL -- noun: A legal document that says what a person wants to have done with the things they own when they die.