Ringgold Roots
Ringgold County Genealogical Society
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County
Vol. IV, Pp. 8-10.
January, 1983

ABSTRACT - summary of important points in documents such as in wills

ABT - about

ADMINISTRATOR - person who is appointed by the court to administer the estate of the deceased

ATTEST - to affirm or to bear witness

BANNS - published notice of intended marriage; frequently tacked on church doors or read three successive Sundays by a minister

BOUNTY - payment by a city or town to volunteers when locality was asked by the government to furnish quota of men to serve during a war

BLWT - Bounty Land Warrant

BUR - buried or burial

C - copyright

c. or ca. - circa, Latin for "about"

CADASTRAL SURVEY - a public land survey recording the location, value and ownership of real estate; used to set taxation amounts

CERTIFIED COPY - an exact copy of any record that has been attested to by a notary public as being correct

cf. - compare

CODICIL - addition to a will which modifies the document in some respect

CONSANGUINITY - blood relationship of some degree. Two classifications:
    1) Agnate - all relationship on parental side of the family
    2) Cognate - all relationship on maternal side of the family

CONSORT - spouse, husband or wife

DECEDENT - deceased person

DENIZEN - an alien admitted to residence in a country who receives all or part of the rights of citizenship

DEPOSITION - written testimony of a witness of which has been authenticated

DEVISEE or LEGATEE - a person to whom property is given through a will

DEVISOR - a person who give property through a will

DOWER - legal right acquired to a husband's real estate by the wife through marriage

Desc. - descendant

DONEE - a person to whom a gift is made

doc - a document

d.s.p. - Latin: decessit sine prole, meaning died without issue

d.v.p. - Latin: decessit vita patris, meaning died in father's lifetime

d.y. - died young

ed. - edited, editor, edition

e.g. - from Lation "exempli gratia" meaning "for example"

emigrant - one who leaves a country to settle in another place

estate - real and personal property

et.ux - Latin for et uxer, meaning "and wife"

f., ff. - following page; following pages

Freeman - one who was given civil or political liberty after taking an oath to a government or a church

Freemen - in tax or other records, unmarried men aged 21 or free of family obligations; so taxed as single men

Friend - member of the Society of Friends; Quaker

Gazeteer - geographical dictionary giving names and descriptions of locations

Grantee - person who receives a grant

Grantor - person who makes a grant

Great Valley Road - principal road starting in southwestern Pennsylvania, running through the Shenandoah Valley to Knoxville, Tennesse, then on to Huntsville, Alabama

Holographic Will - a will made and signed by the testator in his/her own handwriting

h.s. - Latin: here is buried

ibid - Latin for "ifiden," meaning "in the same place"

i.c. - Latin for idest," meaning "that is"

Indenture - an agreement in writing between two or more parties which was then cut or torn in a ragged line, each party receiving one section that could later be matched; frequently used when an apprentice was bound to service, or, when money loans were involved

Inmate - descriptive term used in census records; denoted married persons, usually laborers or mechanics who owned property

Immigrant - one who comes into a new country and settles there

Intestate - died without leaving a will

l., ll. - line; lines

Loc. cit. - Latin for "Loco Citate," meaning "in the place cited"

Liber - book in which public records are kept, such as will, mortgages, etc.

ma., mss. - manuscript; manuscripts

M.G. - Minister of the Gospel

N.B. - Latin for "Nota Bene," meaning "note well"

n.d. - no date

Necrology - register of deaths

nee - name born with; maiden name of a married woman

N.S. - new style (Gregorian) calendar

Nuncupative Will - oral declaration or statement made before a witness, usually in the testator's last illness, the later put into writing

N.X.N. - no Christian name

op. cit - Latin for "loco citate," meaning "in the place cited"

o.s. - old style (Julian) calendar

Obit. - died; obituary

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010