Genealogy definition and frequently used terms




As you delve through old documents and records to research your family history, you’ll come across plenty of unfamiliar terms, some legal and some just old or seldom used.
Here are Genealogy definition and some of the genealogy terms you’re most likely to find.

Genealogy
The study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members.

Apprentice
A person bound by agreement to serve, usually in a craft or trade, while receiving instruction for a specified period of time.

Appurtenance
A right or privilege received as part of, or attached to, another, e.g.a right of way attached to, or the buildings on, a piece of land.

Archive
Records of an institution, e.g. registers, and deaths, or the place they’re stored.

Banns
A notice of impending marriage published or given in a church in order to enable any objection to be made.

Beneficiary
A person entitled to the benefit of a legal agreement such as a will.

Bequest
The transfer of a gift or legacy by will.

Clan
A group, usually with the same family name, claiming descent from a common ancestor.

Codicil
An addition to a person’s will, either adding to or altering the original intention.

Collateral
Descended from the same ancestor but not in direct line (lineal descendants) of descent, e.g. aunts and cousins.

Consanguinity
A blood relation; descended from a common ancestor.

Conveyance
A document that transfers legal entitlement to a property.

In-low
Related by marriage, e.g. father-in-law, the father of one’s wife.

Dower
That part of a deceased man’s estate to which his widow is entitled during her lifetime.

Emigrant
One who leaves their country to live in another (becoming an immigrant).

Enumerator
A person who initially records the detail for a census.

Estate
The sum of assets and liabilities of a deceased person.

Executor
The person a testator appoints to execute a will.

Family tree
A diagram describing the ancestry of a person or family.

Gazetteer
A geographical dictionary of names and places.

Gedcom
A common file format for swapping genealogical information.

Issue
The children of a parent or couple. Also progeny or offspring.

Julian calendar
The calendar used in England until 1752 (other countries changed earlier), where the new year starts on 25th March.

LDS
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormons.

Lineage
A pedigree. The ancestors from which a person is descended.

Maiden name
The surname of a female prior to marriage.

Maternal
Pertaining to a mother. cf.
Paternal (father)

Non-conformist
A Protestant church that’s not affiliated to the Church of England.

Progenitor
A person from whom another person or a family is descended.

Provenance
A place of origin.

Sans issue
Without children. Also sine prole.

Sic
Used for the avoidance of confusion when quoting exactly an original containing a mistake or typographical error. “Hear (sic) today, gone tomorrow’.

Step-parent
A relationship that is familial but not biological. Also stepsister, stepfather etc.

Testator
A deceased person who has left a will (testate)

Will
The document that describes how a deceased person’s estate is to be divided.

Witness
A person present, who signs a document to confirm its completion.