Hi Everybody, I thought I would go over a few of the terms and abbreviations you are going to run in to in your quest for your ancestors. Most of them are common and just common sense but may be confusing to newbies. These are the links I used to get this information. They also have links there for Colonial diseases and Colonial Occupations. I hope this helps someone out there :-)). <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/7116/terms.html">Genealog y terms</A> http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/7116/terms.html <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/7116/abbr.html">Genealogy Abbreviations</A> http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/7116/abbr.html ANCESTORS - person from whom you are descended in a direct line CENSUS - official listing or counting of persons; the Federal Census has been taken every 10 years since 1790; there also are state censuses in some states which may have been taken every 5 to 10 years CENSUS INDEX - alphabetical listing of names enumerated in a census CIRCA - about or approximately, usually used in front of a date or year CODICIL - a supplement to a will COLLATERAL - relatives descended from the same ancestors, but in a different line (aunts, uncles, cousins - those not in your direct line) COUSIN - [1] a child of one's aunt or uncle; also called first cousin; [2] a relative descended from a common ancestor, such as a grandparent, by two or more steps in a diverging line; [3] a relative by blood or marriage; a kinsman or kinswoman; [4] a member of a kindred group or country DESCENDANT - one whose ancestry can be traced to a particular individual DESCENDANT CHART - graphic document that shows descendants of a source couple for a specified number of generations DIRECT LINE - descent from an ancestor through succeeding children EMIGRANT - one who leaves one country or region to settle in another ENUMERATION - the process by which persons are counted for purposes of a census ESTATE - the whole of one's possessions; especially all the property left by a deceased person FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY (FHL) - of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) located in Salt Lake City has the world's largest collection of genealogical information FAMILY HISTORY CENTER (FHC) - located in many towns throughout the United States, these are local research centers where one may access the information of FHL through the use of microfilm, microfiche and computers GEDCOM - acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication; file format supported by most genealogy database programs for the exchange of genealogy information between different programs and computers IMMIGRANT - one who settles in a country having emigrated from another OBITUARY - published notice of a death, sometimes with a brief biography of the deceased PASSENGER LISTS - names and information of passengers who arrived by ship, often including their age, sex, occupation, place of origin PEDIGREE - a list of ancestors; a lineage PEDIGREE CHART - graphic document that begins with one person and moves backward in time, showing the parents of each person in the tree PRIMARY RECORD - a record created at the time of the event (birth, marriage, death, etc.) as opposed to records written years later PROVED - documents such as wills, deeds, bills of sale, etc., having their accuracy and honesty atteted to through legal proceedings in a court of law REGISTRAR - an official who registers/records events such as land transactions, probates, births, deaths, etc. SIBLING - a brother or sister SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX - an index of records containing names of deceased Social Security recipients whose relatives applied for Social Security Death Benefits after their passing which includes the individual's name and Soundex code, birth date, death date, Social Security number and state where it was issued SOUNDEX - a card index system prepared by the Works Progress Administration for the federal censuses; names are arranged by letter and number codes according to the sounds of their consonants; thus, even if a name is misspelled or spelled in an unexpected way, it can often be located in the Soundex index SPOUSE - a husband or wife SURNAME - the last or family name that a person bears in common with others in his/her family VITAL RECORDS - civil records of birth, marriage and death WILL - the legal document containing the statement of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property after death ****************************************************************************** GENEALOGY ABBREVIATIONS ab. - about; abbr. - abbreviation a.k.a. - also known as bef.- before bur. - buried c. - cousin; ca. - circa cem. - cemetery cen. or cens. - census cert. - certificate ch. - child; children; d. - died; div. - divorced; d/o - daughter of FGRA - Family Group Record FGS - Family Group Sheets FHC - Family History Center FHL - Family History Library gch. - grandchildren GEDCOM - GEnealogical Data COMmunication gm. - grandmother gp. - grandparents grf. - grandfather g.s. - grave stone gt. gr. - great grand IGI - International Genealogical Index info. - information m. - month; male; mother; married; marriage m/1, m/2 - married first, married second, etc neph. - nephew obit. - obituary orig. - origin; original q.y. - query rel. - relative s. - son SASE - self-addressed stamped envelope sis. - sister s/o - son of tn. - town; township unc. - uncle unk. - unknown unm. - unmarried vols. -volumes v.r. - vital records vs. - versus w. - wife; wf/o - wife of Keep in mind these are not all you will run in to and some will have a different meaninig from the stated one here. These are just some of what I use.