My friends - My ISP has been having mail server problems today, so I am unsure as to when you will receive this, but I will get into the queue. We are going to close out this week's postings with a continuation of our review of legal terminology used in the 18th and 19th century. We hit on a few of the terms in the first posting, and we will do some more today. As usual, there will be no data posts per se over the weekend, but I hope to drop by with one or two items which may be of interest. -B ============================================================ 18th & 19th Century Legal Terminology (Cont.) de son tort - generally refers to someone who was not named as an executor, but does the work anyway - literally, "of his own twisting". degrees of descent - ownership of land and personal property which is determined by the relationship of the individual to the deceased devisee - one who is named in a will to inherit real property (land) devisor - an individual who gives real property to another by will distrain - the act of seizing something of value in place of rent or other claim dit(pronounced "deet") - often seen in French families as a way of indicating a soubrique or nickname - Samuel dit Sam Jones divorce a mensa et thoro - a legal separation from "bed and board", rather than a full and complete divorce. divorce a vinculo matramonii - a complete and total divorce domicile - indicates the place to which a person intends to return - a broader term than the word "residence". This can be important in cases in which a person dies in another state, away from his/her domicile, relative to where an estate settlement may occur domestic - a category of individuals sometimes used by census takers to denote a sister or other female relative who lived in a household and helped with the housework, although the term could also be used when there was no relationship dowager - a widow who has a dower from a deceased husband doxies - prostitutes - seen more often in colonial documents double-ribbed - a pregnant woman donatio mortis causa - a gift given in preparation for an approaching death eld father - grandfather DVM - a designation for a Minister of the Gospel - literally Verbu Dei Ministerum elected guardian - a guardian chosen by a child who is 14 years old or older, rather than one appointed by the court edom die - on the same day, in the same place entail - originally an English practice, which also occurred in the American colonies up to the 1780's, in which the entire estate was given to the eldest surviving male heir, and then to his eldest son and then to his eldest son, etc. Entails often would create situations where descendants would have to make deeds, perhaps 100 years later, to clear the title and such deeds can be a welath of family information. ~to be continued~ ============================================================