Howard and all, As to the "cf" in the Tavenner abbreviations that was given the meaning of "same as", Webster's Dictionary gives another meaning to "cf" and that is "carried forward." That makes a lot more sense. If you were looking at a table of values and one column was the same as the previous, "cf" would mean that you were carrying forward the previous value and in that context it would mean the "same as" so I guess the original meaning does hold water. Denny Shirer - drdx@neo.rr.com - North Canton, OH Shirer Family Genealogy - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mysong Muskingum County, OHGenWeb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmuskin/ Howard Swain wrote: > Hi Denny, > > From: "Denny Shirer" <drdx@neo.rr.com> > To: <VALOUDOU-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 8:37 AM > Subject: [VALOUDOU-L] Re: Solving Puzzles > > > When I sent for info from the Tavenner Collection it came with a sheet explaining > > some of the common abbreviations. I didn't see all of them mentioned in this > > thread so will include what they are. > > > > Fq = Fauquier Co. > > Fx = Fairfax Co. > > Lv = Lovettsville > > Wtfd = Waterford > > cf = same as (doesn't make sense but will bow to their wisdom) > > Perhaps Tavenner was using "cf" as it is normally used in encyclopedias > to mean "compare". In encyclopedias the thing mentioned after the "cf" > is usually something similar, but not the same. > > Regards, > Howard