Dear Gloria, UXOR is Latin for "Wife" - not Exum. Many early legal documents contain the abbreviation, such as "John Smith et ux." meaning John Smith and wife; i.e., et (Latin for "and') and "ux." (abbreviation for Uxor, meaning wife). I have an Exum family (surname) out of 1600's Isle of Wight Co., VA, and my 6th Great Grandfather was Exum Whitley, b. 1784, Edgecombe Co., NC. His given name was Exum, which was a surname. BTW, I'm also familiar with Exum LEWIS of early Edgecombe Co., NC. If the estate record you found in NC actually contained the name Barbara EXUM, I think you'd better start researching the Exum family for your Barbara. Francie -----Original Message----- From: williams-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:williams-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of gloriamlh@juno.com Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 10:21 AM To: williams@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WILLIAMS] WILLIAMS Digest, Vol 2, Issue 115 EXUM means WIFE/Spouse...I found it in a settling of an estate in NC and someone had posted it as my ancestress's maiden name....when I read the original doc I saw it was all caps so looked it up and after a week or so finally found it...I was a way newbie then of course and did not even know there were gen term lists on line.... ;) gloria ================================ And dont think i dont feel, I had a devil of a time researching Barbara EXUM for the longest time til someone recommended a beginners course...(and did i feel stupid!!!) > gloria