Part II: Terminology & Abbreviations

Besides knowing legal terminology, there are other terms that would be helpful to know when you are researching your family tree.  People living hundreds of years ago spoke and wrote with wildly different words than the general population of today.  Depending on how far back you have traced your ancestry, some of those words, most of us have probably never even heard of.  They may use antiquated words or archaic expressions that are no longer in use today.  Let's take occupations for example: we have heard of such occupations as lawyer, farmer, blacksmith, tailor, carpenter, surveyor and doctor.  Other occupations aren't so easy to figure out.  We can pretty much guess what a druggist, tanner, wigmaker or a tobacconist was, but do you know what people in the following occupations did?:

hostler, cooper, brickbearer, dowser, sawyer,
drover, yeoman, ditcher, carder, webster, drayman,
chandler, grubber, daguerreotypist, limeburner,
forgeman, nailer, chiffonier, ginner, tinker, spinner,
winder, cordwainer, milliner, apothecary

- If you find yourself in need of a definition of a legal term, rather than spending a ton on the most recent version of Black's Law Dictionary,
check out the one on google books.  It's free, searchable & downloadable.
Yes, it was published in 1910, but when you're looking up a term from an 1880 deed, you don't really need the 2009 edition.
- If you're interested in learning more about what kinds of jobs were around in different eras of history,
there is a good series playing on the Discovery Channel called "The Worst Jobs in History".
It's educational and quite humorous.
- If you're interested in learning some archaic words, try "Forgotten English" by Jeffrey Kacirk

Below is a list of some of the abbreviations you may come across in your research.  It is by no means a complete list.
If you know of more that you would like to be included on one of these lists, feel free to contact me so I can add them.

Abbreviations of Terms:

a (land) - acres
ackn - acknowledged
adminr - administrator (male)/administratrix (female)
afsd - aforesaid
approx. - approximately
atty - attorney
br (land/waterway) - branch
co - county
cr (land/waterway) - creek
dau(s) - daughter(s)
dau/o - daughter of
d.b.n. - de bonis non
dec'd or decd - deceased
dep - deputy
e (land) - east
esqr - Esquire (Lawyer)
exec or execr- executor/executrix
f - female
ft - feet
gent - gentleman/gentlemen
Junr or Jr - Junior
m - male
mi (land) - miles
n (land) - north
prob - probated
pt/o - part of
purch - purchased
rd - road
s (land) - south
s/o - son of
sd - said
Senr or Sr - Senior
tr - tract
twp - township
unk - unknown
uxor - wife
w (land) - west
w/o - wife of
wit(s) - witness(s)

Abbreviations of Names:
Abm, Abra. or Abrm - Abraham
Alx^r - Alexander
And or And^w - Andrew
Benj. or Benj^a - Benjamin
Cha^s or Chs - Charles
Chris^r or Xpher - Christopher
Cor^s - Cornelius
Dan^l - Daniel
Edw^d or Ed. - Edward
Eliz. or Eliz^th - Elizabeth
Eph or Eph^m - Ephraim
Ez. or Ezk^l - Ezekiel
Gab^l - Gabriel
Geo - George
Hen or Hen^y - Henry
Jas or Ja^s - James
Jer., Jere^h or Jer^h - Jeremiah
Jno - John
Jon^a - Jonathan
Jos. - Joseph
Josh. - Joshua
Jos^h - Josiah
Marg. - Margaret
Math^s - Matthias
Matt^w or Matth^w - Matthew
Mich or Mich^l - Michael
Nath^l or Nathan^l - Nathaniel
Nicho, Nich or Nicols - Nicholas
Rich or Rich^d - Richard
Rob^t - Robert
Sam^l - Samuel
Sar. - Sarah
Solo - Solomon
Stephⁿ or Stepⁿ - Stephen
Theo. - Theodore
Th^o, Th^s or Tho^s - Thomas
Wm or Will^m- William
Zacha or Zach - Zachariah