How can knowing genealogy terms add
value to my family tree?
Knowing your
genealogy terms is an essential step when
interpreting documents. You can add value to your
genealogy by correctly placing and recording your
genealogy data. Knowing genealogy terms can help
to link persons to the right generation, parents,
spouse or children. Understanding the language can
help to break down your "brick walls."
Many
of us might be wasting time looking for important
documents or information about our family simply
because we don't know how to interpret the
information we have already found. Below is a list
of common genealogy terms used. There are many
other resources you can look to when interpreting
documents, such as dictionaries and genealogical
reference books.
Abstract: Summary
of essential facts in a document or
record.
Ahnentafel: List of ancestors in
numerical order
Ancestor: person from
whom you are descended in a direct
line
Ascendant:
Ancestor
Biography: The history of a
person's life
Burial record: A formal
account normally kept by a church of burials that
occurred in their congregation.
Census
record: A government sponsored enumeration of
the population in a particular area; contains
names of household members, their ages,
citizenship status, and ethnic background
etc.
Collateral ancestor: Descended from
the same ancestral stock but not in the direct
line
Collateral families: families with
whom your ancestors intermarried and
moved.
Descendant: A person who is an
offspring, however remote, of a certain ancestor
or family
Emigration: The process of
leaving one's home country to live in another
country
Family group report: A form
which contains dates and places of birth, marriage
and death about family members - a husband, a
wife, and their children.
GEDCOM: file
format supported by most genealogy database
programs for the exchange of genealogy information
between different programs and
computers
Genealogy: an account of the
history of an individual's ancestors or the
descendants of a family
Lineage: Direct
descent from an ancestor
Maternal:
Related through one's mother.
Paternal
ancestors: Ancestors of one's
father
Pedigree chart: report showing an
individual along with parents, grandparents, great
grandparents, etc. for a specified number of
generations.
Primary source: Record
created at the time of, or shortly after, an event
by someone with personal knowledge of the facts,
or the testimony of a person involved in the
event
Secondary source: Material copied
or compiled from other sources or written at a
later date from memory
Surname: last
name
Vital records: Records of birth,
death, marriage, divorce
