Common Terms Used In Family History
A
place for storing documents.
The "Publication of the Banns" is the public announcement by a Church minister during a church service that
two people are to marry and invites the congregation to state any unlawful reason why they
should not.
Shorthand for Births, Marriages and Deaths. More information about BMD Certificates can be found
here.
Literally a count of the number of people in a particular area. More information on the Census can be
found
here.
List of the names of people included in a Census in alphabetical order.
Officials of the church who have been ordained (trained and authorised) to lead religious services.
Britain is divided into Counties for administrative purposes. This is important for
Family Historians as records are often indexed and available by County. Many Counties have
County Records Offices where copies of certificates and historical documents are available
to view.
Related through a father or mother going back through the generations.
Someone who counts the number of people in a household for a Census. Whilst strictly the name
relates to somoen who counts numbers, in all the Census returns since 1841 other pieces of information
have been colected by them.
A computer file type used by most genealogy database programs and online family tree
databases such as those held by Ancestry.co.uk and GenesReunited. If your Family Tree
program can export the tree in this format (most do) then you will find it easier to
share information with others.
A gegraphical area of the country. Originally designated by the Church as the area which
tithes
would be charged by a particular church, it has now become an area used by local government to charge for some services.
Marriage partner - husband or wife.
An official recording of details. For example
Births, marriages and Deaths,
were recorded in books called registers in alphabetical order and by quarter.
Means to make a copy of.
Birth, Marriages and Deaths were recorded is registers
When tracing your family history you will often find that the transcribed copy is available online and is often free
to search. See
Links.
A tax imposed by the Church used to pay for the clergy and upkeep of the church. Originally a tenth part of a person's paid in the form of crops, animals etc. but later
paid in money.
Institution set up under the Poor Laws in the 1830's where the poor were given shelter and food in exchange for work.
These were mainly very unpleasant places where only the desperate would go.
A woman whose husband has died.
A man whose wife has died.
