HELPFUL BITS OF INFORMATION



Abbreviations
Thanks to: JaSEn - jsend@hpcisp.com
and: Roland Elliott - RolandElliott@thegrid.net

1C - first cousin (2c, second cousin, etc.)
1R - once removed (2r, twice removed, etc.)
ACW - American Civil War
AFRA - American Family Records Association
AGLL- American Genealogical Lending Library
AGRA - Association of Genealogists and Record Agents (Professional)
APG - Association of Professional Genealogists, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange - type of file on a computer that is usually readable / writeable by most word processors
AIS - Accelerated Indexing System
b - born
bap or bapt - baptized
BBS - Bulletin Board System Phone dial up connection for PC's.
BK - Brother's Keeper, a genealogy program
BMD - Births, Marriages and Deaths
BMP - Bit Mapped Picture - file format of a computer disk file
Bp - Bishop
bur - buried
C18 - Eighteenth century (etc.)
ca - circa, about, (as in ca. 1840.)
CANINDEX - Index of emigrants from British Isles to Canada and Newfoundland
CC - County Court (USA)
CD - Compact Disk - An optical disk used with some PC's to store lots of data
CFI - Computer File Index (precursor of IGI)
chr - Christened
CW - Civil War
d - died
DAR - Daughters of the American Revolution
DC - District Court
DOCS - Documents / Documentations
div - divorced
d.s.p. - died without issue (from Latin: decessit sine prole)
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FFV - First Families of Virginia
FGRA - Family Group Record Archives
FGS - ancestral charts or "Family Group Sheets"
FHC - Family History Center (LDS satellite centers)
FHL - Family History Library (LDS main library in Utah)
FHLC - Family History Library Catalog
FOIA - Freedom of Information Act
FTM - Family Tree Maker, a genealogy program from Banner Blue Software
FTP - File Transfer Protocol (networking, technical)
GEDCOM - GEnealogical Data COMmunications
GIF - A format to hold images on a computer disk file
GIM - Genealogical Information Manager
GOONS - Guild Of One Name Studies
IGI - International Genealogical Index
IOOF - Independent Order of Odd Fellows
ISO - In Search Of
LDS - Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
LOCIS - Library of Congress Information System
NARA - National Archives and Records Administration
NATF - National Archives Trust Fund
NEHGS - New England Historical Genealogy Society
NGC - National Genealogical Conference
NGS - National Geographical Society
PAF - Personal Ancestry File, genealogy program of the Mormon Church (LDS)
ROOTS-L - a mailing list of subscribers who are interested in genealogy
RW - Revolutionary War
SAR - Sons of the American Revolution
SASE - Self Addressed, Stamped Envelope
SOUNDEX - A method of translating a name to a one letter code followed by three numerical digits. The aim of the translation is to render all names which sound alike (or sufficiently similar) to the same code.
TMS - Tiny Tafels Software genealogy program also Tafel Matching System
WW1 - World War One
WW2 - World War Two

Thanks to Karen Marks for these additions
adm. = admitted
ae., aet. = aged
aft. = after
als. = alias
ante before; by
app. or appt. = apparently
b. = born
bap., bapt., bp. = baptized
bef. = before
betw. = between
bur. = buried
ca. = about (circa)
Cal. = Calendar
cf. = compare
cit. = the work cited (citato)
Co. or co., Cty. = county
coh. = co-heir
Coll. = College
cr. = created (as a peer)
d. = died
d.c.e. = writ of diem clausit extremum ("he closed his last day")
d.s.p. = died without issue (sine prole)
d.s.p. = legit. died without legitimate issue
d.s.p.m. = died without male issue
d.v.p. or v.p. = died during father's lifetime (vita patris)
d.y. = died young
dau. = daughter
dea. = deacon
disp. = dispensation
div. = divorced
dtd. = dated
ff. = following
fl. = flourished or living (only approximate date known)
frm. = freeman, a voter in a colony. The date following is the date he was admitted.
gen(s) = generation(s)
gent. = gentleman
gr. = granted
GS = gravestone
h. = heir (or heiress)
husb. = husband
i. = issue
Innupt = unmarried
I.p.m.; Inq.p.m. = Inquest Post Mortem. An inquest held to determine the deceased's land holding. Usually dated by "regnal year"; see below.
Ibid. = the same
J.P. = Justice of the Peace
j.u. = jure uxoris, right of the wife
k. = killed
K.B. = Kight of the Bath
K.G. = Knight of the Garter
K.T. = Knight of the Thistle (Scotland)
knt.; kt. = knight
lic. = license
liv. = living
loc. cit. = place cited
m. = married
m. (1); m. (2) married first; married second; etc.
M.I. = monumental inscription
M.P. = Member of Parliament
matric. = matriculated (entered and recorded at college or university)
ment. = mentioned
Mich. = Michaelmas, the Feast of St. Michael (many other dates are given as Saints feast days, or days before or days after.
ms.; mss. = manuscript; manuscripts
N., N.N. = name not known
n.i. = no issue
N.S. or n.s. = new series
nr. = near
ob. = died
ob. Innupt = died unmarried
ob. coelebs or o.c. = died a bachelor
occ. = occurs
op.cit. = the work cited above (opere citato)
o.s.p. = died with out issue, obiit sine prole (died without issue)
p.; pp. = page; pages
P.C. = Privy Council
PCC = Prerogative Court of Canterbury (probate court)
perh. = perhaps
pres. = presumed
pro. = probated or proved (will)
prob. = probably
psh. = parish
pub. = published
purch. = purchased
q.v. = quod vide, which see
ref(s) = reference(s)
regnal year the date most often used in medieval documents refering to the number of the year of the reign of the monarch at the time the document was dated. example; 3 Hen 4 or 3 Hen IV-Third year of the reign of Henry IV
Rot. = Roll; Rolls (rotalus). A term used for many types of old records.
s. = son
s.p. = without issue (see d.s.p.)
sh. = shortly
suc. = succeeded
succ. = successively
summ. = summoned
sou juris = in his (or her) own right
surv. = survived
ult. = ultimo (last)
unkn. = unknown
unm. = unmarried
vol. = volume
wid. = widow
x4 = christened
y. = young
yr. = younger
yr(s) = year(s)
yst. = youngest

List of Epidemics through Time

Thanks to Patricia L. Hall
Proud Sponsor+50 RootsWeb
phhgene@aol.com

Note: * means the epidemic was spread over more than one year.
WW means World Wide

Year Ailment Place Other info
1350 Bubonic plague WW *
1499 Bubonic plague UK London -
1507 "Fever" UK * 1507-51
1551 Influenza UK -
1555 Famine UK Rains brought famine & weakness
1556 Bubonic plague UK * 1556-63 Extreme
1578 Bubonic plague UK -
1586 Bubonic plague UK * Chesterfield. Harvest failed
1591 Acute distress UK -
1593 Bubonic plague UK -
1596 Famine UK * Harvests failed & epidemics
1603 Bubonic plague UK -
1612 Bubonic plague UK -
1617 Smallpox US * Native Americans
1623 Bad years UK * 2 years
1625 Bubonic plague UK -
1626 Bubonic plague UK -
1630 Very bad year UK Many died
1631 Bubonic plague UK -
1633 Smallpox US * Native Americans
1636 Bubonic plague UK -
1637 Bubonic plague UK -
1647 Yellow Fever West Indies -
1648 Smallpox US -
1648 Whooping cough US -
1654 Bubonic plague UK -
1657 Measles US-Boston -
1662 Smallpox US-NY -
1665 Bubonic plague UK * Extreme
1668 Yellow Fever US-NY -
1677 Smallpox US-Boston *
1687 Measles US-Boston -
1690 Yellow Fever US-NY -
1699 Yellow Fever US-SC -
1702 Yellow Fever US-NY *
1702 Scarlet Fever US-Boston -
1706 Yellow Fever US-SC -
1713 Measles US-Boston -
1721 Smallpox US-Boston -
1723 Influenza WW -
1723 Famine UK * 7 years poor harvests & epidemics
1728 Yellow Fever US-SC -
1729 Measles US-Boston -
1732 Yellow Fever US-SC -
1732 Influenza WW *
1735 Diphtheria/scarlet fever US * 4 yrs - New England
1738 Smallpox US-SC -
1739 Measles US-Boston *
1743 Yellow Fever US-NY *
1747 Measles US-CT, NY, PA, SC -
1759 Measles North America -
1761 Influenza US & West Indies -
1763 Smallpox US-Boston *
1772 Measles US -
1775 Influenza WW *
1783 Bilious disorder US Fatal
1788 Measles US-PA, NY -
1789 Influenza US -
1792 Yellow Fever US * 7 yrs
1793 Unknown US-PA -
1793 Influenza US-VT, VA -
1802 Smallpox US-NE -
1803 Yellow Fever US-NY -
1820 "Fever" US *
1826 Cholera WW * 1826-37
1826 Dengue Fever US and West Indies *
1829 Malaria US *
1831 Cholera UK, US-OH, NY * Started WW 1826
1832 Influenza US -
1837 Typhus US-PA -
1837 Smallpox US-Native Americans -
1841 Yellow Fever US -
1847 Measles US-Native Americans -
1847 Yellow Fever US-New Orleans -
1847 Influenza WW *
1848 Cholera WW *
1850 Yellow Fever US -
1850 Influenza US *
1850 Dengue Fever US *
1851 Cholera US-IL -
1852 Yellow Fever US-New Orleans -
1853 Cholera Birmingham? This came from a UK report with the ? -
1855 Yellow Fever US -
1857 Influenza WW *
1860 Smallpox US-PA -
1861 Numerous Epidemics US-Civil war numerous infectious diseases *
1865 Smallpox US *
1865 Cholera US -
1865 Typhus US *
1868 Smallpox US * 7 yrs
1873 Influenza UK, US & Europe *
1873 Cholera US -
1878 Yellow Fever US-New Orleans -
1885 Typhoid US-PA -
1886 Yellow Fever US-FL -
1889 Influenza WW *
1893 Polio US 1st known outbreak
1900 Plague US *
1901 Smallpox US *
1907 Polio US * 9 yrs.
1917 Influenza WW * Worst ever
1931 Polio US * 1931 to 1942, 11 yrs


Assignment of Children's Names

This pattern was not always followed exactly, but most usually kept to the pattern for the first three children.