Ancestry's Concise Genealogical Dictionary

By Maurine Harris and Glen Harris

Book Overview

Is your research time wasted looking up words like "beamster," "grimgribber," "anascara," and "wainbote" in regular dictionaries? Ever heard of a "gossip's wheel" or a "shank's mare"? These and other unusual terms are defined in Ancestry's Concise Genealogical Dictionary. You will find this book a useful and entertaining reference. The authors spent years collecting, researching, and verifying definitions of terms they discovered while researching cemetery, probate, court, medical, and other records. The mystery of terms and abbreviations that many researchers face has been solved with this essential, quick-reference source geared to the needs of the genealogist. Now you can have at your fingertips accurate and easy-to-find definitions for troublesome or unfamiliar words encountered in the research process. With thousands of concise definitions, all arranged alphabetically, this dictionary is an essential for any genealogist's home, office, or briefcase.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 091648906X
• ISBN13: 9780916489069
• Release Date: December 1989
• Publisher: Ancestry.com
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A handy guide to genealogical terminology

This little gem is an A to Z dictionary containing brief definitions of thousands of words which family historians may encounter.What's cornage?What did a furner do for work?What was kept in a neatry?Who worked with St. Hugh's bones?The answers can all be found in the Concise Genealogical Dictionary.This dictionary will be particularly helpful to family historians confronted with estate inventories which have archaic terms for household goods or farm implements, for translating obscure causes of death, or for determining occupations based on slang or colloquial expressions.It's a handy little volume to have about.