Learn the Lingo - Genealogy

It suddenly occurred to me that a lot of people won't even be familiar with the term genealogy, so...

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of lines of descent. In practice, this usually means starting with recent history and working backwards through time.

A genealogist studies lines of descent - either their own or other people's - to discover information about ancestors and relatives, and produce family trees. It's the stories that really bring it alive though - everyone's life means something, and it's so interesting to find the stories that make up your heritage.

Learn the Lingo - MIs

MI

An MI is, quite simply, a memorial inscription - this is the inscription found on a gravestone or other memorial. Usually, this is referred to as an MI when it has been transcribed or indexed on its own or in a database.

Learn the Lingo - pre-1837

Pre-1837

We genealogists talk a lot about 1837. It only struck me recently how odd this must seem to people unacquainted with genealogy. On the face of it, 1837 seems to be such an odd year to pick.

In reality, there's a reason why genealogists find post-1837 research much easier than pre-1837. 1837 was the year in which civil registration for births, marriages, and deaths was introduced to England and Wales. Pre-1837 is the period before there was such a thing as a birth certificate, and the same for marriages and deaths. This means we have to rely on parish records (the church or chapel registers of what baptisms, marriages, and burials took place in the church) which are often varied in terms of what information is recorded, or even who was baptised/christened. This is also before the first national census in 1841, leaving us with little choice but to get creative with our research if we're going to get any further back. Any records that do exist start getting notoriously vague!

So, pre-1837 is the genealogist's term for the time before modern records, where research can get quite difficult, particularly if your ancestor's lived in an area with poor record-keeping.

Learn the Lingo - Alias

Alias

The term alias is used when an individual used more than one name. Most commonly, this will be found in criminal records - for example 'John Smith alias George Jones was found guilty of...' This is because people in trouble with the law often changed their names to avoid their pasts and evade detection.

The second most common use of an alias is in the case of illegitimacy. Where a child was born outside marriage, they may be known by both their father and their mother's last name, for example 'John Jones alias Evans,' this can also happen in the case of fostering, informal adoption, or remarriage of one of the child's parents. 

There are of course also many individually unique reasons why someone may be known by more than one name.

Learn the Lingo - Black Sheep

Black Sheep

A 'black sheep' ancestor is one with a criminal or otherwise scandalous past. Most family trees have at least one, and they tend to make for some of the most interesting stories. Tracking a black sheep can be difficult as they often have a habit of hiding or changing their names, ages, and other distinguishing features (e.g. where they were from.) With a lot of hard work, their stories can be discovered, and you may find something interesting about your own family's past.

Learn the Lingo - Census

Census

 

Censuses are government surveys taken to gain social statistics such as how many people are living in a particular town, how many children there are an area, how many homes are in a city, etc. etc. The typical timescale is once every ten years; in this country (UK) the censuses of names of UK residents start with 1841, and go right up to 2011; in the USA it is on the decade changeover (so 1900, 1910, etc.) and there are local variations in countries, states, counties, towns, cities, all over the world.

 

The upshot of all this is that censuses, intended for statistical purposes, incidentally provide a huge wealth of information for genealogists - depending on the country and the year, different details were taken, but at the very basic level there is names, ages, occupations, and addresses. They form a fundamental part of family history because they allow people to trace family units, movements, and rough birth details.

Learn the Lingo - BMDs

BMDs -

 

BMDs are the shortened way genealogists refer to births, marriages, and deaths. It's also how these details are often referred to - for example, Joe Bloggs (b. 1900, m. Jane Doe, 23 Feb 1923, d. 1964). Sometimes birth, marriage and death certificates (or certs) are also referred to as BMD certs, or BMD certificates. BMDs are used as the backbone of most family trees to establish dates, time periods, and generations, as well as adding more details to the names of ancestors and family members.

Learn the Lingo

Hi everyone! I've decided to do a new post series ('Learn the Lingo'!) to explain some of the genealogy terminology that I rarely notice is terminology anymore. This will be normal terminology as opposed to things I come up with when I'm in a strange mood (let's face it, we all do it!)

So, today's lingo word is (drumroll here)....
Certs

Certs to a genealogist doesn't mean 'for certain.' It is in fact short for certificate - referring to Birth, Marriage and Death certificates which are used to find information about individual family members.