- abt
- About. Used to indicate an approximate or unsure date, such as “abt 15 Jun 1776”. May also be used to indicate a partial date, such as “about June 1799”.
- adm
- Administration or Administrator.
- admin
- See: adm
- AFN
- Ancestral File Number. The AFN identifies a person described in the Ancestral File system maintained by the LDS.
- aft
- after — used to indicate a date "after" a specific date. i.e., aft 1776
- aka
- also known as — alias or another name the person used.
- b
- born — used to indicate when and/or where a person was born.
- B
- Black — indicates race. The person’s ancestors came from Africa.
- bapt.
- baptism, baptized.
- bef
- before — used to indicate a date "before" a specific date. i.e., bef 1776
- bet
- between — used to indicate a date between a starting and ending period. i.e., bet 1776 and 1777
- bp.
- See bapt.
- bpt.
- See bapt.
- bro
- brother.
- brd
- boarder — someone who rents a room from the household.
- bu.
- See buried.
- bur
- buried — used to indicate when and/or where a person was buried.
- c
- circa — used to indicate an approximate or unsure date or period. See Also: abt.
- ca
- circa — See Also: c or abt.
- cem.
- cemetery.
- cert.
- certificate — as in birth certificate, death certificate or any other officially certified document.
- ch
- child, children.
- chr.
- christened. See bapt.
- d
- died — used to indicate when and/or where a person died. The location may not be where the person was living when he or she died.
- dau.
- daughter.
- dec.
- deceased.
- dil or D-I-L
- daughter-in-law.
- div
- divorced.
- dt
- daughter.
- dv
- divorced.
- d/o
- daughter of.
- exec
- executor.
- exor
- executor.
- exox
- executrix.
- fam.
- family.
- fil or F-I-L
- father-in-law.
- FGS
- Family Group Sheet
- frm.
- from — used in dates.
- gd g
- randdaughter.
- gdn
- guardian.
- gs
- grandson.
- h
- husband.
- hh
- hired hand — usually a laborer who is not related to anyone in the household; seen in the census.
- hon
- honorable
- husb
- husband
- h/o
- husband of
- IDC
- Immigrant Descent Code — refers to the practice of assigning a code indicator to the immigrant ancestor and adding a number to indicate the number of generations from the immigrant. For example, three brothers (John, Joseph, and Samuel) immigrated; each would be assigned a separate code… say JN (John), JS (Joseph), and S (Samuel). Therefore, John would be JN1, Joseph would be JS1, and Samuel would be S1. All of their descendants would then be assigned an IDC based on the immigrant ancestor’s code. John’s children would be JN2, Joseph’s children would be JS2, and Samuel’s children would be S2. While this system doesn’t identify individuals within a generation it is used by some organizations. These systems usually only code the male line.
- IDN
- Immigrant Descent Number — refers to the practice of adding a number to the name of each person in a descent from the immigrant ancestor. For example, if John was the immigrant his IDN would be John-1. His son Samuel would be Samuel-2. John’s grandson, Edward, would be Edward-3 where the number indicates the number of generations from the immigrant ancestor. Now, ancestors of the immigrant also have an IDN but use letters instead; for example, John’s father Jacob would be Jacob-A and his grandfather Joseph would be Joseph-B, etc. The benefit of this system is that a person’s lineage can be clearly shown (e.g., John-1, Samuel-2, Edward-3, Susan-4). These systems usually only code individuals with the same surname.
- inhab
- inhabitant, inhabited.
- inst
- instant (this month).
- lic
- license.
- ltd
- limited.
- m
- married — used to indicate when, where and/or to whom the person married.
- mbr
- member
- md
- married.
- mil or M-I-L
- mother-in-law — as seen in the census. Could also indicate military service, depends on context.
- MH
- meeting house — a Quaker term.
- mo
- month.
- N. S.
- New Style calendar — Gregorian Calendar
- ob.
- obit, deceased.
- obit.
- obituary.
- O. S.
- Old Style calendar — Julian Calendar.
- p
- partner — as seen in census.
- QM
- quarterly meeting — a Quaker term.
- rec
- received.
- rec’d
- received.
- rem
- removed.
- s
- son.
- sil or S-I-L
- son-in-law
- ss
- step-son
- SSDI
- Social Security Death Index — the index of people who died with an active claim of the US Social Security System.
- s/o
- son of
- UCN
- Unique Code Number.
- w
- wife
- w/o
- wife of
- YM
- yearly meeting — a Quaker term.
SSN Social Security Number — a public pension system in the United States.