• Abstract - summary of important points of a given text, especially deeds and wills.

• Administration (of estate) - the collection, management and distribution of an estate by proper legal process.

• Administrator (of estate) - person appointed to manage or divide the estate of a deceased person.

• Administratrix - a female administrator.

• Affidavit - a statement in writing, sworn to before proper authority.

• Alien - foreigner.

• Ancestor - a person from whom you are descended; a forefather.

• Ante - Latin prefix meaning before.

• Apprentice - one who is bound by indentures or by legal agreement or by any means to serve another person for a certain time, with a view of learning an art or trade.

• Appurtenance - that which belongs to something else such as a building, orchard, right of way, etc.

• Archives - records of a government, organization, institution; the place where records are stored.

• Attest - to affirm; to certify by signature or oath.

• Banns - public announcement of intended marriage.

• Beneficiary - one who receives benefit of trust or property.

• Bequeath - to give personal property to a person in a will. 

• Bond - written, signed, witnessed agreement requiring payment of a specified amount of money on or before a given date.

• Bounty Land Warrant - a right to obtain land, specific number of acres of unallocated public land, granted for military service.

• Census - official enumeration, listing or counting of citizens.

• Certified Copy - a copy made and attested to by officers having charge of the original and authorized to give copies.

• Chattel - personal property which can include animate as well as inanimate properties.

• Christen - to receive or initiate into the visible church by baptism; to name at baptism; to give a name to.

• Circa - about, near, or approximate - usually referring to a date.

• Codicil - addition to a will.

• Collateral Ancestor - belonging to the same ancestral stock but not in direct line of descent; opposed to lineal such as aunts, uncles & cousins. 

• Common Ancestor - ancestor shared by any two people.

• Consanguinity - blood relationship.

• Consort - usually, a wife whose husband is living.

• Conveyance - see deed.

• Deceased - dead.

• Decedent - a deceased person.

• Declaration of Intention - first paper, sworn to and filed in court, by an alien stating that he wants to become a citizen.

• Deed - a document by which title in real property is transferred from one party to another.

• Deposition - a testifying or testimony taken down in writing under oath of affirmation in reply to interrogatories, before a competent officer to replace the oral testimony of a witness.

• Devise - gift of real property by will.

• Devisee - one to whom real property (land) is given in a will.

• Devisor - one who gives real property in a will.

• District Land Office Plat Book - books or rather maps which show the location of the land patentee.

• District Land Office Tract Book - books which list individual entries by range and township.

• Dower - legal right or share which a wife acquired by marriage in the real estate of her husband, allotted to her after his death for her lifetime.

• Emigrant - one leaving a country and moving to another.

• Enumeration - listing or counting , such as a census.

• Epitaph - an inscription on or at a tomb or grave in memory of the one buried there.

• Escheat - the reversion of property to the state when there are no qualified heirs.

• Estate - all property and debts belonging to a person.

• Et Al - Latin for "and others".

• Et Ux - Latin for "and wife".

• Executor - one appointed in a will to carry out its provisions. 

• Fee - an estate of inheritance in land, being either fee simple or fee tail. An estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.

• Fee Simple - an absolute ownership without restriction.

• Fee Tail - An estate of inheritance limited to lineal descendant heirs of a person to whom it was granted.

• Fraternity - group of men (or women) sharing a common purpose or interest.

• Free Hold - an estate in fee simple, in fee tail, or for life.

• Gazetteer - a geographical dictionary; a book giving names and descriptions of places usually in alphabetical order.

• Gentleman - a man well born.

• Given Name - name given to a person at birth or baptism, one's first and middle names.

• Glebe - land belonging to a parish church.

• Grantee - one who buys property or receives a grant.

• Grantor - one who sells property or makes a grant.

• Guardian - person appointed to care for and manage property of a minor orphan or an adult incompetent of managing his own affairs.

• Heirs - those entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit property from another.

• Holographic Will - one written entirely in the testator's own handwriting.

• Illegitimate - born to a mother who was not married to the child's father.

• Immigrant - one moving into a country from another.

• Indentured Servant - one who bound himself into service of another person for a specified number of years, often in return for transportation to a country.

• Instant - of or pertaining to the current month; abbreviated inst.

• Intestate - one who dies without a will or dying without a will.

• Inventory - an account, catalog or schedule, made by an executor or administrator of all the goods and chattels and sometimes of the real estate of a deceased person.

• Issue - offspring; children; lineal descendants of a common ancestor.

• Late - recently deceased.

• Lease - an agreement which creates a landlord - tenant situation.

• Legacy - property or money left to someone in a will.

• Lien - a claim against property as security for payment of a debt.

• Lineage - ancestry; direct descent from a specific ancestor.

• Lineal - consisting of or being in a direct line of ancestry or descendants; descended in a direct line.

• Lis Pendens - pending court action; usually applies to land title claims.

• Lodge - a chapter or meeting hall of a fraternal organization.

• Maiden Name - a girl's last name or surname before she marries.

• Manuscript - a composition written with the hand as an ancient book or a non-printed modern book or music.

• Marriage Bond - a financial guarantee that no impediment to the marriage existed, furnished by the intended bridegroom or by his friends.

• Maternal - related through one's mother.

• Messuage - a dwelling house.

• Metes & Bounds - property described by natural boundaries, such as 3 notches in a white oak tree, etc.

• Microfiche - sheet of microfilm with greatly reduced images of pages of documents.

• Microfilm - reproduction of documents on film at reduced size.

• Migrant - person who moves from place to place, usually in search of work.

• Migrate - to move from one country or state or region to another.

• Militia - citizens of a state who are not part of the national military forces but who can be called into military service in an emergency; a citizen army, apart from the regular military forces.

• Minor - one who is under legal age; not yet a legal adult.

• Mister - in early times, a title of respect given only to those who held important civil officer or who were of gentle blood.

• Moiety - a half; an indefinite portion.

• Mortality - death; death rate.

• Mortality Schedules - enumeration of persons who died during the year prior to June 1 of 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 in each state of the United States, conducted by the bureau of census.

• Mortgage - a conditional transfer of title to real property as security for payment of a debt.

• Namesake - person named after another person.

• Necrology - listing or record of persons who have died recently.

• Nee - used to identify a woman's maiden name; born with the surname of.

• Noncupative Will - one declared or dictated by the testator, usually for persons in last sickness, sudden illness, or military.

• Orphan - child whose parents are dead; sometimes, a child who has lost one parent by death.

• Orphan's Court - orphans being recognized as wards of the states, provisions were made for them in special courts.

• Passenger List - a ships list of passengers, usually referring to those ships arriving in the US or Canada, from Europe.

• Patent - grant of land from a government to an individual.

• Paternal - related to one's father. 

• Patriot - one who loves his country and supports its interests.

• Pedigree - family tree; ancestry.

• Pension - money paid regularly to an individual, especially by a government as reward for military service during wartime or upon retirement from government service.

• Pensioner - one who receives a pension.

• Poll - list or record of persons, especially for taxing or voting.

• Post - prefix meaning after.

• Posterity - descendants; those who come after.

• Power of Attorney - when a person is unable to act for himself, he appoints another to act in his behalf.

• Pre - prefix meaning before.

• Probate - having to do with wills and the administration of estates.

• Progenitor - a direct ancestor.

• Progeny - descendants of a common ancestor; issue.

• Proved Will - a will established as genuine by probate court.

• Provost - a person appointed to superintend, or preside over something.

• Proximo - in the following month; in the month after the present one.

• Public Domain - land owned by the government.

• Quitclaim - a deed conveying the interest of the party at that time.

• Rector - a clergyman.

• Relict - widow; surviving spouse when one has died, husband or wife.

• Sic - Latin meaning thus; copied exactly as the original reads.

• Spinster - a woman still unmarried.

• Sponsor - a bondsman; surety.

• Statute - law.

• Surname - family name or last name.

• Territory - area of land owned by a country, not a state or province, but having its own legislature and governor.

• Testamentary - pertaining to a will.

• Testate - a person who dies leaving a valid will.

• Testator - a person who makes a valid will before his death.

• Tithable - taxable.

• Tithe - formerly, money due as a tax for support of the clergy or church.

• Township - a division of U.S. public land that contained 36 sections, or 36 square miles. 

• Tradition - the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, genealogies, etc. from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth.

• Transcribe - to make a copy in writing.

• Ultimo - in the month before this one; abbreviated ult.

• Verbatim - word for word; in the same words, verbally.

• Vital Records - records of birth, death, marriage or divorce.

• Vital Statistics - data dealing with birth, death, marriage or divorce.

• Ward - chiefly the division of a city for election purposes.

• Will - document declaring how a person wants his property divided after his death.

• Witness - one who is present at a transaction, such as a sale of land or signing of a will, who can testify or affirm that it actually took place.

• Yeoman - A servant or attendant; a subordinate of a sheriff; an independent farmer. 
  

Source: Provided by Dan Burrows.