THEN AND NOW
The written words in records such as wills, estate settlements and letters are a link to our ancestors and understanding of the times in which they lived. When we remember that writing was a tedious chore, especially writing with a scratchy quill pen, we can understand the tendency to abbreviate, even of names. It was easy to omit vowels; spelling and punctuation were not terribly important to the writer.
Some abbreviations commonly found are: Sen./Sr. - Senior, Jun./Jr. - junior, admr. -administrator, admrx. - administratrix, a female administrator; ex. - executor, exx. - executrix, a female executor, contest - confessed, deced/ded/decd deceased, aforsd - aforesaid, cort/crte court, ye - the yose - those, yere there, defendt/defend/defdt - defendant, D.O.W. - died of wounds, K.I.A. killed in action, W.I.A. - wounded in action, O.C. - Orphan’s Court, Cold./Col. - abbreviation for Negro or black person, often found in legal records and censuses.
Language constantly changes. For example, we now use the words e-mail fax - television -penicillin - computer which would have had no meaning for people of even fifty years ago. We need to study words which were used at the time of an event. The following paragraphs give some words that have been used in the past... and which we may find during our research.
An ascendant refers to an ancestor, the opposite of descendant. Affiance means to bind a person by promise of marriage. Affinity is the relationship of people by marriage, consanguinity is the kinship of people who are related “by blood.”
Brother/sister may indicate siblings, or members of a religious order. Some church records refer to members as brothers and sisters who are not related.
Cousin is any person related by blood who is not an ancestor. Cousin-german is a first cousin, or full cousin.
According to law, “infant” is any child who is less than 21 years of age. An orphan is a child whose father is dead but whose mother may or may not still be alive.
A person who is born in the USA of Japanese parentage is called Nisei. Aquadroon is a child of mulatto and white parents. A person of mixed blood is known as mestizo.
In a cemetery we may find a cenotaph, which is a monument for a person who is buried elsewhere. A pile of rocks for a burial marker is called a cairn. A corner or turning point in a survey is also called a cairn.
An apprentice is one who is bound to another for a certain period of time to learn a trade, and who exchanges his labor for training, room and board, and sometimes his education. A servant or slave who is bound to another is known as bondmaid, bondman, or bondwoman.
The terms for illness and medicine have changed a great deal. In olden days a stroke was apoplexy - consumption was tuberculosis of the lungs - ascites, also known as dropsy, was accumulation and retention of fluid in the body - catarrh was a respiratory disease - quinsy was what we know as tonsillitis - falling sickness is now epilepsy - dengue or breakbone fever was similar to arthritis, severe pain in joints and muscles - ague was chills and fever calenture was yellow fever, almost always in the tropics.
The cure-all for these diseases was nostrum, a patent medicine sold by quacks.
Before 1800 sugar was sold as loaves or cones, then sliced to use. Salt was served in a tiny bowl - salt dish - placed on the table.
Furniture for rural homes was crafted by the men of the family. It was primitive, practical, but usually not well finished. A useful piece of furniture was a secretary. A panel on the front dropped to make a writing desk. There were drawers below and bookshelves above or to one side, closed by a door, sometimes of glass.
A bed was a frame strung with ropes to support a ticking bag/mattress. A ticking bag, made of heavy cloth, was filled with straw, grass, or feathers, and commonly called “a tick.”
Pioneer women used fabric scraps or almost-worn-out clothing to make quilts for warm covers. A counterpane was a quilt sewn in squares to resemble window panes. A crazy quilt consisted of odd sizes of different fabric pieces sewn together in a random pattern. Often the seams were decorated with embroidery stitches. In winter, coals from the fireplace were placed in a bed warmer, a metal pan and lid with a long handle, which was then rubbed between the covers to warm the bed.
The fireplace was the central feature of early homes. Besides providing heat, that is where cooking took place. A pothook was an S-shaped hook in the fireplace to hold a cooking pot. A trivet had several uses and meanings. It was an iron platform to support cooking vessels over the fire. The trivet was sometimes called a footman. A spider was a skillet or fry pan with legs - also known as a trivet. The creeper was the rack to hold logs in the fireplace, which we now call andirons.
Isinglass is the material previously used for some windows in homes and for “glass” in the weather panels on touring cars. It is a tough translucent form of gelatin from some animals and fish.
A plain fabric that was made at home for clothing was called homespun, also known as linsey-woolsey, woven of linen and wool thread. Work clothes were mode from fustian, of cotton and flax. Serge is a twilled fabric of wool; cloth for outer coats was of wool known as kersey. A soft printed silk cloth was called foulard. The measure for cloth was an ell, equal to 11/4 yards, or 45 inches.
A neck cloth, now a necktie, has been called a cravat. It provided warmth as well as being decorative. Capuchin was a woman’s hooded cloak. Farthingale was a hoop for a lady’s skirt. A child’s cap or nightcap was a biggin. Weeper was anything worn as an indicator of mourning.
Blue dye came from the indigo plant, also called anil. Cultivation of indigo was introduced in South Carolina in the 1740’s. Sky blue color is cerulean.
The flat iron was used for pressing or smoothing cloth. A sad iron was similar.