The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors (19 page)

CHAIN OF TITLES:
The record of successive conveyances affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively from the government or previous owner down to present owner.

CHATTEL MORTGAGE:
A mortgage that involves personal, rather than real, estate.

COURT OF CHANCERY:
A court administering equity proceedings.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS:
The court where civil and criminal cases are begun. Most of these have been abolished, with jurisdiction transferred to district or circuit courts.

COURT OF THE ORDINARY:
In Georgia, the court that formerly had exclusive and general jurisdiction over probate of wills, management of estate, and appointment of guardians.

COURT OF ORPHANS:
The court in Pennsylvania or Maryland — known else where as Surrogate or Probate court — with general jurisdiction over matters of probate.

CURTESY:
The estate to which a man was entitled by the death of his wife that she had seized in either fee simple or entail, provided they have children born alive and capable of inheriting, i.e., not mentally incapable of managing financial affairs. It is a freehold estate for the term of his natural life. (In some states there was no requirement that issue be born of the union.)

DEED OF GIFT:
The conveyance of land without consideration (payment).

DEPOSITION:
The testimony of a witness taken under oath from a distance, rather than in open court. A written transcript is made and becomes part of a permanent court record.

DOWER:
A provision by law that entitles the widow to a life-estate in the lands and tenements of her husband at his death if he dies intestate, or if she dissents from his will. Dower has been abolished in the majority of states. Although it was traditionally one third of the estate, there was wide variation among colonies and states.

DOWRY:
The property that a woman brings to her husband at their marriage; sometimes referred to as “her portion.”

ENTAIL:
To settle or limit the succession to real property.

ENTAIL, ESTATE:
An estate of inheritance that, instead of descending to the heirs in general, goes to the heirs of the owner's body (meaning his lawful issue), and through them to his grandchildren in a direct line. There are several variations of estate entail. (See Black and Keim in the bibliography.)