The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors (20 page)

FEE SIMPLE:
Refers to an estate granted to a man and his heirs with no limitations or conditions.

FREEMAN:
An enfranchised citizen. The right to be called a freeman was a political right dependent upon specific qualifications imposed by law. A freeman was not a freed slave, nor a released indentured servant.

FRIENDLY SUIT OR AMICABLE ACTION:
An action brought and carried out by the mutual consent and arrangement of the parties to obtain judgment of court on a doubtful question of law, the facts being usually settled by agreements.

INMATE:
One who rented his land from a landlord.

MARITAL AGREEMENTS:
Contracts between parties who are either on the threshold of marriage or of separation. These may be premarital, antenuptial, or postnuptial agreements.

NUNCUPATIVE WILL:
An oral will declared or dictated by the testator in his last illness before a sufficient number of witnesses.

PARTITION:
The division of lands held by joint tenants or coowners into distinct portions so that each is held individually.

PER CAPITA TAX:
Fixed taxes, levied by head (per person). See poll tax.

POLL (OR HEAD) TAX:
Issued by colonial and antebellum counties and towns, this was a set, uniform amount that adult males were assessed beginning at age twenty-one (sixteen or eighteen in some areas) and continuing until they reached a set age, customarily fifty or sixty.

POWER OF ATTORNEY:
Legal authorization for one to act as another's agent in various business matters.

PRIMOGENITURE:
The exclusive right possessed by the eldest son, by virtue of his seniority, to succeed to the estate of his ancestor, to the exclusion of the younger sons.

QUITCLAIM:
A release; an intention to pass title, interest, or claim that the grantor may have over the premises.

QUITRENT:
A land tax typical of the colonies of New York and the South, assessed by the ruler of the colony to increase revenue.