- Abatement = Decrease or reduction
- Account of Administration = Amount of money the person in charge of a dead person’s estate pays to or receives from other people during the process of settling the estate
- Almshouse = Home for the poor
- Apprentice = Someone who is required to work for someone else for a certain period of time in exchange for room, board, and job training
- Board = Being provided with meals as part of a housing agreement
- Bound = Required to work for someone else
- Breeches = Pants
- Brig = Type of boat with two masts
- Bush = Abbreviation for bushel, which is equal to 8 gallons of dry goods
- Census = Official count of all the people living in a town; depending on the year, other information may also be recorded, such as family members, jobs, education, etc.
- Codicil = A later addition or revision to a will
- Coled = Called
- Col’d = Abbreviation for colored
- Company = Smallest unit of soldiers, led by a captain
- Cordwainer = Shoe maker
- Credit = Amount of money received from someone else in exchange for goods or services
- Debit = Amount of money owed to someone else in exchange for goods or services
- Distribution = Description of who received which goods from the estate of a dead person
- Estate = The property left behind by a dead person
- Execution = Legal permission to take property in payment of a debt after a successful lawsuit
- Homespun = Homemade clothes
- Indenture = Contract between an apprentice and the person he/she will work for
- Inquest = Legal proceedings held to determine how a person died
- Inventory = List of possessions owned by a person who recently died
- Melancholy = Sad
- Mulatto = Outdated term for a person with a White parent and a Black parent
- Muster Roll = Official list of soldiers in a military unit
- Negro = Outdated term for African American; now considered offensive
- New Negro = Enslaved person born in Africa
- On Expense = Living off of charity from a town
- Pauper = Poor person
- Portion = Money or property that a woman receives from her father when she gets married; money or property that heirs receive from a dead person’s estate
- Ptnr/Petnr = Abbreviation for petitioner – the person submitting a petition (i.e. a request for something)
- Quit-Claim = Legally giving up any claim that one might have to land or other property
- Regiment = Large unit of soldiers, led by a colonel
- Residence = Legal term meaning that one belongs to a certain town and therefore, is eligible for charity from that town
- Sd = Abbreviation for said
- Selectmen = Leaders of Wethersfield’s town government
- Serge = A type of fabric, usually made of wool, with parallel diagonal lines woven into it
- Sexton = Someone who takes care of a church; grave digger
- Squaw = Outdated term for female Native Americans; now considered offensive
- Stepney = Rocky Hill
- Sundry = Various items
- Transient = Someone residing in town for a short time before moving on to another town
- Vital Record = Record of births, deaths, marriages, etc. kept by the government
- Worsted = Type of yarn made from wool
- Writ = Written order from a court or other legal authority requiring the people mentioned to perform certain actions
Wethersfield Historical Society
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