Online Genealogy Dictionaries and Lists

I have been collecting URLs (Web addresses) of various online dictionaries and lists that are useful to genealogists. These are useful when trying to decode foreign or obsolete words often found in genealogy work. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Encyclopedia of Genealogy: http://www.eogen.com (Disclaimer: This is a site that I created but the data has been created by many different people. In fact, you can also add data to the Encyclopedia of Genealogy.)

Abbreviations Found in Genealogy: FamilySearch has an extensive list at https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Abbreviations_Found_in_Genealogy_Records. Other lists may be found at :  http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/abbrev.html  and http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/abbr.html and http://www.genealogy.com/Glossary/glossary.html and http://www.geisheimer.org/info/gene/abbr.htm

A List of Occupations, many of which are archaic. You can discover what your ancestor really did at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dav4is/Sources/Occupations.html (with emphasis on England and its 16th and 17th century colonies ) and http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/ocupaton.html and http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/jobs.htm and http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiashlan/occupations.html and http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/misc/occupations.shtml

“Cousinship” - What is a second cousin twice removed? This and other cousin relationships are explained at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/02/what-is-second.html

Cyndi's List of Medical Terms: http://www.cyndislist.com/medical.htm

Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death: http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/Index.htm and http://rmhh.co.uk/illness.html and the MedTerms Dictionary with both modern and obsolete terminology at http://www.medterms.com/script/main/hp.asp and http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~billingh/disease.htm and http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd/ and http://www.neonatology.org/classics/old.terms.html and http://www.genealogy-quest.com/glossaries/diseases1.html

Glossar: Die Familie: An annotated English-German glossary of terms frequently found in genealogy research: http://german.about.com/homework/german/library/blfamilie.htm

Meanings and origins of first names - an etymology (the origin of words) and list of the most popular names: http://www.behindthename.com

Old handwriting in genealogy research (with images of handwriting samples): http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html

Old Style Abbreviations - Proper Names (with images of handwriting samples): http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/x-prop.html

Abbreviations on Gravestones: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/misc/grave_symbols.shtml

Military Abbreviations Found on U.S. Grave Markers: http://genealogy.about.com/od/military_records/a/abbreviations.htm

Cemetery Junction Directory - A directory of more than 20,000 cemeteries, arranged by state. Search by cemetery and family name. Links to obituaries and genealogical societies in the U.S, Australia, and Canada: http://daddezio.com/cemetery

Where to Write for Vital Records - Addresses and guidelines for contacting each U.S. state or territory for vital records and documents: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm

There are many, many more such lists online. You should be able to find them with any search engine. However, the above is a list of the ones I keep handy.

Comments

[Harriett Stambaugh]

An excellent resource. Your E-mails are fantastic. Harriett

[Harriett Stambaugh]

An excellent resource. Your E-mails are fantastic. Harriett

[Dae Powell]

er, what Harriett said.

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com

[tajicat]

Thanks so much for this great list of links! :)

[elizbeth]

I was hoping to find an unusual name in one of the list. I recently found a female ancestor whose name was Ippatanas/Ippateynis. These are the two spellings that I find; one on a marriage record and the other on the 1850 census. I would love to know the story of this name. This is not a name that someone made up. It had to come from a story or something similar. To me, it has a mythological ring. Maybe one day someone can fill me in on the origins of the name.