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GLOSSARY
You may find some difficulty in interpreting information contained in Old Parochial Registers, census returns, statutory certificates, wills and other documents, due to, e.g. abbreviation, handwriting that is difficult to read, or unfamiliarity with occupations. With that in mind, here is a list of some of the more common terms you might come across in your family history research in Dundee and Angus. For a more comprehensive glossary of Scottish terms see www.scan.org.uk or www.scotroots.com.
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Occupations | |
| Ag. Lab | agricultural labourer |
| App. | Apprentice |
| Baxter | baker |
| Collector of Cess | tax collector |
| Cordiner/cordwainer | shoemaker |
| Cowper | cooper, maker of casks |
| Dom. Servt. | Domestic servant |
| Flesher | butcher |
| F. S. | female servant |
| Grieve | farm overseer |
| J./ Jour | journeyman - between an apprentice and master of a trade e.g. mason journeyman |
| Gen.Lab. | general labourer |
| Litster | dyer |
| Min. | minister, miner |
| M. S. | male servant, maiden surname, Merchant Service |
| Pendicler | the tenant of a pendicle - a small piece of ground forming part of a larger holding or farm, often let out to a sub-tenant |
| Writer | lawyer |
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Occupations associated with the jute and flax industries in Dundee | |
| Calenderer | passed the jute cloth through heavy rollers to give a smooth, pressed finish to the woven fabric. |
| Cloth lapper | worked in Finishing, folding or doubling the cloth repeatedly upon itself ready for packing. |
| Flaxdresser/yarndresser | hackler. |
| Hackler | carried out the early stages of preparing the raw fibre (jute or flax) for spinning. Hackle-pins and fluted rollers were used to comb and soften the fibre and an emulsion of oil and water (whale oil until the late 19th century) was applied to assist the process. |
| H.L.W | handloom weaver |
| P.L.W. | powerloom weaver |
| Steam loom beamer | wound the warp threads onto a roller before putting it on to the loom. |
| Winder | wound the warp thread from bobbins onto large spools, or the weft thread onto cops, in preparation for weaving. |
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General terms | |
| At | indicates a landless person e.g. Andrew Bennett, farm servant at Little Kenny. |
| Base-born | illegitimate, born out of wedlock |
| Dec. | deceased |
| Glebe | the parcel of land given to a Minister for his use, in addition to his stipend (salary in cash and/or kind) |
| Heritors | the landowners in a parish who held responsibility for the parish church, parish school and payment of the schoolteacher's salary and the Minister's stipend |
| In | indicates a tenant e.g. Charles Malloch in Haughs of Cossins |
| Ind. | A person of independent means |
| Indweller | resident, inhabitant |
| Liferent | entitled a person to use another person's property for life. Liferent could take the form of income from a piece of land or be a sum of money paid out annually. |
| Master/Mr | person was a graduate of a university |
| Mortcloth | the pall covering a coffin on the way to the gravesite. The mortcloth was hired out to parishioners by the Kirk Session or the Guild. Information on mortcloth hire can be found in Kirk Session Minutes. |
| Natural | illegitimate, born out of wedlock |
| of | indicates a landowner e.g. John Baxter of Idvies |
| Proclamation of Banns | notice of contract of marriage, read out in the Kirk before the marriage took place. Kirk Session minutes record the money pledged by the groom to ensure that the couple married within 40 days. |
| relict | widow |
| Un. | Unmarried |
| U.R. | usual residence |
| W. | Widowed |
| Younger of | reference to heir when landowner still alive |