Daily Ancestordec'd
Dec'd (also decd.) is short for deceased: the person named had already died when the record was written.
Dec'd and decd. mean deceased. In probate and court records they mark the person whose estate is being handled, as in the estate of Jno. Hayes, dec'd.
The word gives a latest possible date of death: the person died before the document was written. In deeds and other records, finding a man described as dec'd in one year and alive in an earlier one narrows his death to that span.
As seen in a recordHeading of an estate inventory
Inventory of the goods of Thos. Reed, dec'd
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "dec'd." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/decd. Last checked 2026-10-01.