Daily AncestorIn-law
In-law means a relative by marriage; in older records mother-in-law and father-in-law could also mean a stepmother or stepfather.
Today in-law means a relative through marriage, such as a spouse's parent or a child's spouse. Older usage blurred marriage and step relations: dictionaries record mother-in-law and father-in-law in the old sense of stepmother and stepfather, and Webster's 1828 dictionary still gives father-in-law for a stepfather.
When an in-law in a will, guardianship or census seems the wrong age to be a spouse's parent, consider a step-parent instead, and look for a remarriage.
As seen in a recordWill recorded in a county will book, 1700s
Item. I give to my mother-in-law Eliz. Ward, my father's widow, the use of the east room during her life.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "In-law." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/relationships/in-law. Last checked 2026-10-01.