Daily AncestorSenior
Senior, or Sr., meant the older of two men with the same name in a place, not always the father of the junior.
Senior means older. In older records Sr. separated the elder of two men who shared a name in the same community. Often he was the father of the junior, but the label only tells you who was older.
Look for land, tax or probate records that state the relationship outright before linking two men as father and son.
As seen in a recordCounty tax list, 1800s
Tax list 1810: Thos. Bell Sr., 200 acres; Thos. Bell Jr., 50 acres.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Senior." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/relationships/senior. Last checked 2026-10-01.