Daily AncestorFree handouts for your next meeting
Genealogical societies, library genealogy rooms, DAR chapters and family history classes are welcome to print, copy and share everything here. No sign-up, no cost.
Printable cheat sheets
Abbreviations
Shorthand for names, dates and record words.
211 words · printOld occupations
Jobs your ancestors listed in the census.
114 words · printOld causes of death
Disease names from death records and mortality schedules.
90 words · printLatin in records
Church registers, gravestones and legal Latin.
82 words · printLegal and land terms
Wills, probate, deeds and land patents.
37 words · printRelationship words
Relict, consort, in-law and other family words that changed meaning.
40 words · printDates and calendars
Old Style, double dates, feast days and regnal years.
A 10-minute meeting activity
- Put today's record on the screen: dailyancestor.com/today.
- Let the room vote on the answer before you reveal it.
- Read the explanation together and open the dictionary card it links to.
- Hand out the cheat sheet for that topic.
For your newsletter
Feel free to copy this:
Daily Ancestor (dailyancestor.com) is a free site that helps you read old records: a dictionary of old record words, guides to every U.S. census from 1790 to 1950, a new record to decode each day, and calculators for birth dates from census ages and gravestones. No account needed.
Tell us about your group and we will gladly help with a topic for a meeting.