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What was the Legal Age?

18 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

In family history when we are studying a record, often we have questions, and wonder where we can find the answers.  One problem area in United States research is court records. There’s such a variety of courts, and cases, that we are usually left scratching our heads.

As a professional genealogist, one area I’m always asking questions is: “What was the legal age to perform a particular legal action?” For me the quick fix is always Table 7-2 “Ages of Legal Action” in the chapter “Court Records” in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy (Third Edition, 2006): 275-6 , edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. No serious researcher should be without this standard textbook for American genealogy.

Knowing what the “Ages of Legal Action” are is important in your Irish immigrant research. The reason being is that first and last names are so common. Sometimes to know you have the correct Patrick Sullivan or Mary Kelly is to know how old they would have been to perform a legal action.

I have adapted their Table 7-2 of legal actions for this blog. The list below is not a substitute for either the table or the entire chapter of this work.

Inherit: from birth or before birth

Be enumerated in a census: from birth, all names mentioned as of 1850

Attend school: age 5, with some schools accepting younger children

Witness documents: males 14, females 12 (some exceptions)

Testify in court: males 14, females 12

Choose a guardian: males 14, females 12 (for exceptions see The Source)

Serve as an apprentice: males 14, females 12

Show land to processioners: males 14, females 12, males only in the South.

Punished for a crime: males 14, females 12 (some exceptions)

Sign contracts: males 14, females 12

Act as an executor: males 14, females 12 (for exceptions see The Source)

Bequeath personal property by a will: males 14, females 12 (for exceptions see The Source)

Marry: males 14, females 12 (for exceptions see The Source)

Be taxed: males 16

Muster into militia: males 16

Take possession of land holdings: age 16

Practice trade: age 18

Release of guardian: males 21, females 18

Own land: age 21 (some states allowed females at age 18)

Devise land by will: age 21

Be taxed: full responsibility at age 21 unless exempt.

Plead or sue in court: age 21

Be naturalized: age 21

Fill public office: age 21

Serve on jury: age 21

Vote: age 21 (various requirements over the years)

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Court Records, Dictionaries, Terminology

Abbreviations for Women Religious in Ireland

15 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

In this blog I will discuss the abbreviations used for Women Religious from Ireland. In 1801 there were six religious orders for women operating in Ireland. Immigrant sisters in your family are key individuals. They left a paper trail which at some point, the hope is, will tell you where the entire family was from in Ireland. Remember, these were trained and educated women sent out with a purpose to service.

If you see an immigrant obituary for the Women Religious in the family, or one perhaps mentioning her, then there will probably be initials after her name. The initials are abbreviations to which order she belonged. This is the key to you identifying where the entire family was from.

Below you will find a list of these religious orders for women who trained in Ireland. I’m drawing my source material from the excellent article by Kyle J. Betit “Priests, Nuns and Brothers in Ireland “ The Irish At Home and Abroad 5, #2 (1998): 70-76. Although dated, I would still recommend getting a copy of the entire article for the full context and sources. He takes his study of religious orders in Ireland prior to 1920 as follows:

CHF: Holy Faith Sisters

CSB: Congregation of St. Brigid (Brigidine Sisters)

DC: Daughters (Sisters) of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul

IBVM: Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters)

OCD: Order of Discalced Carmelite Nuns

OP: Nuns of the Order of Preachers (Dominican Sisters)

OSB: Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict (Benedictine Nuns)

OSU: Order of St. Ursuline (Ursuline Nuns)

PBVM: Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Presentation Sisters)

PCC or OSC: Poor Clares

RSC: Religious Sisters of Charity (Irish Sisters of Charity)

RSM: Religious Sisters of Mercy

RGS or CGS: Good Shepherd Sisters

Once you have identified the religious order, then search the Internet for a website if they are still operating in Ireland. Otherwise, contact the Central Catholic Library in Dublin: www.catholiclibrary.ie

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church records, Dictionaries, Strategies, Terminology

Abbreviations for Men Religious in Ireland

14 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you are researching men religious in your family, then you understand just how important these personalities are in your genealogy. A brother of your ancestor who became a Roman Catholic priest or brother may have had an excellent education, may have been well travelled, could have authored books, and most importantly, left a paper trail behind.

Naturally, a main purpose for researching and reconstructing these lives of these men would be to see if there is a record stating where in Ireland he was born. My research philosophy is that if you find men religious in the family, then stop all your research and concentrate on that one individual.

One record in which you begin to reconstruct all the facts is obituaries of an immigrant priest or brother. Even if an obituary does not provide a place of birth, then there are clues which will eventually lead you there. After his name will be some letters, which if you’re unaware, signify the religious order he belonged. This is your key! It’s within the order records that birth places and additional biographical material can be found. 

However, those letters, can be baffling, especially if you’re unfamiliar with Roman Catholic orders. I am providing the main ones in Ireland where Irish men belonged. I’m drawing my source material from the excellent article by Kyle J. Betit “Priests, Nuns and Brothers in Ireland “ The Irish At Home and Abroad 5, #2 (1998): 70-76. Although parts are dated, I would recommend getting a copy of the entire article. Here’s his listing, which will open up records for you, if your relative studied with a religious order in Ireland prior to 1920:

CFC: Congregation of Christian Brothers (of Ireland)

CM: Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians)

CP: Congregation of the Passion (Passionists)

C.S.Sp: Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) Congregation

C.SS.R: Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists)

FPM: Presentation Brothers

FSC: Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers)

FSP: Congregation of the Brothers of St. Patrick (Patrician Brothers)

IC (prev. OC): Institute of Charity (Rosminians) (prev. Order of Charity)

O.Carm (prev. OCC): Order of Carmelites (of the Ancient Observance, prev. Calced Carmelites)

OCD: Order of Discalced Carmelites

OCSO (prev. Cist.): Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)

OFM (OSF until 1897): Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans)

OFM.Cap (prev. OSFC): Capuchin Friars

OFM.Conv: Conventual Franciscans

OH: Hospitaller Brothers of the Order of St. John of God (St John of God Brothers)

OMI: Oblates of Mary Immaculate

OP: Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

OSA: Order of St. Augustine (Augustinians)

OSB: Order of St. Benedict (Benedictine Monks)

OSF: Brothers of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (Franciscan Brothers)

SJ: Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

SM: Society of Mary (Marists)

SMA (prev. AM): Society of African Missions

Once you have identified the Religious Order, then search the Internet for a website, or contact the Central Catholic Library in Dublin: www.catholiclibrary.ie

Tomorrow, I will be discussing the abbreviations used for Women Religious in Ireland.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church records, Dictionaries, Strategies, Terminology, United States

What is a Cunningham (Scottish) Acre?

6 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you have ever seen the term “Cunningham Acre” or “Scottish Acre” (also seen as Scots Acre) in your Irish research, then you no doubt raised an eyebrow. This was a land measurement brought over from Scotland where it had been the standard measurement since 1661. In Scotland it was replaced by the English Acre in 1824. In historic Ireland, it continued until the Ordnance Survey technically replaced the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre with the English Acre by the mid-1830s. However, in reality, its usage survived into the twentieth century in places such as eastern County Down.

You will see the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre mostly in the deeds, leases, and landlord estate records for Ulster. It is sometimes seen as “Conyingham Acre.” It will usually state the type of acres in the record. For the most part, you can assume most records are in English Acres or Irish Acres outside of Ulster, even if it is not stated. From my experience, when Cunningham (Scottish) Acres are used, this is usually noted.

If you’re tracing a particular piece of property, or the history of a townland, you need to be aware of the conversions to English Acres since that was the standard after the 1830s. These are as follows:

1 Irish (Plantation) Acre = 1.6 English Acre (rounded off from 1.6198 to be exact)

1 Cunningham (Scottish) Acre = 1.3 English Acre (rounded off from 1.2913 to be exact)

I first encountered the use of the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre measurement in the rent books for a large and prominent Ulster landowner. To make sense of it, I simply used the formula listed above, and I could then key the property to some degree into Griffith’s Primary Valuation which is in standard English Acres.

For your reference, while most of the world has gone to the metric system, the United States, and some Commonwealth countries still uses English Acres as its basic unit of measurement. This at least provides some visual as to what is meant by an “acre” in this discussion.

Some interesting websites for old measurements include “Index to Units & Systems of Units” www.sizes.com/units/index.php; and a wonderful article by George Gilmore of the Garvagh Historical Society (2011) “What Size is an Acre” www.billmacafee.com/valuationrecords/whatsizeisanacre.pdf is a must to consult.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Historical, Land Records, Strategies, Terminology

Foreign Language Word Lists

30 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Genealogical Society of Utah is the parent organization which sponsors the huge Family History Library (FHL): www.familysearch.org in Salt Lake City. On the FamilySearch website is a hidden, but essential research tool for understanding foreign languages. These are guides to words you will find in your genealogical research. Since the Irish historically went just about everywhere, these online guides are a virtual database to help you in your immigrant research.

These are little known, because they are so difficult to find on the website. Here’s the key to accessing these free guides is:

*Go to the FamilySearch website

*Click the “Learn” tab at the top of the page

*Click on “Research Wiki”

*Type in [language] Genealogical Word List

For example, if you type in Latin Genealogical Word List, you will find an incredible discussion of Latin words, abbreviations, Roman Numerals, terms, and an A-Z dictionary of Latin words you will find in your research. It simply does not get better than this.

I’ve had to refer to various Genealogical Word List publications more often than I can count. From my experience, the ones affecting the Irish the most would be Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. There are of course others, but these will be the major ones you will encounter. Be aware, there are secondary lists and articles on the FamilySearch Wiki breaking out a  specific country or topic within the county. For example, “France Language and Languages.” FamilySearch Wiki is a research tool in itself.

The Wiki will have external links as well as references at the FHL from which to consult. These Word List articles and the associated articles are well worth your time. They are a gold mine for your worldwide Irish family history.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Databases, Dictionaries, Ethnic Connections, Research, Terminology

Racial Dictionary (Part 3)

28 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

Part 3 of my “Racial Dictionary” continues with words, both academic and inappropriate which you may come across in your research. Some of the words will be familiar; others will be from a world long forgotten. So smile, laugh, cry and be in amazement at the world of our ancestors, and how they saw each other. 

If you have just joined this particular blog, don’t forget to study my introduction to the series in Part 1 to place these blogs into a context. I have listed the sources I utilized and genealogical reviewers who judged my accuracy at the end of this Part 3.

Paddy: A slur in the UK for the Irish dating back to the eighteenth century.

Pakeha: A Maori term for a European especially one of British Isles descent. It now means foreigner, to include all non-Maori.

Peckerwood: A historic USA term used through the mid-twentieth century by southern African Americans and upper class whites for the poor rural whites. It is still found among African Americans as a slur against whites.

Person County Indians: A USA term used to describe the tri-racial isolates of Person County on the North Carolina-Virginia border. Today they are the Sappony Tribe.

Pik(e)y (Piker): A UK term with several meanings; derived from “turnpike,” it means an Irish Traveller, Gypsy, or itinerant poor person. In the nineteenth century, it was also a general slur for the Irish.

Pommy (Pommies): A term used in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand for a South African of British Isles descent.

Pineys: A USA slur for tri-racial isolate families in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Pondshiners: see Bushwhackers

Poor White Trash: see White Trash

Pot Licker: A slur for the Irish, derived from the fact that during the Potato Famine the Irish would lick their pots to obtain the last morsel of food.

Potato Eater: A term for the Irish used by the gangs of New York City.

Potato Nigger: A USA slur for the Irish because they ate lots of potatoes.

Quadroon (Quarteron): A person with ¼ black and ¾ white ancestry. It also applies to having a white and mulatto parent.

Quinteron: A person who is 1/16 black or 15/16 white.  

Ramps: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Western Virginia. See Melungeons

Red Bones: A USA slur for several tri-racial isolates groups in: Calcasieu, Vernon, Allen, Rapides and Beauregard parishes, Louisiana and Richland County, South Carolina. See Sabines.

Red Legs: A USA slur often seen as “Redlegs.” 1.) For tri-racial isolate families in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, which today are the Beaver Creek Indians. 2.) In Barbados as an offensive term for the islands’ labor-class whites.

Redneck: 1.) A USA slur for Southern labor class poor whites which referred to the Scots-Irish in the American South. See Redshanks. 2.) South African slang from rooinek (red-neck) to refer to an Anglo-African. 

Redshanks: This insult used by both blacks and the white planter class described white slaves and indentured servants in the Colonial Americas whose limbs reddened in the sun of the southern colonies. This may be where the term “redneck” originated.

Redskin: A historic USA slur for Native Americans.

Sabines: A USA description for tri-racial isolates in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana; which name comes from the Sabine River. A historical slur was Red Bones.

Sawny (Sandy): A common name for a Scotsman.

Shant: A derogatory term for the poor Irish who lived in shacks known as shanties.

Shanty Irish: A historic USA term for poor Irish.

Shelta: In Ireland, this slur for the Travellers is derived from the Irish word meaning “The Walkers.”

Slaughters: A USA term used to describe a clan of tri-racial isolates of Slaughter Hill in the Schoharie Valley, Schoharie County, New York.

Smiling Indians: A USA term used to describe the tri-racial isolates in Orangeburg County, South Carolina known as the Beaver Creek Indians   . They also were called Brass Ankles, Croatans, Mulattos, Red Legs

Smilings: A USA term for the tri-racial isolates in Robeson County, North Carolina who moved from Sumter County, South Carolina, and did not amalgamate fully with the Lumbees.

Smoked Irish(man): A nineteenth century USA term for blacks. It was a double insult for both blacks and the Irish.

Summerville Indians: A USA term for tri-racial isolates in Summerville, Berkeley County, South Carolina, now known as the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians. See Brass Ankles.

Swamp Yankee: A USA term meaning rural white Protestant farmers from Rhode Island and western Connecticut.

Tan: A derogatory term for British people used in Ireland. It is derived from the Black and Tans, the nickname for an auxiliary British Army unit deployed to Ireland in the 1920s.

Teaguelanders: A common term for Irishmen (Tea Gueland meaning Ireland).

Teapot: A nineteenth century British term for blacks.

Tinker: see Irish Tinker

Touch of the Tar Brush: A British slur for a person of predominantly white ancestry who has suspected African or Asian ancestry.

Tri-Racial Isolate: A USA term to describe families from isolated communities, who trace back into the colonial period having white, black, and Indian ancestry.

Turks: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Sumter County, South Carolina.

Thick Mick: A slur commonly used in England where Irish immigrants did much of the manual labor.

Wesorts: A term, first to be documented in 1896, used to describe tri-racial isolates in Charles and Prince Georges counties, Maryland.

White Nigger: (Wigger): A USA nineteenth century term for the Irish; it is still used with different meanings.

White Trash: A USA slur to denote whites (often of Scots-Irish roots) who were poor, under-educated, and historically “not quite white.” Treated as a race of their own, especially in the South, this sub-group has been the subject of popular literature for years. Another variation is “Poor White Trash.” Both variations are still in use today.

Yank(ee): A historic and current USA term used by Southerners to describe Northerners. It has been adopted and used by non-Americans to describe Americans. The term originally meant someone from New England.

Yellow Carib: A term used in St. Vincent by the colonial authorities to describe those of Carib heritage as opposed to a Black Carib.

Yellow People: A generic USA slur used to describe tri-racial isolates.

Yokel: A term used in the UK, USA, and Canada for an unrefined white person.

Zambo: A term meaning several things in the USA: 1.) The child of a mulatto and a black; 2.) A child of a Native American and a black; 3.) Three-quarters black.

SOURCES: “List of Ethnic Slurs”, www.enwikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_slurs, “List of Ethnic Slurs by Ethnicity” www.en.eikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnc_slurs_by_ethnicity, “List of Regional Nicknames”, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regional_nicknames, “The Racial Slur Database”: www.rsdb.org, Virginia Easley DeMarce, “Very Slitly Mixt”: Tri-Racial Isolate Families of the Upper South – A Genealogical Study,” in National Genealogical Society Quarterly 80 (March 1992): 5-35: www.genpage.com/DeMarce.pdf , William Harlen Gilbert, Jr., Surviving Indian Groups of the Eastern United States (Washington D. C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1949), Francis Grose, “1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/, “Old Time Racial Terms & More People of Color,” www.smoot-family.us/terms.html

REVIEWERS: I would like to thank the following genealogists for reviewing these three blogs for accuracy and for providing suggestions: Jayne Davis, past president of the Franklin County, Ohio Genealogical Society, www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohfcghs ; Ann Eccles and Tom Rice with the Irish Genealogical Society International, www.irishgenealogical.org in South St. Paul, Minnesota; Leland Meitzler, publisher and blogger of www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com and www.genealogyblog.com based in Utah; Claire Smith-Burns. Library & Public Education Committees Director for the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society in Kelowna, British Columbia, www.kdgs.ca, and Bob Murray, genealogist in Belfast, Northern Ireland, www.youririsheyes.com  

 

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Dictionaries, Ethnic Connections, Glossary, Historical, Terminology

Racial Dictionary (Part 2)

27 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

Part 2 of my “Racial Dictionary” continues with words, both academic and inappropriate which you may come across in your research. Some of the words will be familiar; others will be from a world long forgotten. So smile, laugh, cry and be in amazement at the world of our ancestors and how they saw each other. 

You will find a list of sources utilized and genealogical reviewers at the end of Part 3. To gain a full context, you will need to read the introduction to Part 1 of this blog series.

First Peoples/First Nations: A contemporary Canadian term for Native Americans.

Free Black: Sometimes referred to as “free persons of color” or “free color,”’ they were either free slaves, African Americans who were born free, or mixed-race who were bi-racial or tri-racial.

Free Issue (Free Issue Negro): A USA term for a black or mixed-race person who was free by manumission or birth. This term was common in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Free Mixture: A mixed-blood person who was not a slave.

Frog: see Bay Frog

G. and B. Indians: This USA term for tri-racial isolates in West Virginia is taken from the Grafton and Belington Railroad.

Golliwog: A predominately UK expression for people of color, especially Afro-Caribbeans. It references a late nineteenth century children’s literary character and a type of black dolls.

Greeks: A USA term used at times in North Carolina for tri-racial isolate groups.

Green Nigger: Historically used mainly in large USA cities with large Irish populations because the Irish were held in low regard as were the African Americans of the period.

Griff(e) (Griffane, Griffin): A USA term for a person having a black parent and a parent of Native American ancestry; or an alternative for the word mulatto, in Louisiana.

Gringo: A Latin American term used disparagingly against North Americans and North Europeans. While it can be used as a slur, it is not always; such as, a Mexican using it to refer to an American.

Groid: An older USA slur, a derivative of negroid.

Gub(ba): An Australian Aboriginal slur for a white person.

Guineamen: A USA slur to describe tri-racial isolates who lived in an area called Guinea Neck, Gloucester County, Virginia.

Guineas: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Barbour and Taylor counties, West Virginia. The name is thought to come from the district of Guinea on the Tygart River, West Virginia.

Haliwas: A USA term for tri-racial isolates in Halifax and Warren counties, North Carolina.

Hairyback: A South African slur for white Afrikaners.

Half and Half: see Half Breed

Half-Breed (Half Blood, Half Blooded): A historic North American derogatory term for anyone of mixed Native American and white parentage. The French term is Metis and the Spanish version term is Mestizo. It can also apply to someone who is part black.

Half Caste: A UK slur for anyone of mixed-race; it is often shortened to “Halfie.”

Haole: A Hawaiian USA term for non-natives, especially whites. It has different contexts and is less commonly used against non-Hawaiians.

High Yellow: A derogatory USA term for an African American of mixed-race who has African features with a light skin tone which appears yellow or golden. The phrase was popular in nineteenth and early twentieth century USA culture. An alternative term is “High Yeller.”

Hillbilly: A USA slur used for white Americans of Appalachian or Ozark ancestry. The Scots-Irish were frequently described by this term.

Honies: A USA term to describe tri-racial isolates of Slaughter Hill in the southern part of Schoharie County, New York.

Indians of the Green Swamp: see Cherokees

Injun: A historic North American offensive term used for a Native American.

Irish Tinker: Sometimes seen as just Tinker it is used in the UK and Ireland for the Irish Travellers or, more generally for a lower class person.

Issue: A USA slur historically used in Virginia counties by whites to describe tri-racial isolates or mulattos as they saw them. The “Issue” mixed-bloods were centered in Amherst County.

Jackson Whites: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates scattered in New Jersey and New York. They are located in the Ramapo Valley and adjoining Passaic, Bergen and Morris counties, New Jersey. In New York they are in Orange and Rockland counties. Today they are known as the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation.

Jim Crow: A historic USA term for a black person derived from the segregation laws which ended with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Jim Fish: A South African slur for a black person.

Jock(ie) (Jocky): A UK slur for a Scottish person, although it has been used in several contexts over the centuries. Derived from the Scottish language as a nickname for John and the English version of Jack among the English it is used as an insult.

Jukes: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates living in New York in the nineteenth century.

Lace Curtain Irish: A term for Irish immigrants who thought they were better off than their neighbors by hanging lace curtains in their windows.

Limey: This USA slur for a British person refers to the practice of giving sailors limes to prevent scurvy.

Marabou: A person with 5/8 black ancestry; the child of a mulatto and a griffe. This term is usually found in Louisiana.

Marlboro Blues: A USA description for tri-racial isolates in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

Maroons: African slaves who escaped into the Jamaican frontier and formed their own communities.

Melungeons: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. They are also known as Ramps in Virginia.

Mestizo: A person of mixed Spanish and American Indian or European and East Indian ancestry.

Metis: A North American term referring back to the mixed-blood families of the French and other European fur traders on the North American frontier.

Mick(ey) (Mac, Mickey Fin): A historic term in the USA, the UK and the British Commonwealth for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia, it has been used from the nineteenth century to mean a Roman Catholic.

Moors: A USA slur for several tri-racial isolates groups in Cumberland County, New Jersey and Kent County, Delaware.

Mucker: A slur used historically in Boston for Irish who found employment filling in the Back Bay which was marsh and water at the time.

Mulatto: A somewhat vague term to denote mixed-race: means bi-racial, tri-racial or more.

Mulattoes: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates of Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

Munt(er): A derogatory term used by whites in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia for a black person.

Mestee (Mustee): See Octoroon

Mzungu: Used among blacks in Malawi and Eastern Zambia for a white person, although not necessarily offensive.

Nams: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates who in 1912 were living in Estabrook and Davenport, Delaware County, New York.

Negro(e): 1.) A common term to describe a person of African descent from the eighteenth  through twentieth centuries. 2.) A common word figuratively used among whites to mean a slave, as in “I’ll be no man’s negro” meaning “I’ll be no man’s slave.” 3.) Variations of the word, depending on regional English accents or the ethnic group using it are Nigger, Niggra, Niggroid, Nigra, Nigrah, Nigruh among others. It may or may not be offensive depending on the context.

NINA: A term to denote “No Irish Need Apply” used in the nineteenth century in the USA when many people would not hire Irish immigrants.

Ocker: Used in Australia and New Zealand for an uncultivated Australian.

Octoroon, (Mestee, Mustee): A person who is 1/8 black and 7/8 white; the child of a white parent and a quadroon.

Okie: A slur for the massive waves of poor white and mixed-blood migrants escaping the Dust Bowl of the 1930s bound for California. Estimates are 15% of Oklahoma residents left. They were viewed as a virtual ethnic group within California’s larger white community. Their plight was popularized in John Steinbeck’s classic novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) It is still used today and depending on the context may or may not be offensive.

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Professional Links

Dwight Radford, visit me at: www.thejourneyhomegenealogy.com

Leland Meitzler Publisher of genealogy products and books: www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com

Irish Genealogical Society International: www.irishgenealogical.org  I write articles for their journal The Septs

Mike O’Laughlin author of Irish family history books: www.irishroots.com

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, MFA, CG professional book editing: www.nonfictionHelp.com  

Come enjoy the December research tour: www.SaltLakeChristmasTour.com I am one of the consultant’s at this wonderful event

 

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Dictionaries, Ethnic Connections, Glossary, Historical, Terminology

Racial Dictionary (Part 1)

26 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

Where we seek a context for our research, if we are to understand the historical records and what we are reading, we need to know how people described each other. 

This three-part blog about race is an educational resource to share my findings on terms I have gathered to describe people with Irish roots. These blogs are my creation and I take full responsibility for them. I include the following segments of the population: African American, Afro-Caribbean, Native American, Scots-Irish, and whites with roots in the UK and Ireland. While the listing span the centuries, I’ve only chosen historical and academic terms you will find in your research.

Racial labels come from any number of places. Some are based on color, nationality, race terms, family names, foreign languages, ancestors, geographic residences or culture. Others are just dirty! Not all terms are derogatory, but are simply descriptions for “them.” Also, contexts have changed over the years. In North America race originally was thought of in terms of skin color. In modern Canada, race is associated with culture; while in the USA, it is still associated with skin tone.

Be aware that I have included both crude, vulgar and inappropriate terms as well as academically appropriate terms. For good measure I have included all the inappropriate terms I could find to describe the Irish either at home or abroad. You may be familiar with some of them. The Irish Catholics and the poor whites in the USA (those with Scots-Irish roots) share the brunt of these words. 

My hope is my “Racial Dictionary” will make you laugh, cry and stare in amazement at the world our ancestors lived in. To demonstrate how important these terms are, I provide one example. If your family lore said you were “Black Dutch” then know that this term was code for mixed-blood Cherokees or Chickasaws with European ancestry. It’s no big deal today. However, in pre-Civil Rights USA society, skin tone defined who had civil rights and who did not. A family either “passed for white” at some point or made up a term to explain their skin color. By the way, a “Black Dutch” family is almost guaranteed a Scots-Irish ancestor.

My “Racial Dictionary” can not include all words and phrases. I have limited it to terms about groups of people, not individuals within the group; thus slurs such as Uncle Tom and Aunt Jemima are not included. My goal is to capture the essence of the main racial terms you may encounter in your research. This dictionary is meant to complement other genealogical racial glossaries such as “Old Time Racial Terms & More People of Color”: www.smoot-family.us/terms.html, by Frederick K. Smoot. Also be aware that whenever I use the term “common” I am referring to slag taken from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/

I have also had several genealogists review these three blogs for accuracy and usefulness. A list of reviewers and a list of my sources are provided at the end of the third blog.

Angie: A Canadian slur for English-speaking Canadians. It is short for Anglophone and is used in Quebec.

Anglo-African: A white African largely of British Isles descent. see Pommy (Pommies).

Anglo-Indian: People of mixed Indian and British ancestry. It also includes Indians from the old Portuguese colonies of Coromandel, Malabar Coasts, Goa and people of Indo-French and Indo-Dutch descent. It was originally used to describe all British people living in India.

Arabs: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Summit, Schoharie County, New York.

Bay Frog: Hudson Bay and Frog refers to those with French Quebec ancestry. Sometimes termed Frog.

Black Carib: A term used by the Caribbean colonial governments to describe people of mixed African and Carib heritage.

Black Dutch: A USA term used among mixed-blood Cherokee and Chickasaw families, who did not remove to Oklahoma to “pass for white” by describing their skin tone in European terms.

Black Irish: 1.) A USA term used by mixed-race families with Cherokee and Chickasaw ancestry to whites too account for their skin tone.  Black Dutch was also used. 2.) A term for dark-haired Irish.

Bog Jumper: A slang for the Irish because of the many bogs in Ireland.

Bog Lander: A common term for an Irishman.

Bog Irish: A term used in the UK and Ireland for someone of low class or common Irish ancestry.

Bog Trotter: A common term for an Irishman.

Brass Ankles: A USA slur for tri-racial isolate families in Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Berkeley, Orangeburg and Clarendon counties, South Carolina. The term is thought to signify a “toasted brown color.” Today, the modern tribe is Beaver Creek Indians 

Breed(s): A North American slur for a mixed-blood Native American. See Half Breed.

Bristol Man: A common term for the son of an Irish thief and a Welch whore.

Broganier: A common term for someone who has a strong Irish pronunciation or accent.

Brown People: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Rockbridge County, Virginia on Irish Creek.

Buckheads: A USA slur for tri-racial isolate families in Bamberg County, South Carolina.

Buckra: A term for a white man used by African slaves.

Bug: A common term used by the Irish for Englishmen, as it is said that bugs were introduced into Ireland by the English.

Bushwhackers: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in Columbia County, New York. Also known as Pondshiners.

Cajans: A term used to describe mixed-blood families, many tri-racial isolates in: Mobile and Washington counties, Alabama.

Cane River Mulattos: A slur for tri-racial isolates on Cane River in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.

Carib: The indigenous people who inhabited the Caribbean Islands and parts of the neighboring mainland.

Carmel Indians: A term to describe tri-racial isolates in Carmel, Highland County, Ohio. They are related to the Melungeons.

Cherokees: A USA term to describe what is today called the Waccamaw Siouan tribe of Bladen and Columbus, North Carolina. Also called “Indians of the Green Swamp,” and Croatans.

Clappers: A USA term to describe tri-racial isolates of Clapper Hollow in Schoharie County, New York.

Clay Eaters: A USA slur to denote the practice of eating clay by some poor whites and some blacks in the Old South, particularly in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It was also used as a slur for some tri-racial isolates in the South.

Coal Cracker: Slang for the Irish, because so many Irish immigrants mined coal.

Cockney: A UK term for a person from East London. It has been used to refer to the working class Londoners, particularly from the East End.

Coe Clan: A USA term to describe the tri-racial isolates in Cumberland and Monroe counties, Kentucky.

Cohee: An eighteenth century USA term for independent Scots-Irish small farmers from the Piedmont or Appalachian Mountains. By the nineteenth century, it also came to mean “poor white trash.”

Colored: A historic term used in various contexts. 1.) In the USA it is an African American. Usage ranges from inoffensive to offensive. The term “free color” is seen in the records. 2) In South Africa, it conveys mixed-race.

Coolie: A term used differently for different groups: In the nineteenth century USA, describes the Chinese workers on the railroad; it also described Indo-Caribbean people, especially in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago; and described South African Indians.

Coon: A historic USA slur for a black person popularized in the song “Zip Coon” played at Minstrel shows in the 1830s.

Cracker: A nineteenth century term used in the USA to describe either a poor white Appalachian or a poor white Southerner in general. It also denotes the descendants of Scots-Irish.

Creole: 1.) A person of mixed European and African descent born in the Americas. In the fifteenth century, Portuguese-African traders popularized the term (crioulo/a). The term refers also to a language that blends European and African languages, spoken by Europeans, Africans and African-Americans, the most common being French Creole in St. Domingo/Haiti. 2.)  A USA slur for several tri-racial isolate groups in Baldwin and Mobile counties, Alabama.

Croatans: A USA slur that came into use about 1885 for tri-racial isolates in Robeson County, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett, Sampson and Scotland counties, North Carolina; Marlboro, Dillon, Marion, Horry counties, South Carolina. Modern tribes historically known as Croatans include the Coharie Intra-Tribal Council, Waccamaw Siouan, and Beaver Creek Indians.

Cubans: A USA slur for tri-racial isolates in North Carolina and Virginia. Also called Person County Indians.

Darke County Indians: A USA term to describe tri-racial isolates located near Tampico, Darke County, Ohio.

Darky (Darkey, Darkie): A general and historic term used by many ethnic groups; depending on the context, it  may or may not be a racial slur. When used against blacks, it is offensive; when used by blacks as a description, it is not offensive. In South Africa, it can be both offensive and racist.

Dingey Christian: A common term for a mulatto, especially of African ancestry.

Dogan (Dogun): A nineteenth century Canadian term for an Irish Catholic.

Donkey: A slang term used for the Irish in nineteenth century Pennsylvania; it was cheaper to hire an Irishman than a donkey in the coal mines.

East India Indians: A Colonial American term for people from the Indian subcontinent, used especially in Maryland and Virginia.

Tomorrow, I will continue with Part 2.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Dictionaries, Ethnic Connections, Glossary, Historical, Terminology

Prison Slang Dictionary (1811)

12 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

The prison records for the Republic of Ireland are now on microfilm and online. This is a boom for genealogists as we can learn personal details about our ancestors. This helps us to see these characters in our family history for who they were, or at least how the court and prison system viewed them.

While collections of prison records can be found on websites such as “FamilySearch”: www.familysearch.org and “FindMyPast.ie”: www.findmypast.ie these are from the perspective of the government. This blog is to help you understand how the average person, often part of the prison system, saw the prison experience and the process leading up to prison.  

My “Prison Slang Dictionary” is drawn from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/ These are common terms, and it may surprise you how many are still in use today. This is part of my personal reconstructing of this 1811 source so that it is both accessible and educational for the family historian. I refer you to my past blogs “Un-Churched Dictionary of the Churched” Part 1 and 2 which appeared on September 9-10 where I unpacked church terminology. Also I refer you to my initial research into these types of sources in my blog “Vulgar Dictionaries” on July 9th. I hope my creation amazes and entertains you.

Block House: A prison or houses of correction.

Canary Bird: A jail bird, a person who used to be kept in a cage.

Cat of Nine Tails: A scourge composed of nine strings of whip-cord, each string having nine knots.

Clinkers: Irons worn by prisoners.

Cly the Jerk: Meaning to be whipped.

College: A prison.

Collegiates: A prisoner.

Cooped Up: Imprisoned, confined like a fowl in a coop.

Conjuror: see Fortune Teller

Fortune Teller/Cunning Man: A judge who tells every prisoner their fortune, lot or doom. Also called a conjuror. see Lambskin Men.

Gaol: A jail or prison.

Jigger: A whipping post.

Lambskin Men: The judges from their robs lined and bordered with ermine (an Old World weasel).

Limbo: A prison or confinement.

Lob’s Pound: A prison.

Queer Ken: A prison.

Rumbo: A prison.

Sheriff’s Hotel: A prison.

Stone Jug: A prison.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Dictionaries, Historical, Terminology

The Un-churched Dictionary of the Churched (1811) – Part 2

10 Sep By Dwight Leave a Comment

In Part 2 of my Un-Churched Dictionary of the Churched, I continue with terms from 1811 either draw from church terminology or meant to reflect church culture. Many are frankly crude, but this was the world of the common folk who seldom had a voice. These words also provide a window into the world of the un-churched or moderately churched in how they saw the religion of their day.

Japanned: Ordained. To be japanned is to enter into holy orders or become a clergyman. This meant to put on black cloth, the color of the Japan ware.

Jehu: To drive Jehu like is to drive furiously; taken from the King of Israel a famous charioteer.

Jesuitical: Sly, evasive, equivocal; as in “A Jesuitical answer.”

Jew: 1) An over reaching dealer or extortioner. 2) A tradesman who has no faith and will not give credit.

Jew Bail: Insufficient bail.

Jew’s Eye: That’s worth a Jew’s eye; a pleasant or agreeable sight.

Joseph: 1) A woman’s great coat. 2) A sheepish bashful young fellow an allusion to Joseph who fled from Potiphar’s wife.

Kill Devil: New still burnt rum.

Kill Priest: Port wine.

Mess John: A Scotch Presbyterian teacher or parson.

Moses: “To stand Moses” means a man has another man’s illegitimate child fathered upon him and he is obliged by the parish to maintain the child.

Nazakene Foretop: The foretop of a wig made in imitation of Christ’s head of hair, as represented by the painters and sculptors.

Neck Verse: Formerly the persons claiming the benefit of clergy were obliged to read a verse in a Latin manuscript psalter; this saved them from the gallows. It was Psalms 51:1.

New Light: A Methodist; one of the New Light.

Nick: The Devil, sometimes called Old Nick.

Non-Con: A nonconformist, Presbyterian or any other dissenter.

Nose Gent: A nun.

Pantile Shop: A Presbyterian, or other dissenting meeting house, frequently covered with pantiles. Also called a cock-pit.

Parish: His stockings are of two parishes. In other words they are not fellows.

Parish Bull: A parson.

Parish Soldier: A jeering name for a militiaman. It comes from the substitutes being frequently hired by the parish from which one of its inhabitants is drawn.

Parson: A guide post, hand or finger post by the road side for directing travelers. It is compared to a parson because like him, it sets people in the right way. See Guide Post

Piss Prophet: A physician who judges of the diseases of his patients solely by the inspection of their urine.

Pontius Pilate: A pawnbroker.

Postilion of the Gospel: A parson who hurries over the service.

Pot Converts: Proselytes to the Catholic Church made by the distribution of victuals and money.

Priest Ridden: Governed by a priest or priests.

Pudding Sleeves: A parson.

Reader Merchants: Pickpockets, chiefly young Jews who ply about the bank to steal the pocket books of persons who have just received their dividends there.

Red Letter Day: A saint’s day or holiday, marked in the calendars with red letters. Also used as “Red Letter Men” which referred to Roman Catholics from their observation of the saint days marked in the red letters.

Resurrection Men: Persons employed by the students in anatomy to steal dead bodies out of church yards.

Saint Geoffrey’s Day: Never, there being no saint of that name, the term means tomorrow-come-never.

Saint Luke’s Bird: An ox. The evangelist St. Luke always being represented with an ox.

Shit Sack: A vulgar term for a non-conformist.

Smous: A German Jew.

Snub Devil: A parson.

Solfa: A parish clerk.

Soul Doctor/Driver: A parson.

Spiritual Flesh Broker: A parson.

Spoil Pudding: A parson who preaches long sermons, keeping the congregation in church till the puddings are overdone.

Steeple House: A name given to the church [Church of England] by Dissenters.

Stewed Quaker: Burnt rum, with a piece of butter. An American remedy for a cold.

Swaddlers: The Irish name for a Methodist.

Thorough Churchman: A person who goes in at one door of a church, and out at the other without stopping.

Tickle Text: A parson.

Tu Quoque: The mother of all saints.

Tub Thumper: A Presbyterian parson.

Wet Quaker: A member of the Society of Friends who has no objection to wine.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church records, Dictionaries, Terminology

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Dwight A. Radford

Dwight A. Radford is a professional family history researcher. Along with his staff they specialize in Ireland, England, Canada, African American, Native American, and United States. Connecting families together through historical documents and then creating a cherished family heirloom published book for generations to enjoy. Full bio…

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