GENEALOGICAL TERMS

COOPER: a barrel maker

COPPERHEAD: a nickname during the Civil War for a northern person who sympathized with the south.

COPYHOLD: an estate occupied and held at the discretion of the landlord.

CORDUROY ROAD: a road made of logs laid together usually across swampy ground, sometimes with space between the logs giving a very rough, bumpy, uncomfortable surface ribbed like corduroy material.

COSTERMONGER: a street-seller of fish, fruit or vegetables, usually from a cart of wagon; a contemptuous term, also.

COTTON BOATS: flatboats constructed of lumber used to transport cotton to the seaports, and usually dismantled at the port, where the lumber was sold.

COULEE: a deep ravine, usually by erosion, with water during the spring or in a heavy rainfall.

COUNTING HOUSE: a office or room in which the bookkeeping is done; a bank.

COUNTRY GENTLEMAN: a wealthy farmer.

COUNTRY SQUIRE: a wealthy person living in the rural district or whose income is derived from agriculture.

COUNTY CHANCERY COURT: a county court in matters of equity and guardianship in some states.

COUNTY EQUITY COURT: A county court in matters of equity and guardianship in some states; a civil court.

COUNTY ORPHANS COURT: civil courts in some states having jurisdiction over orphans and adoptions.

COURT JOURNAL: a daily record of court proceedings.

COURT MINUTE BOOK: a daily record of court proceeding of matters that come before the particular court. Some are indexed, primarily the later ones, but are very worthwhile to a genealogist since a variety of matters are covered and many persons will be found named herein that are not found in other records.

COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS: a court hearing criminal actions, meeting once every three months; many of these were later changed to circuit courts.

COURT RECORDS: records of the proceedings of any court, remain one of the most important and most neglected group of records for genealogists, and are recommended highly for research.

COUSIN: the son or daughter of an uncle or aunt; a collateral relative. A son or daughter of a great-uncle or aunt, is called a second-cousin, or a cousin once removed. The term cousin is also used for any relative of less kin that that of a direct ancestor, by some or when the exact relationship is undetermined. Hence the use of the term cousin does not necessarily mean the exact meaning.

COVERLID: a woven bedspread, known also as a coverlet or a counterpane.

COW COMMON: a public commons in colonial times where pasture of animals was allowed.

CRACKER: a boaster; a liar; "poor white" in southern states.

CRAMP COLIC: an early term that usually referred to appendicitis.

CREDIT ENTRY FINAL CERTIFICATE: the certificate given to land purchasers who had completed the payments on credit. Between 1800 and 1820 most of the land sold by the federal government was on a credit basis, at $2 per acre, with five years to pay for it.

CROFT: a small piece of land used for farming or pasture, usually attached to an house, and enclosed in some manner.

CROSSROADS WEDDING: the custom of a marriage held at a crossroads, after dark, in which the bride wore only her shift, indicating thus she was not bringing any debts to the marriage.

CRULLER: cake made from eggs, butter, sugar, etc., twisted or curled, and fried in lard.

CURRIER: one who dresses and colors leather after it has been tanned.

CURTESY: the life estate to which a man is entitled, upon his wife's death, in the land she owned in her own name, provided that had children born alive.

DAGUERREOTYPE: an early photographic process in which the impression was taken on a silver plate sensitized by iodine and then developed with mercury; also a portrain taken by the process.

DAINTY: an ice cream confection.

DEANERY COURT: an English probate court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

DEATH RATTLE: sound made by air passing with difficulty through mucus in the throat, often heard in a person near death.

DEC'D: abbreviation for deceased.

DEMOGRAPHIC: pertaining to the study of statistics of births, deaths, disease, etc.