Take out Your Pencils and Number Your Paper from 1 to 20

Like clockwork, students heard these words on the day of the spelling test. Did you think I was kidding on Monday when I said a test would be given Friday? Let's see how well you remember your spelling and vocabulary terms this week. You will use each word one time to complete one of the sentences.

1. You will find my 7th great grandmother listed on my ____________________ chart.
2. Typically four or five generations will be included on a ______________ chart.
3. The slave was granted a _________________ by his owner.
4. I am a ___________________________ of my grandfather.
5. The man told Bob and Ben his wishes for the distribution of his estate but did not write it down; therefore, it is a _____________________ will.
6. Jill gave an _______________________ used in the court case.
7. The census taker recorded all the families in his ________________________ district.
8. Pappaw is buried in the ____________________.
9. A ______________________ DNA test pertains to the mother's mother's mother's line.
10. A Y-DNA test provides results for the ____________________________________ line.
11. Only males have a Y _____________________.
12. He is not in my direct line but he is a ________________________ relative.
13. A dictionary of place names is called a _____________________________.
14. ____________________________ is the practice of marrying within a small population group such as the Amish.
15. The study of family history is also known as ________________________.
16. A person's _____________________ reveals his family history and is sometimes placed on a web site of a major corporation bearing the same name.
17. A person who left no will is said to die ____________________.
18. A privilege or right called an ____________________________________ is often passed along in a deed.
19. An ______________________ DNA test reveals cousins from all branches of one's family as long as they have tested with the same company or provided results to a site such as GEDmatch.
20. Your ___________________ line comes from your mother.

Spelling and Vocabulary Test on Friday

This morning as I was reading Facebook I moaned as I saw the (misspelled) word "cementaries" materialize in a post. I immediately thought of the usual misspelling of the word which omits the "n" in the above misspelling and of the various misspellings for the word "genealogy" itself.

I reflected on school days when each Monday we were given a list of about 20 words that we were expected to spell correctly by Friday. As we got older, we were also expected to use them in a sentence or define them as well. I then realized that many new genealogists (and perhaps a few who have a little more practice) might benefit from such a spelling and vocabulary test focused on genealogical terms.

I'm sure you know the routine. You memorize the spelling, look up the words in a dictionary, and then write a sentence using them. Don't forget! A test is coming on Friday.

1. genealogy
2. cemetery
3. ahnentafel
4. collateral
5. chromosome
6. autosomal
7. mitochondrial
8. ancestry
9. descendant
10. enumeration
11. gazetteer
12. intestate
13. appurtenance
14. nuncupative
15. matrilineal
16. affidavit
17. manumission
18. pedigree
19. patrilineal
20. endogamy

I hope you will all make A's on the test on Friday!