Reading American English records can pose a challenge not anticipated by most genealogists–foreign words adopted directly from other languages. Case in point–French law terms and French phrases used in records and sources. Here is some easily retrieved help:
Lavender, Abraham D. French Huguenots: from Mediterranean Catholics to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. New York: Peter Lang, 1990. This is from American University Studies, Volume IX, p. 80 ff.
Lavender talks about the importance of genealogy to Sociology and History–a fairly unique admission from the academic world. And the Appendixes include glossaries of word meanings in originals documents and codified laws.
The book is easily available from http://FamilySearch.org where it is digitized. Highly recommended whether your ancestors were Huguenots or not because Law French permeated early Colonial laws and records. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS My website now includes 1) a new clients and friends Letter–if you need help researching a hard-to-find ancestor. And 2) a new Blog, launched last week called Be of Good Cheer! In the winter we are experiencing in Northern Utah, we need all the good cheer we can get. My first post describes the robots on our dairy farm that milk the cows. With pictures taken by my webmaster Kathryn Bassett.
PPS Congratulations to Colton and Harley Russon on their new baby boy Ryker Russon, born 31 January 2017, 6 lbs 13 oz, with very dark hair! Could the dark hair be a throw back to my Welsh background? After all, he is my new grandson.