LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS > 1999-10 > 0939066068


From: "Thurston, George" <>
Subject: [LDR] Re: Abbreviation: D.B.N. and reference sources
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 15:41:08 -0400


Listers:

A very handy reference volume is "Black's Law Dictionary,
With Pronunciations," Fifth Edition, West Publishing co.
St. Paul Minn, 1979. That's the edition I happen to have, a
refugee from a "bargain book sale" at one of the major book
chains in Tallahassee a few years ago.

If I were a practicing lawyer, I'd probably want something
more current, but folks in the 18th and 19th Centuries had
great difficulty psyching out what lawyers would be arguing
about in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Therefore, this
"overprint" cheapie will cover the legal terms that interest
most genealogists.

This is one of nearly a dozen dictionaries of many flavors
that clutter my shelves. Not one of them has a problem with
cholesterol; they get exercised frequently!

And BTW, E. J. German ferreted out a definition for "D.B.N"
that agrees completely with Black's Law Dictionary.

Also BTW, both the Random House Unabridged (Second
Edition) and Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (on CD ROM)
definition of the term agrees with Black, but neither lists
the abbreviation. A lotta help THAT is!

Now, can anyone find a dictionary that has a definition for
"BTW?"

George in Tallahassee
========================================

Diane Swift wrote:

> I've searched all genealogy abbreviation lists I can find
on-line and can't find the meaning of D.B.N. as it relates
to probate records. I found the abbreviation in the
Ancestry Library database of Leon De Valinger's Calendar
of Kent County, Delaware Probate Records, 1680-1800.

======================================


And "E. J. German" <> replied:
Diane, D. B. N. is short for de bonis non, meaning the
original administrator had died or otherwise been replaced.

======================================

This thread: