Alphabetical Listing of Termiinology related to the Website of the Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village

Terminology

Anvil	A large block of iron used by blacksmiths to shape other metals
Bagging	A loose, coarsely woven cloth used as the protective covering for a cotton bale.
Barter	To trade by the exchange of goods for goods.
Batt	A continuous sheet of cotton fiber.
Blacksmith	A person who makes and repairs horseshoes and other metal objects. Also called a farrier.
Boarder	One who is provided regular meals and lodging.
Box house (board and batten)	A structure built with vertical plank walls that are constructed without a frame. Boards make up each wall, much like the sides of a box. The walls support the roof without using studs or timber frames. The spaces between the vertical planks were covered with a thin strip called a batten.
Cardinal direction	The main directions of the globe: north, south, east and west.
Chamber pot	A bedroom vessel for urine or other waste.
Cotton Belt	The geographical area where cotton is grown.
Cotton broker	A large, powerful press that further compresses a cotton bale into a smaller, denser unit.
Cotton compress	A large, powerful press that further compresses a cotton bale into a smaller, denser unit.
Cotton press	A press for bailing ginned cotton.
Crockery	Thick-walled ceramic containers for domestic use.
Crop lien	A monetary claim upon a crop. Often the merchant or landowner extended credit for living expenses to a farmer, and the crop became collateral for the debt.
Cutlery	Knives and other items used in the cutting and serving of food.
Dogtrot	A space between two rooms of a structure which is open at both ends and shares a common roof with the two rooms. Also called a dogrun.
Draft animal	An animal used as a beast of burden. Horses, mules, and oxen were used to pull wagons, carts, and plows.
Farrier	A person who makes and fits from shoes for draft animals.
Ferry crossing	A site where a ferry boat was used to cross a river.
Forge	The place or piece of equipment where a blacksmith's fire was built to heat the iron.
Frame construction	A building method in which the walls are formed of a lightweight structure covered by thin siding.
Freedman	A former slave.
Galveston	An important coastal Texas trading center and port of the 1890's.
Gin stand	A machine that separates the cotton seeds, hulls, and foreign material from the fiber.
Hames	Curved wooden or metal supports fastened on the sides of a horse collar.
Hardtack	Flour and water mixed and baked into hard biscuits. Also called sea biscuits or pilot bread.
Immigrant	A prson who comes to a new country to live.
Ironware	Skillets and other household items made of iron.
Isolation	Being separated from a group; being alone.
Joist	The horizontal beam connecting the walls of a building. A floor joist supports the floor, and a ceiling joist connects the tops of two walls.
Jute	A coarse, brown fiber obtained from the stalk of a plant in India that was used in burlap, sacking, bagging and rug backing.
Klutch	A word originally used by German speaking blacksmiths to mean a pile of leftover and scrap iron.
Lancashire	A county in northwestern England, the leading cotton manufacturing area in the world.
Land measures	The Spanish unit of linear measure, the vara, was used in early Texas and is still used today in titles, deeds, and other legal descriptions. A vara is about thirty-three and one third inches. Many Texas colonists received a "league" and a "labor" of land. A labor equals a 1000 vara square. A labor equals one twenty-fifth of a league, or 177 acres. A league is a 5000 vara square. Also known as a "sitio", it equals 4428 acres or 6.9 square miles.
Landing	A wood structure of deck built at the edge of a body of water that was used to transfer goods between boat and land.
Landlord	The land owner.
Lining out	A method of singing in which the leader recites the words to a song line by line and the congregation then sings them.
Lint	The cotton fibers.
Lint cotton	The cleaned cotton from the gin stand.
Liverpool	A port in northwestern England that had direct steamship connections with Galveston and was the port of entry for cotton going to Lancashire.
Livery	A stable where horses are kept.
Log construction	A method of construction by which the walls are formed of logs notched near the ends and stacked so they interlock. The horizontal surfaces are squared off to provide a smooth wall.
Merrimac Valley	The valley of the Merrimac River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The river was the source of power for the many mills and factories that lined its banks.
Molasses	The syrup obtained by boiling and evaporating the juice of sugarcane or sorghum.
Mouth	The place where a river empties into a larger body of water.
Navigable	Having sufficient depth of water to operate a steamboat.
Notarize	To authenticate a document.
Oil press	A machine that crushes, presses, and extracts the oil from cotton seed.
Orienteering	Using maps, landmarks, and a compass to find your way.
Patent medicine	A packaged nonprescription drug or medicine of secret composition drug or medicine of secret composition protected by a trademark.
Pick	A method of harvesting cotton removing only the lint and seeds from the boll.
Planter	One who owns or operates a plantation.
Pole construction	A type of log construction using smaller diameter logs.
Precipitation	Any form of water that falls from the sky; rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.
Privy	An outhouse or outdoor toilet.
Probate	To establish a will as genuine and valid.
Pull	A method of harvesting cotton removing the entire boll and its contents.
Reconstruction Period	The period of transition from military rule after the Civil War to the restoration of a popularly elected state government in 1874.
River ford	A site where a river is shallow enough to wade or drive across.
River town	A town on a river whose reason for being or commerce depends upon the river location.
Scholar	A student.
Seed cotton	Unginned cotton that still contains the seeds.
Shape-note singing	A system by which the shape of musical notes indicates the pitch. The singers are divided into groups with each group singing only one note. Also called "fa, sol, la" for the notes used or "sacred harp singing" after one of the most famous of the shape-note songbooks, B. F. White's "Sacred Harp."
Sharecropper	A farm laborer hired to work the land and paid wages in the form of a portion of the crop.
Sills	Horizontal beams that rest on the foundation blocks and support the weight of the structure.
Slate	A polished slab of the mineral called slate with the edges bound in word for protection. Providing a writing surface for chalk or slate pencils.
Slate pencil	A pencil made from a thin, paper-wrapped cylindrical piece of slate that makes a thin, faint line on the slate. Chalk makes a more legible line but is used up sooner.
Smith	The blacksmith, one who smites.
Smithy	The blacksmith's shop
Staple	The unworked or natural fiber from which textiles are made.
Staple goods	Foodstuffs such as sugar, salt, flour, and vinegar that are used on a regular basis.
Tallow	Beef fat.
Tenant farmer	A farmer who rents from the land owner using a portion of the crop to pay rent.
Tinware	Housewares made of tin.
Tonsorial	Relating to a person who shaves beards.
Union church	A nondenominational church.
Wainwright	A wagon maker.
Wheelright	A wheel maker.

Click here to print a PDF version of this document.