PEDIGREE (probably from Lat. pes, a foot), a tabular view of the members of a par ticular family with the relations in they stand to each other, accompanied or unaccompanied by a notice of the chief events in the life of each, with their dates, and the evidence of the facts stated. Pedigrees are indispensable aids to the student of his tory. The wars of the Roses, the claim of Edward III. to the crown of France, the rela tive position of Mary and lady Jane Grey, the circumstances which brought about the union of the crowns of England and Scotland, the Sleswick-Holstein question, which occupied the attention of all Europe, and ninny other familiar chapters in the history of nations, as well as of families, cannot be read aright without the aid of pedigrees. 'I he materials to be used in the formation of a pedigree are notes of the facts to be set forth, and a recognized series of signs and abbreviations. These notes comprise the name of every person who is to appear in the pedigree, with such dates and circumstances as it may be considered desirable to record. Among the commonest abbreviations are dam, for daughter of; s. and le., son and heir of; cob., coheir of; w., wife of; s. p. (sine prole), without issue; v. p. (rita pain's), in his father's lifetime; b., born, d., died; dep., deposed; K., king; E., earl, etc. The sign = placed between two names, indicates that they were husband and wife. All 'Arsons of the same generation are to be kept in the same horizontal line; and the main line of descent is, wherever possible, to be indicated by keeping the successive names in a vertical column. Continuous lines indicate the suc cession of the different generations.* The members of the same family arc generally arranged in their order of birth in two groups—the sons first, and then the daughters; but where the same father or mother has children by more than one marriage, the chil dren of each marriage ought to form distinct groups. The actual arrangement, however, of a pedigree must always depend on the leading object which it is intended to illus trate.
Tabular genealogies, generally brief, and meant to illustrate some particular claim of right, are found among the records, public and private, of the early middle ages; but after the incorporation of the English heralds' college, far more attention was devoted to the compilation of pedigrees of families, more particularly with reference to their claims to dignities and heraldic insignia. In the course of the 16th c. the heralds obtained copies of all such accounts of the English families of any distinction as cola) be supplied to them, and entered them in the books which contain the records of their official proceed ings. Royal commissions were issued under the great seal to the two provincial kings of-arms, empowering them to visit in turn the several counties of England, in order to collect from the principal persons of each county an account of the changes which had taken place in their respective families in the interval since the last preceding visitation, and to inquire what account could be given of themselves by families who had stepped into the rank of gentry, or had become settled in the county since that period. The reg
ister-books kept by the heralds and their assistants contain the pedigrees and arms col lected in the course of the visitations, with the signatures of the heads of the families. The pedigrees thus collected contain a vast body of information, interesting- not only to the professed genealogist, but to every one who would know anything of the distin guished characters in English history. Some of these books are lost, the rest are scat tered among the public and-private libraries of the country, the largest collections being in the archives of the college of arms and the British museum. After the beginning of last century the visitations were discontinued, and there has since been no official and regular collection of pedigrees. A standing order of the house of lords in 1767 required that before any peer should be allowed to take his seat, garter-king-of-arms was to deliver at the table of the house of lords a pedigree of his family, to be verified by the committee of privileges, and eventually preserved in the records of the house, a copy being also registered in the college of arms. This order was rescinded by lord Thurlow in 1802, with the view of framing a new one: but, unfortunately, this was never done. Persons sensible of the importance of preserving an authentic account of their descent, frequently record their pedigrees for preservation in the register of the college of arms. This regis ter is quite distinct from department of that institution, and is open to any one who wishes to preserve evidence of any properly authenticated facts regarding his descent and family.—In Scotland, in the absence of the regular of visitations which prevailed in England, there is a great deal of evidence regarding the pedigrees of the historical families of the country scattered here and there in public and private col lections, including the advocates' library and lyon office. A register of genealogies. similar to that of the English heralds' college, exists in the lyon office, in which the pedi glees of applicants, after being proved to the satisfaction of the heraldic authorities, arc inserted with the accompanyino. evidence. "To what extent the register of gimealogies in the lyon office may be admitted as it probative document, conclusive of the facts which it sets forth, has not been ascertained by actual decision; but there can be no doubt that, in questions both as to property and honors; it would b3 regarded as a most important adminiele of proof. The genealogical department of the heralds' college in London is a very important one, and it is to be regretted that the uses of the correspond ing department of the !you office are so little understood and appreciated by the public." —'Lorimer's handbook of the Law of Scotland, 2d edit. p. 446.