Question of the Week: What unusual jobs have you found in your research?

Question

What unusual jobs or occupations have you found in your research?

Tell us about them with an answer below! You could also use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media.

Comments

My great, great grandfather Thomas McGlynn was a blacksmith. He emigrated to Ridgefield, CT in 1854 from Kildare. He was known as the only blacksmith in the region who could shoe a team of oxen.

---

My second great-grandfather Ludovicus Geeraert was a “teuten” from Luyksgestel, Noord-Brabant in the early 19th century. The teuten were traveling copper pot peddlers who walked around The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, selling their wares that were made in Denmark.

---

I came across many extended family members that worked in a local textile mill. One of them, at about 14, was employed as a doffer, one that retrieved empty bobbins from the textile machines. 

---

In census reports you  come across many occupations that no longer exist today, or that are now done by machinery.  Some of the textile industry occupations I have seen reported were "Heck Maker", "Tasseler", "Throstle Spinner / Throstle Jobber".  

I found it fascinating to watch Tony Robinson do some of the jobs I read about in the census forms, on his "Worst Jobs in History" series - especially those in the cotton mills as my great-great-grands were Lancashire mill workers.

---

@ John Tinker, I've go an ox shoe on the mantelpiece, we found it in the veggie patch, quite a common thing to shoe oxen in France (and probable elsewhere).

Answer 1

My grandmother's "tools of the trade," was an acoustic Martin guitar. She made a career of traveling the country, storytelling and singing folk music. I listen to her music every morning on my way to work. 

Answer 2

This one comes from the 'say it as it is' department. A distant relative of my wife was detained in (I think) Hackney workhouse in North London. Under occupation it said quite clearly 'prostitute'. A further column was headed up something like 'Reason for detention' to which the answer was 'syphilis'.

On a slightly more tasteful note, a relative described his occupation at the census as 'whitewasher'. It is I suppose clear what he did but could you actually see yourself making a career out of it?

Comments

Here is an interesting article about lost occupations. Whitewasher is one of them.

Answer 3

While working on the England Orphan Trail, the profile I improved came from a family of needle makers from Redditch, Worcestershire, UK. I learned that Redditch was a center of needle and fish hook manufacture from the 1600s and a bit about the process.

Answer 4

In early New England villages there was evidently a need to

have a responsible pig inspector or pig warden.

Don Sylvain.

Answer 5

My GGGGrandfather was a Tin Raker in a Cornish mine. It took a while to discover what this involved. I finally found out that after the pure tin ore was separated from the waste and remained at the top level of the washing frame, the Racker would then have tipped the frame around a lengthwise pivot and washed the
graded material into boxes beneath the frame. This was an aboveground mining role.

Answer 6

My third great grandfather is listed in the 1840 Danish census as a day laborer and musician. His wife's death record includes the note that she is the "wife of the music maker."

Answer 7

My ggm was a flour tester in Kansas

Answer 8

My GGGgrandfather was listed as a butter packer in 1864.

Answer 9

Henry Bourne b 1847 in Surrey (NB PoB changes!) gt gt gf

Maker of Vulcanite Earrings 1871

Ventrilaquist (sic) figure maker (toy maker) 1881

Ventrilaquist 1891

His wife Maria Hatch's father English was a Lath Renderer.

Answer 10

My great grandfather was a mortician and the county coroner and he embalmed the bodies in the basement of his house. He also paid his daughter, my grandmother, to put makeup on the dead people's faces when she was only 12! I thought she would have been horrified and traumatized, but when I asked her about it she acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. She said that death is part of life and no big deal. Attitudes toward death and what's appropriate work for a child must have been very different then!

Answer 11

My English Edmonds and Fairbanks families made “fine” carriages and sleighs. There were family stories about them making carriages for Massachusetts high-society citizens to ride in. I was able to verify this family occupation in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 US Census Bureau records as well as to answer the question as why my ancestors relocated from Massachusetts where they’d been since 1630 to Wisconsin by 1860.

In the 1850 Southbridge, MA, US Census, Levi Edmonds, my great-great-great grandpa is listed as a carriage maker. Along with his wife, Sally, and their five children is Horace Fairbanks, Sally’s half-brother are in the household. Horace Fairbanks’ occupation is also listed as a carriage maker. In 1860 and following years, the Southbridge, MA US Census shows Horace living with his own family and his occupation is listed as a wheelwright. He is not working with Levi. The 1860 US Census reveals that grandpa Levi has moved his family to Whitewater, Wisconsin. I was truly puzzled by this. Why would he move to Wisconsin?

Previously, I had found records showing that Levi had bought large tracts of cheap wilderness land around Whitewater that was never developed. I knew that Levi’s son, Loren Edmonds, my great-great grandpa had been a hunting and fishing guide so I assumed this was the reason for the land purchases. Loren guided wealthy folks from Massachusetts and New York on hunting trips. The next question I had was, where did Levi get the money to buy so much land?

I found my answer again in the1860 Whitewater, WI US Census. The household contains Levi, with his occupation listed as a carpenter and a joiner. His wife and children are with him as are his adult daughter, Mary, and her husband, Norris Goodrich. Norris’ occupation is listed as a “mechanic,” but there are no cars in 1860. Also, in the household are eight boarders, all able-bodied men from Ireland, Norway or Germany. Their occupations include: blacksmiths, carpenter and joiner, moulders (they shaped wood and metal), a painter and one laborer. Levi is running a largescale carriage and wagon making operation in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Norris’ mechanic skills at that time were probably used for attaching wheels and hitches and necks on the wagons. This information puzzled me even more. Why Wisconsin?

Further research on carriage and wagon making revealed that from 1860-1880 that the Racine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin region had a thriving wagon and carriage making industry.

I read that 1860-1880 was a time of great emigration from Europe to the US. The Midwest was a hub for immigrants to settle or a place to start to head westward. All of them needed transportation. Additionally, the US military needed wagons to transport weapons and supplies. Grandpa Levi was ahead of his time. He knew the trends. That’s where he made enough money to buy large tracks of land.

Answer 12

One of Uncles was a Stripper in the 1940's, I was sure it was a typo but it had to do with cable splicing. Made me giggle