occupations of the past

[PineappleDanish]

I do a lot of transcribing for Ancestry and the FreeCEN project, currently transcribing my way through an 1871 Oxfordshire census. Some of the occupations are fascinating. Staymakers (people who make corsets) I have come across before but today there's a new one!

Fellmonger.

"a dealer in hides or skins, particularly sheepskins, who might also prepare skins for tanning. The name is derived from the Old English 'fell' meaning skins and 'monger' meaning dealer."

Who knew? This is what I love about social history and census transcribing.

[Ellmau]

a scavenger. Basically, he picked up litter for the council!

Scavengers cleared the streets of dung left by horses and other animals. It was sometimes euphemistically called nightsoil.

[PineappleDanish]

There are a lot of stories about names changing over time because of illiterate spelling. It's also common with people who moved to the UK with a foreign surname - it was just translated into the nearest English spelling. The Scottish surnames Bruce and Murray come from the Norman French de Brus and de Moray, lots of families anglicised their spellings to try to escape the prejudice against immigrants.

I did read one theory that so many people in North America claim Scottish ancestry because most of the clerks working at Ellis Island immigration in New York were Scottish. They'd ask someone from Bulgaria, Russia or Iran their surname and wouldn't recognise the answer, so would just write down the nearest Scottish/UK equivalent they did recognise. So all these people are convinced they are part of the clan McDonald or Abercrombie when they are anything but. I haven't seen any hard evidence for this theory though!

I love Who Do You Think You Are, have seen the US version too but it's often not as good. Think my favourite was Bill Connolly who discovered Indian ancestry.

[LittleCandle]

While searching for my great-great grandfather, I came across someone of the same name (sadly all too common) who was a scavenger. Basically, he picked up litter for the council!

If you are interested in transcribing, Who Do You Think You Are magazine is organising transcription Tuesdays. Pop along to their website to sign up.

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

@PineappleDanish - my DH's family name is really unusual. Less than 10 people in the world have it, and majority are in his immediate family - the rest are cousins he doesn't really know.

One possible theory his dad stumbled across whilst researching their family tree is that it comes from an (extremely!) illiterate ancestor's attempt to spell Gilchrist!

[Shosha1]

I loved doing my Family Tree, did my English paternal back to the 18th century a few years ago.
My brother did our Scottish Maternal side, again back to the 18th century.

I'm now retired so have just followed your link @PineappleDanish and signed up to transcribe. Thank you for the link.

[StrictlyAFemaleFemale]

I have a fellmonger in my tree! The only typo Ive found was my g.gf he was an alto lay clerk which was transcribed as say clerk.

[PineappleDanish]

Seale maker - most probably sail maker or seal maker. Some of the spellings are.... unusual. You have to remember that it wasn't until 1880 that education was compulsory until the age of 10. So on the earlier census returns lots of people wouldn't have very much education at all. Literacy rates rocketed during the 19th century but in 1851 or 1861 I would imagine that most people working on farms or in trades wouldn't be able to read and write. So the enumerators for the census came along and asked what your daughter was called and you said "Alice", they wrote "Allis" on the form and you had no idea if it's right or not. In my own family tree I have the surname "McLaughin". Distant ancestor from Northern Ireland who moved to Scotland and worked on farms. His surname is spelled a myriad of ways - McLaughlan, McLaughland, Mclachlan, McLochlin, McLoughlin. All because he didn;t know himself how it was spelled and he was relying on officials to make up their own minds about it.

I have always been interested in family history, did my own tree and when I was on one of the bit websites I saw a volunteer for us button. Clicked it and got started. The big websites like Family Search and Ancestry have a lot of American records, also foreign language records. I speak Spanish fairly fluently so transcribe things like Peruvian birth records or marriage certificates from Panama. The UK census is a much larger project, the other sites split records down into small batches of 10 or 20 records and grade them as easy/medium/hard.

As for the writing it's like everything, the more you look at it, the more familiar it becomes.

[justdontatme]

Good question - how did you train yourself up, OP? I want to transcribe my great-great grandmother’s honeymoon diary but find the handwriting so hard.

[Useryokyesno]

Wow op!, @PineappleDanish I've been doing my family tree. The cursive handwriting on the documents is very hard to read! Feel like you've got a superpower. How did you learn this ir get into it?

Sorry for diverting the thread. All of my family were basically miners then before that were agricultural workers. So not loads of interesting occupations to add.

[Hiddentext]

Thank you for the comments on "higgler".

[Buttybach]

My great great grandad was a currier
Someone who produces leather

[Ellmau]

Higglers sold eggs and other products.

Seal maker - maybe involved in manufacture of wax seals used on documents? What sort of date is it?

[Trumpspeach]

@PineappleDanish, one of my ancestors appears to have been a 'seale maker' or something similar. I can't find any information on this - can you help please????

[zelbazinnamon]

I think a higgler was a pedlar, so a hygler is probably a spelling variation?

One of my ancestors recorded his occupation as "son of wholesale cabinet maker" - think he meant "my dad pays my way"!

[Hiddentext]

I have an ancestor who was a "hygler" (that's what it looks like) I think it means wheeling and dealing but if anyone knows more I'd love to know.

[MollyButton]

My Ex husbands line has someone who was a Doctor or similar but then ran away to join the circus.

[SistersOfPercy]

I love the idea myself.
My uncle has a lot of detail on him I believe. He was very well respected as a trainer in the USA. I keep meaning to sit down with uncle and go through his research.
Can’t blame him for running away though tbh. Turn of the century stoke on Trent was a grim place with few prospects.

[SaskiaRembrandt]

SistersOfPercy I love the idea of someone running away with the circus - it's one of those things you hear about but never imagine actually happening.

[SistersOfPercy]

@SaskiaRembrandt my Great Grandfather was a Saggar Makers Bottom knocker.
In a nutshell, the saggar was like a box that held the pottery in place during firing, the base was made by a bottom knocker. They were usually kids and progressed to other jobs within the pots. Great Grandad then became a Saggar, which was a much more skilled job.

My father was a saucer maker at one point, Gran a flower maker, Mum a lithographer. In fact, my entire family worked pots apart from one Great Uncle, who much to my amusement, ran away with a visiting circus. He became a horse trainer.

[SaskiaRembrandt]

There may be local groups looking for transcribers too. It's always worth helping them because they tend to survive with a very limited number of volunteers but often do a really great job. Having local knowledge means they can provide advice that wouldn't occur to a bigger organisation.

[PineappleDanish]

www.freecen.org.uk/cms/opportunities-to-volunteer-with-freecen

or google for transcribing with Ancestry, Family Search and lots of other organisations.

[Prokupatuscrakedatus]

I would love to do this! I tried to volunteer for the church records of my home town but I am too far away for it to be practical.

One of my ancestors was a 'winkelier' - sb who sells things from a corner (winkel) of their kitchen or living room i. e. the keeper of a very very very small shop.

[chineseny]

Didn't know that about the enumerators...

[chineseny]

Pineapple- thanks so much!

[PineappleDanish]

Some of the handwriting on the census forms is appalling. And that's the enumerators. All the crossings out and faded writing don't help either.

The most frustrating thing about transcribing is that you have to type what is on the paper, even if you KNOW it's wrong. So you have to write Allice when it's probably Alice, or Abbingdon when you know perfectly well that the town is Abingdon.