Daily Ancestorlab.
lab. in a city directory means laborer, usually followed by the employer or the place of work.
City directories shorten laborer to lab., and the word after it often names the employer, as in lab McEwan Bros in the 1886-7 Bay City directory.
The 1900 census told enumerators not to write simply laborer but to state the kind of work, so compare the census with a directory line, which often gives the employer.
As seen in a recordEntry in a city directory
Ostrom Nels, lab Saginaw Mill, bds 41 Mill
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "lab.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/lab. Last checked 2026-10-12.