Daily AncestorAmanuensis
An amanuensis was someone employed to write from dictation or copy manuscripts, in effect a secretary or scribe.
The Latin word comes from the phrase for a slave who wrote by hand for a master. In English it named a writer, clerk or secretary who took down letters or books spoken by someone else, or made fair copies of them.
It is uncommon in census returns but appears in biographies, letters and city directories, often for the assistant of an author, minister or scholar.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the census and city directories
Mary Hale, 28, Amanuensis
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Amanuensis." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/amanuensis. Last checked 2026-10-01.