Daily AncestorBeekeeper
A beekeeper kept hives of honey bees to produce honey and beeswax, for sale or for the household.
A beekeeper owns the hives and equipment, while the bees are free to forage. Beekeepers are also called apiarists or honey farmers. Honey is their most valuable product, with beeswax and pollen besides, and some also raise queen bees to sell to other keepers.
Many people kept bees as a hobby or as a sideline to their main work, while others ran beekeeping as a commercial business.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Elias Grantham, 61, Beekeeper, Bee farm
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Daily Ancestor. "Beekeeper." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/beekeeper. Last checked 2026-10-12.