Daily AncestorCabinetmaker
A cabinetmaker built fine wooden furniture such as chests, desks, tables and cupboards, work more exact than a house carpenter's.
Before industrial design, a cabinetmaker was responsible for both designing and making every piece of furniture. In the later 1700s leading cabinetmakers such as Thomas Chippendale, Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite published books of furniture designs that other makers copied.
In census returns cabinetmaker marks a skilled woodworker; a joiner did fitted woodwork in buildings, and a turner shaped parts on a lathe.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1940 census
Fredk. Baum, 39, Cabinetmaker, Hesse
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Daily Ancestor. "Cabinetmaker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/cabinetmaker. Last checked 2026-10-10.