Daily AncestorChandler
A chandler was a candle maker or candle seller; tallow chandlers used animal fat, and the word later spread to dealers in supplies.
Originally a chandler made and sold candles. A tallow chandler used rendered animal fat, the cheap everyday option, while wax chandlers worked with more expensive beeswax. Chandlers often sold soap too, since it used the same fat.
The word later stretched to mean a dealer in a particular line of supplies. On the waterfront that sense survives as ship chandler. Context in the record, such as a port town, helps tell which kind you have.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Josiah Hale, 50, Tallow chandler, Mass.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Chandler." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/chandler. Last checked 2026-10-01.