Daily AncestorDoffer
A doffer was a textile mill worker, often a child, who removed full bobbins of yarn from spinning frames and put on empty ones.
Spinning frames filled bobbins quickly, and doffers raced along the rows taking them off and replacing them.
Doffer is a common entry for young teenagers in the 1880 to 1910 returns for mill towns in New England and the Carolinas.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Jas. Long, 13, son, Doffer in cotton mill, N.C.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Doffer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/doffer. Last checked 2026-10-01.