Daily AncestorJobber
A jobber was a middleman who bought goods in quantity from makers or importers and sold them to stores; in other records it means a man who did odd jobs.
The 1870 census instructions asked enumerators to add the class of business to a merchant's entry, such as wholesale, retail, importer or jobber. In that setting a jobber stood between the maker or importer and the shopkeeper.
The word could also mean someone paid by the job or piece rather than by the day, so read the rest of the line. Jobber, dry goods is the merchant; jobber alone may be the odd-job man.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Saml. Hirsch, 45, Jobber, dry goods
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Jobber." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/jobber. Last checked 2026-10-01.