Daily AncestorKeeping house
Keeping house was the 1870 and 1880 census entry for a woman running her own household without other paid work.
The 1870 and 1880 instructions told enumerators to write keeping house for women who kept house for their own families or themselves with no other gainful occupation. Grown daughters helping them were to be left without occupation.
Keeping house is not the same as housekeeper, which was reserved for someone paid for the work. Later censuses changed the wording, and 1910 told enumerators to write none for this situation.
As seen in a recordRelationship and occupation columns of the 1880 census
Mary, 38, wife, Keeping house
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Keeping house." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/keeping-house. Last checked 2026-10-01.