Daily AncestorLacemaker
A lacemaker made lace, the fine openwork fabric used to trim clothing and household linens, by hand or later by machine.
Lace is a decorative open fabric formed by looping, plaiting, twisting or knotting thread instead of weaving a solid cloth. It could be made by hand or by machine and was used to trim dresses, collars and household linens.
Census instructions for 1870 and 1880 told enumerators not to call a lace maker a lace manufacturer, a title kept for owners of the business. In 1940 a woman who did the work in her own home was to be entered as lacemaker at home.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1870 or 1880 census
Bridget Moran, 22, Lace maker, Ireland
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Lacemaker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/lacemaker. Last checked 2026-10-10.