Daily AncestorLamplighter
A lamplighter was a city worker who lit the street lamps at dusk, put them out at dawn, and kept them clean and filled.
Street lamps burned oil and later gas, and someone had to light each one every evening with a long pole and put it out in the morning. Lamplighters also cleaned the glass and refilled oil.
The job declined as electric streetlights spread in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Jas. Daly, 34, Lamplighter, N.Y.
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Daily Ancestor. "Lamplighter." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/lamplighter. Last checked 2026-10-01.