Daily AncestorLawyer
A lawyer was a person qualified to practice law, advising clients, drawing up legal papers and representing people in court.
Lawyer is one of the sample occupations named in the 1850 census instructions, alongside clergyman, physician and shoemaker. A lawyer advised clients, drafted deeds, wills and contracts, and argued cases in court.
Instructions for 1870 said judges could be assumed to be lawyers, so the census did not need to add that word for them, and that a lawyer who had given up practice should be written as retired lawyer. Other officeholders were to have their real profession named too.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Henry W. Gale, 39, Lawyer, Vermont
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Lawyer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/lawyer. Last checked 2026-10-10.