Daily AncestorPaperhanger
A paperhanger hung wallpaper, measuring, pasting and fitting the rolls on walls and ceilings.
Wallpaper became popular in American homes during the 1800s, and paperhangers were skilled at matching patterns and handling wet, fragile paper. Many also painted or whitewashed.
In slang a paperhanger was a passer of bad checks, but in an occupation column the word means the decorating trade.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Fredk. Kuhn, 35, Paperhanger, Germany
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Paperhanger." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/paperhanger. Last checked 2026-10-01.