Daily AncestorPhrenologist
A phrenologist claimed to read a person's character and abilities from the shape and bumps of the skull, a popular 1800s practice now known to be pseudoscience.
Phrenology taught that different parts of the brain controlled different traits, and that their size showed on the outside of the head. Phrenologists gave paid readings, lectures and charts, and some traveled from town to town.
It was fashionable in the mid 1800s and faded later. An ancestor listed as phrenologist was a lecturer or practitioner of this belief, not a doctor.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
L. N. Abbott, 40, Phrenologist, N.Y.
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Daily Ancestor. "Phrenologist." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/phrenologist. Last checked 2026-10-01.