Old occupations · card P

Plowman

A plowman was a farm worker who plowed the fields, guiding a plow drawn by horses, mules or oxen.

Plowing turned over the soil before planting, burying weeds and crop remains. Plows were drawn first by oxen and later by horses and mules, and a plowman drove the team and steered the plow along the furrows.

Ploughman is the British spelling of the same word. The title describes the work rather than a status, so it can belong to a hired hand or to the farmer himself.

As seen in a recordOccupation column of a British census, or an 1850 to 1880 U.S. census
Robt. Laird, 24, Ploughman, Scotland
How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "Plowman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/plowman. Last checked 2026-10-10.

Related cards

Next: Plumber