Daily AncestorPuddler
A puddler was an ironworker who stirred molten pig iron in a furnace with a long iron bar to turn it into wrought iron.
Puddling was one of the hottest and hardest jobs in industry. The puddler worked the molten metal through the furnace door until it formed a spongy ball of wrought iron, then dragged it out for hammering.
Puddlers were skilled and well paid. They appear in Pittsburgh, eastern Pennsylvania, Ohio and other iron districts until steel making replaced the process.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Evan Jones, 34, Puddler, Wales
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Puddler." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/puddler. Last checked 2026-10-01.