Daily AncestorUpholsterer
An upholsterer padded and covered chairs, sofas and other furniture with springs, stuffing and fabric or leather.
Upholstery means fitting furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing and covers. Traditional upholsterers built it up by hand in layers, using horsehair, straw, coir and linen, and after about 1850 coil springs. The craft also covered mattresses.
The older English word was upholder, an artisan who made fabric furnishings. The 1900 census instructions note that upholsterers worked alongside blacksmiths, painters and wheelwrights in carriage factories.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1900 census
Fredk. Ahl, 39, Upholsterer, Germany
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Daily Ancestor. "Upholsterer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/upholsterer. Last checked 2026-10-10.