Daily AncestorWharfinger
A wharfinger owned or managed a wharf, taking charge of goods landed there and collecting the fees for using it.
The word is pronounced WORF-in-jer. A wharfinger kept an office on the wharf, received and stored goods, kept records of what came and went, and settled disputes over berths and charges.
Today the job is usually called harbor master or wharf manager. In an old record the title points to a responsible, often well-connected man in a port town.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Chas. Lord, 55, Wharfinger, N.Y.
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Daily Ancestor. "Wharfinger." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/wharfinger. Last checked 2026-10-01.