Daily AncestorWhitesmith
A whitesmith was a metalworker who worked with tin or pewter, or who filed and polished iron rather than forging it.
A blacksmith forged dark iron in the fire. A whitesmith worked with light-colored metals such as tin and pewter, or did the finishing work on iron and steel: filing, polishing and fitting locks and similar items.
The meaning varied by place and period, so a whitesmith in one record may be a tinsmith and in another a locksmith or finisher.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Josiah Snow, 37, Whitesmith, Mass.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Whitesmith." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/whitesmith. Last checked 2026-10-01.