Old occupations

Jobs your ancestors listed in the census. Free to print and share. Full explanations: dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations

Accoucheur

Male birth attendant or obstetrician

Amanuensis

Wrote from dictation; a secretary or scribe

Apothecary

Made and sold medicines (old word)

At home

Child or adult not at work or school

At school

Attended school that year

Barber surgeon

Barber who also bled patients and pulled teeth

Blockmaker

Made wooden pulley blocks for ships

Boatsteerer

Harpooned whales from the whaleboat

Bobbin boy

Boy who carried bobbins in a textile mill

Bootblack

Shined shoes for pay

Brakeman

Set brakes and coupled railroad cars

Brazier

Worked in brass

Breaker boy

Boy who picked rock out of coal

Bullwhacker

Drove an ox team hauling freight

Canaller

Worked on canal boats

Capitalist

1900 census: lived on interest, stocks, bonds

Carder

Combed fiber before spinning

Carter

Hauled goods by cart, often farm to market

Cartwright

Built two-wheeled carts

Cash boy

Ran money between store counters and cashier

Caulker

Sealed ship seams to keep out water

Chandler

Made or sold candles

Chapman

Old word for a trader or dealer

Charcoal burner

Made charcoal from wood

Charwoman

Day cleaner, not a live-in servant

Chimney sweep

Cleaned soot from chimneys

Cigar maker

Rolled cigars by hand

Clerk of court

Kept a court's records and filings

Clothier

Made or sold cloth or clothing

Coachmaker

Built carriages and coaches

Cobbler

Repaired worn shoes and boots

Collier

Coal miner

Colporteur

Traveling seller of Bibles and tracts

Commercial traveler

Official census name for a drummer

Compositor

Set metal type for printing

Cooper

Made wooden barrels and casks

Coppersmith

Hammered copper into kettles and pots

Cordwainer

Made new shoes from new leather

Corsetiere

Made or fitted corsets

Culler

Inspected and graded goods for market

Currier

Finished and softened tanned leather

Cutler

Made or sold knives and other cutting tools

Daguerreotypist

Made early photographs on silvered plates

Day laborer

Worked for daily wages at odd jobs

Doffer

Swapped full spinning bobbins for empty ones

Domestic servant

Paid household worker in a private home

Drayman

Drove a heavy cart hauling goods in town

Dressmaker

Made women's dresses to measure

Drover

Drove livestock on foot to market

Druggist

Sold medicines; a pharmacist

Drummer

Took store orders on the road for a wholesaler

Dyer

Colored yarn or cloth with dyes

Exciseman

Collected taxes on liquor and other goods

Exhorter

Licensed lay preacher, not ordained

Factor

Agent selling goods for others on commission

Farm laborer

Worked on a farm but did not run it

Farrier

Shod horses and cared for hooves

Fence viewer

Inspected fences and settled fence disputes

Fire boss

Checked a mine for dangerous gas before shifts

Flagman

Signaled with flags to warn trains

Forgeman

Hammered iron at a large forge

Founder

Cast molten metal in molds

Fuller

Cleaned and thickened new woolen cloth

Furrier

Made or sold fur garments

Gauger

Measured the contents of casks for taxes

Gentleman

Man of means who did not do manual work

Gilder

Covered objects with gold leaf

Ginner

Ran a cotton gin

Glazier

Cut and fitted window glass

Glover

Made or sold gloves

Goldbeater

Hammered gold into thin gold leaf

Governess

Taught children in the family's home

Hackler

Combed flax or hemp fibers straight

Hackman

Drove a horse-drawn cab for hire

Harness maker

Made leather gear to hitch horses to wagons

Hatter

Made or sold men's hats

Hawker

Cried goods for sale in the street

Hello girl

Woman telephone operator at a switchboard

Herb doctor

Treated illness with plant remedies

Hired man

Farm worker who lived with the family

Hod carrier

Carried bricks and mortar for masons

Hog reeve

Town officer who rounded up loose pigs

Home farm

Worked on the family's own farm

Hostler

Stableman who cared for horses

Housekeeper

Paid to run a household (not a wife)

Housewright

Built wooden-framed houses

Huckster

Street or cart seller, often of produce

Husbandman

Small farmer, below a yeoman in rank

Ice cutter

Cut and stored ice from frozen lakes

Iceman

Delivered ice blocks to homes

Indentured servant

Bound by contract to work a set term

Innholder

Kept an inn for travelers

Ironmaster

Owned or ran an ironworks

Japanner

Coated goods with glossy black varnish

Jobber

Middleman buying wholesale to sell to stores

Joiner

Did fine fitted woodwork

Journeyman

Trained craftsman working for a master

Justice of the peace

Local magistrate for minor cases and marriages

Kalsominer

Coated walls with whitewash (kalsomine)

Keeping house

Ran her own household, unpaid

Lamplighter

Lit and tended the street lamps

Landwaiter

Customs officer at the unloading of cargo

Laster

Pulled shoe leather over the foot-shaped last

Laundress

Washed and ironed clothes for pay

Lighterman

Moved cargo by barge in a harbor

Lime burner

Burned limestone in a kiln to make lime

Limner

Traveling portrait painter

Livery stable keeper

Rented horses and rigs, boarded horses

Lock tender

Worked canal locks to raise and lower boats

Locomotive fireman

Fed coal to a steam locomotive

Loom fixer

Mill mechanic who repaired weaving looms

Lumberman

Worked in logging or the lumber trade

Lumper

Extra hand hired to load and unload cargo

Maid of all work

Servant doing every kind of housework

Maltster

Made malt from grain for brewing

Mantua maker

Dressmaker (named after an old style of gown)

Market gardener

Grew produce on a small plot for local sale

Mate

Ship's officer below the captain

Midwife

Woman who delivered babies

Milliner

Made and trimmed women's hats

Millwright

Built and repaired mill machinery

Molder

Packed sand molds and poured metal castings

Mule spinner

Skilled hand who ran a spinning mule machine

Muleskinner

Drove a team of mules

Nailer

Made nails

Newsboy

Sold or delivered newspapers

Nightman

Emptied privies and cesspools at night

Operative

Factory or mill worker

Ordinary keeper

Kept a tavern or inn

Overseer

Supervised workers for an owner

Overseer of the poor

Town official in charge of poor relief

Own income

1910 census: no job, lived on own means

Oysterman

Harvested or sold oysters

Paperhanger

Hung wallpaper

Pattern maker

Made wooden models for metal casting

Peddler

Traveling seller of small goods

Pewterer

Made dishes and mugs of pewter

Phrenologist

Read character from bumps on the skull

Pilot

Guided ships through local waters

Planter

Owned or ran a Southern plantation

Poor farm keeper

Ran a county or town poor farm

Pound keeper

Kept stray livestock in the town pound

Pressman

Operated a printing press

Publican

Kept a pub (public house)

Puddler

Stirred molten iron to make wrought iron

Pullman porter

Attended passengers on railroad sleeping cars

Quarryman

Dug and split stone in a quarry

Raftsman

Floated log rafts downriver

Ragpicker

Collected rags and scrap to sell

Retired

No longer working

Rigger

Fitted the ropes and lines of a ship

Roller

Ran the mill that rolled hot metal

Ropemaker

Made rope from hemp or other fiber

Saddler

Made and repaired saddles and bridles

Sailmaker

Made and repaired ships' sails

Saloon keeper

Ran a saloon or bar

Sawyer

Sawed logs into lumber

Schoolmistress

Woman who taught or kept a school

Scrivener

Wrote out deeds, wills and letters for a fee

Scutcher

Beat flax or cotton to remove woody bits and seeds

Sealer of weights and measures

Tested and stamped merchants' scales

Seamstress

Sewed clothes for pay

Section hand

Maintained a stretch of railroad track

Selectman

Member of a New England town's governing board

Sexton

Church caretaker and gravedigger

Sharecropper

Worked land for a crop share; owner gave house, tools

Ship chandler

Sold supplies and gear to ships

Shipwright

Built and repaired wooden ships

Silversmith

Made silver spoons, cups and other wares

Spinner

Tended machines that twisted fiber into yarn

Spooler

Wound yarn onto spools in a mill

Stage driver

Drove a stagecoach

Stationary engineer

Ran a factory or building's steam engines

Stevedore

Loaded and unloaded ships

Stonecutter

Cut and carved stone into shapes

Sutler

Sold goods to soldiers in camp

Switchman

Threw track switches in a rail yard

Tailoress

Woman who worked as a tailor

Tallyman

Kept count of goods as they were moved

Tanner

Turned raw animal hides into leather

Tapster

Drew and served drinks in a tavern

Teamster

Drove a team hauling freight wagons

Telegrapher

Sent messages by telegraph

Tenant farmer

Rented a farm, often with own tools and stock

Tide waiter

Customs officer who boarded arriving ships

Tinker

Traveling mender of pots and pans

Tinner

Shop tinsmith making tinware and stovepipe

Tithingman

Kept order in church and on the Sabbath

Toll gatherer

Collected tolls at a gate or bridge

Town crier

Called out public announcements

Truck farmer

Grew vegetables to sell in city markets

Turner

Shaped wood on a lathe

Turnkey

Jailer who kept the prison keys

Typewriter

A typist (the person, not the machine)

Vendue master

Auctioneer at public sales

Victualler

Supplied food and drink

Wainwright

Built large farm wagons (wains)

Warper

Set up the lengthwise threads for weaving

Waterman

Boatman ferrying people or goods

Weaver

Made cloth on a loom

Wet nurse

Woman hired to breastfeed another's baby

Whaler

Hunted whales at sea

Wharfinger

Owned or managed a wharf

Wheelsman

Steered a ship or steamboat

Wheelwright

Built and repaired wooden wheels

Whitesmith

Filed and polished iron; also worked pewter

Wigmaker

Made and sold wigs

Without occupation

No paid work and no income of their own

Working out

Worked on another person's farm for wages

Wrecker

Salvaged cargo from wrecked ships

Yeoman

Farmer who owned his own land