The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Beware the meaning of job titles from A to Z
This column was published Nov. 10, 1996
Like journalism, genealogy is an unending education.
I suppose that's one of the reasons both have such power over me. I'm constantly exploring and learning new things. We genealogists are into such a variety of things, from history to mystery.
From the standpoint of history, one of the things that fascinates me about genealogy is the fact it deals with the history of common folks like you and me. History as we studied it in school - yawn -focuses mostly on political leaders.
Don't get me wrong, political leaders are interesting. Stranded 600 miles away from home over Christmas break at Brigham Young University, I was engrossed in reading a biography of Disraeli, one of Great Britain's greatest prime ministers. And that reading wasn't even remotely connected with studies. I read it purely for pleasure.
But somewhere along the way, it dawned on me history and biography rarely deal with the great masses from which most of our ancestors came. Genealogy is much more likely to take us back to a pansmith than to a prime minister.
Sometimes we are befuddled by the occupational titles clinging to the ancestral roots we dig. From ackerman to zoographer, they can confuse. If you think you're pretty good with occupational titles from bygone years, test yourself on these.
They have a strongly British air about them, but then so does United States history.
Ackerman: A ploughman or ox herder.
Bummaree: A middleman who bought fish from wholesalers and sold them to retailers.
Clicker: In shoemaking, a person who cut out pieces of leather; in the printing trade, a chargehand who prepared material ready for printing; in the textile industry, someone who made up a garment (also called a makerup).
Dempster: A judge. Eyer: A person who made the eyes in needles. They also were called "holers."
Fagetter: A person who made up faggots (bundles of wood) into bundles, or who sold firewood.
Gaffman: A court bailiff.
Harlot: Be careful of this one. In the recent past, it usually meant a prostitute, but going back a bit further, the title was applied to vagabonds and beggars, and to male servants. Similarly, beware of Hooker. Again, in the vernacular of our times - and since the Civil War - hooker has been synonymous with prostitute, but in the textile industry, hookers operated a machine that laid fabric flat in uniform folds of any required length.
Iron monger: A dealer in hardware made of iron. Also known as a Feroner.
Jakes-farmer: Someone who emptied cesspools for a living.
Knappers: Men who dressed and shaped flints into required shape and size. If you have knappers in your family tree, chances are their flints were used in flintlocks in weapons for the British Army.
Lorimer, also spelled loriner: A person who made spits, bridles and other metal parts for the harnesses of horses. Also a maker of small ironware or a wrought iron worker. Also known as a spurrier.
Mondayman: A person who worked for a landowner on Mondays in lieu of rent. Also called a cottager.
Nipper: A boy employed by the carter or wagoner to help collect and deliver goods. (And now you know where we get the expression, "Just a little nipper.")
Outworker: A person who carried on their occupation at home. The term apparently originated among cotton and woolen weavers, but it spread to many other occupations.
Preceptress: A school mistress.
Quarrel picker: A glazier.
Rack maiden: A girl employed in the tin mines of Cornwall to dress the ore.
Sucksmith: A ploughshare maker.
Tranqueter: A person who made hoops.
Upright worker: A chimney sweep.
Vulcan: A blacksmith.
Wainwright: A wagon builder, not to be confused with wheelwrights, who made wheels.
Xylographer: Someone who made or used wooden blocks used in printing illustrations.
And, oh yes, back to zoographers. Zoographers describe and classify animals.
And that pretty much covers occupations, from A to Z.
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