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This is the entry for "occupation" for my 3rd great grandfather in the 1851 Canadian census. I can't figure out what it says. The last two letters may be -er because they look very much like the way the end of "farmer" is written for other people on the same census book page. But the letters prior to that ... well, I can't figure it out. (Ignore that slash through the word.)
I bet you're right. The image I have of the census page doesn't have any names with an upper case W to compare it with, but weaver would make total sense since he emigrated from Manchester, then the textile center of the world. Thanks. Mystery solved, I'd say.
This is the entry for "occupation" for my 3rd great grandfather in the 1851 Canadian census. I can't figure out what it says. The last two letters may be -er because they look very much like the way the end of "farmer" is written for other people on the same census book page. But the letters prior to that ... well, I can't figure it out. (Ignore that slash through the word.)
Go back to the page and look for what sort of work his neighbors/family were doing.
Also... mousing over the various cells should get a pop-up with detail
We located now an earlier census for him in England before he emigrated to Canada. In that his occupation was "Draper". Seems 3rd great grandpa was a laborer in the textile industry and brought that trade with him to America working as a weaver.
His son, my 2nd great grandfather, went on to farming as a homesteader in North Dakota, expanded his land holdings over time and added a lumbar company.
His son, my grandfather, went to medical school and became a doctor.
It's just that old American (also Canadian) immigrant family story.
(The family trajectory took a dive after that with my father... but that's the old story of having too much handed to you, plus alcohol.)
Looked like weaver to me and it's good to see another one who escaped the mills in the north of England. My grandparents did too but it was woolen mills in Yorkshire whereas in Manchester (Lancashire) it was cotton mills. Weavers, drapers, dyers, overseers of the worsted weavers, on and on. Horrible life if you go back and read about it. A lot of those old mills still stand although many have been converted into housing or put to other uses.
I want to learn more about mill work and that life. Apparently my 3rd great grandfather lived in some kind of worker housing, gender segregated, long after he was married. My brother found some documentation that showed he and my 3rd great grandmother (who also apparently worked in the mills) were married young, but did not live together for 3 years. Only being lodged at the same address when they finally arrived in Canada. It must have been an enormously hard life.
I want to learn more about mill work and that life. Apparently my 3rd great grandfather lived in some kind of worker housing, gender segregated, long after he was married. My brother found some documentation that showed he and my 3rd great grandmother (who also apparently worked in the mills) were married young, but did not live together for 3 years. Only being lodged at the same address when they finally arrived in Canada. It must have been an enormously hard life.
I'll have to agree with you that the lives they led were difficult and there wasn't much, if any, opportunity to better yourself. I learned about it from belonging to online genealogy groups before Ancestry existed. Most of the members lived in the North of England and were descendants of mill workers themselves. They told the stories that their grandparents and gt grandparents had told. They would describe the working conditions too.
It is a modern day history and interpretation which tends to somewhat glorify the era and desires to preserve the old mills and their history. Very interesting pictures and maps. At the end is a list of definitions of terms that would have been commonly used in the textile industry back then and then some more extra added attractions.
Personally, I have never found a book that describes the life of an ordinary family. I do have books on the history of the areas. Only once did I read a book that told the true story of a mill worker's family in Lanacashire but it was unpublished and a friend of the author lent it to me. Grim is the word. The theme was how the woman of the house made do with broken bisquits and other scraps to feed her family. Seems that "making do" was the way of life. I do know that the workers usually lived in row houses either directly across from their mill or very close by. (row houses=terraced houses.) Work started early and ended late. Get there a few seconds late and you would be whipped. Children were forced to leave school at the age of 13 to work in the mill and they were forced to do work far beyond their physical ability. A young boy would lose a hand in a machine but no one cared. Girls got their hair caught in a machine and no one would care. The co-workers cared deeply about each other though because the mill owners cared only for money.
People worked six days a week and got a day off for Christmas. You can look up back to back houses--the style of the tiny places in which they lived. They slept "head to toe" to fit more people into the bed.
The air is said to have been kept constantly dark from the smoke and a sort of joke was that even the pigeons had to fly backwards to keep the soot out of their eyes.
^^^Three books that might or might not be interesting and helpful to you.
It's surprising how little seems to have been written about people's lives in those days. I was fortunate enough to have been able to participate in that online Yorkshire group and hear about it. We heard about the dialects, the food, the sayings...here's a common everyday Lancashire saying to get you started: "Be reet."
Thank you for those leads and tips! It is somehow difficult to imagine the harshness of that life, but it also resonates very deeply.
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Mystery solved, I'd say.
