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My father hauled milk from farms to a city dairy; when I was a teenager my mother took a job clerking in a five and dime store.
One grandfather was a farmer (his second wife actively helped him on the farm), his first wife was a housewife and a first-class neurotic; the other grandfather was a carpenter, his wife was a housewife.
All of my greatgrandfathers were farmers, though one later became a cheesemaker. Their wives raised large families.
All of my grt-grtgrandfathers were farmers in Ireland and/or Canada - with one exception. One died on the boat trip over along with one of his children, and his wife took over his land claim and worked along side of her two oldest sons on the land. They also used walk two days to town to sell the potash they made to a local merchant.
As far as I can recall all the men before them were also farmers, though one was also a miller in the Netherlands and for a few years ran an inn Vlissingen/Flushing a village several miles from New Amsterdam, and also a mill in present-day Jamaica, Queens. Their wives raised very large families. One married-in relative was a Dutch Reformed minister in a church in Brazil, but had to flee when the Dutch colony fell to the Portuguese.
I have a step-grandmother of Cornish heritage on the maternal side to whose family I had a closer relationship than with that of my deceased blood grandmother. This woman's father was a Bible Christian circuit preacher in Canada, and on her maternal side she was descended from one of the early Bible Christian missionaries in Devon, who was later sent to Canada.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Mom's side primary were tobacco farmers, though some would live for a while in Cincinnati to take a higher paying factory job. Dad's side grew ginseng, moonshine , or worked in the coal mines. Since the 1970s most now have office jobs.
Off the top of my head and going backwards; one modern-day Texas gunsmith, one musket manufacturer in North Carolina, at least three medical doctors, at least two lawyers, one U.S. Congressman, one NC House of Commons member, numerous dirt farmers, railroad tie builders, many housewives, two east Texas sheriffs, several protestant ministers, post masters, Justice of the Peaces, school teachers, several merchants, several Scottish earls, one Scottish princess, many Civil War and Revolutionary War soldiers and probably many other less obvious, but just as honorable, blue- and white collar professions.
One interesting one was a Royal Forester in Werdau Sachen Germany - A Law Enforcer responsible for patrolling the woodlands. In the past it was usually on a Nobles or Lords property. He negotiated sales of goods within the property, stopped poaching, and pursued criminals who hid within the area. Cool
Shiloh,do you know how your ancestor got to be a royal forester? According to what my dad told me,and records in Germany,he had relatives in the Black Forest who were hereditary foresters.
Other relatives were landholders, military men and artisans.One of the cousins in Garmisch had been a burgermeister and also had been a steward to the king.A couple of cousins in Himmelstadt in the 1900s were burgermeisters,they were father and son.They were also musicians and toy makers,Andreas and Johannes Georg Hilpert were famous makers of toy soldiers in Nuremberg,and one of the relatives from there went to Vienna and founded Carl Hilpert Spielenware,which is a place that sells toys and has been in business over 100 years.
Most of my ancestors were subsistence farmers, coal miners, loggers and ne'er do wells. My favorite so far is one of my g-g-g-grandmothers who was a blacksmith in southeastern Kentucky in the early 1800s. Now that's a mountain woman. Her husband was a farmer and three of her sons were blacksmiths. I haven't worked out exactly how that came about yet but I suspect that her father was a blacksmith who didn't have any sons interested in the trade.
Most of my ancestors were subsistence farmers, coal miners, loggers and ne'er do wells. My favorite so far is one of my g-g-g-grandmothers who was a blacksmith in southeastern Kentucky in the early 1800s. Now that's a mountain woman. Her husband was a farmer and three of her sons were blacksmiths. I haven't worked out exactly how that came about yet but I suspect that her father was a blacksmith who didn't have any sons interested in the trade.
Most of the distant ancestors, at least as they were listed on the census, were farmers, and some were "laborers" (which can mean anything). Interestingly, a few of the women, who were stay-at-home mothers and farmers' wives were listed as "milinery," meaning they made or decorated ladies hats, probably at home, and got paid for it.
I had a great-grandfather who owned a very early Ford dealership (he sold Model Ts). He started that up after he sold his ice delivery business in which he had an ice house and several horse-drawn wagons that would deliver ice to people's homes. His father had been a farmer who also owned a box factory.
I had another great-grandfather who worked on the railroad outside of Philadelphia, after coming over from Germany. Later, he switched to working on trolleys after he lost an arm in a railroad accident.
I haven't seen smithy work mentioned yet - I had subsequent generations of blacksmiths in a couple areas. Railroad worker, postmaster, schoolteachers, but like many others, mostly farmers.
My grandfather and great grandfather were blacksmiths in the Hegins area of PA. My dad and his uncles worked in the coal mines and later became carpenters.
My mom's dad was a door to door salesman
Paternal Grandmother's father was recruited from England to be a carpet weaver.
Paternal Grandfather' parents came from Norway and I don't know what he did, but his son, my grandfather, was the treasurer of a company that is still in business.
Maternal Grandfather worked for the electric company for his whole life. Both his parents, and my grandmother's parents were, I think, farmers. Many of the relatives on this Swedish side worked in the granite quarry in Vermont.
The way it seemed to work in Massachusetts is the English relatives, who had gained more social stature, married the Swedish girls, who were pretty, but had more menial jobs. As the product of one of these marriages, I'm greatful for the nice Swedish straight teeth.
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, or worked in the coal mines. Since the 1970s most now have office jobs.
