Rootsweb has lots of useful genealogical resources. Dictionary of Ancient Occupations and Trades, Ranks, Offices, and Titles is one. Did you know that a ripper was a a seller of fish, a hacker a maker of hoes, and a catchpole a sheriff's officer, especially one who arrests debtors?
09 March 2009
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2 comments:
They don't have my "boot clicker": This was one of the skilled and best paid jobs in the shoe industry. A clicker CUT out the leather for the different parts that made up the shoe and the term comes from the sound made when carrying out the job.
Or Pendicler: a Scots terms for someone who farms a pendicle of land (isn't that helpful). Basically a sub-tenant who farmed a small piece of land.
One of my earlist finds when I started searching Census was to discover that several of my wife's female teenage ancestors had the occupation of "Hooker in Bleach Works".
The best description that I found was that they were employed with long hooked poles to lift the cotton fabric out of the vats of bleach.
Just google 'hooker in bleach works' and you may find my initial query from 2003 posted on a rootsweb mailing list.
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