This listing is from Treasures of the Past

Early Occupation Terms

Acater - a ships chandler

Accipitrary - falconer

Accomptant - accountant

Accoucheus - assisted women in childbirth

Accoutre - supplier of military accessories

Acreman - an ox herder, ploughman

Actuary - kept public accounts of business

Administrator - directed the affairs of others

Administratrix - a female administrator

Aeronaut - balloonist or trapeze artist in the circus or music halls

Alabasterer - worked with alabaster (white marble like mineral)

Alblastere - crossbow man

Alchemist - medieval chemist who claimed to be able to turn base metals into gold

Alderman - senior councillor one position down from the Mayor in the local counsel

Ale-Conner - official who tested quality and measure of ale served in public houses

Ale-Draper - seller of ale

Ale Tunner - employed by the brewery to fill ale casks (tuns) with ale

Alewife - woman who keeps a alehouse or tavern

All Spice - name for a grocer

Almoner - giver of charity to the needy

Almsman - received alms

Alnager - official who examined the quality of woolen goods & stamped them with the town seal of approval (Aulnager)

Amanuensis - secretary or stenographer

Amber Cutter - cut abergris

Amen Man - parish clerk

Anchor Smith - made anchors

Anchoress - female hermit or religious recluse

Anchorite - male hermit or religious recluse

Anilepman - small holder (tenant of the manor)

Angleiron smith - made angle iron (flat iron bars bent at right angles lenthwise)

Ankle beater - young person who helped drive the cattle to market

Annatto maker - worked in the manufacture of dyes for paint or printing

Antigropelos - maker made waterproof leggings

Anvil smith - made anvils and hammers for blacksmiths

Apiarian - beekeeper

Apothecary - prepared & sold medicines, pharmacist, chemist

Apprentice - was bound to a skilled worker for a specified time to learn a trade

Aproneer - term used in London for a shopkeeper

Apronman - mechanic

Aquarius - waterman

Aquavita seller - sold alcohol

Archiator - physician

Archil maker - made a violet dye from lichens, used in the textile industry

Arkwright - skilled craftsman who produced "arks" (wooden chests or coffers)

Armourer - made suits of armor or plates of armor for buildings or ships etc

Artificer - maker or fixer of intricate objects; A soldier mechanic who does repairs

Artisan – one who is trained in a trade

Ashman - Ship man or sailor, dustman

Assayer - determined the proportions of metal in ore

Assay Master - determined the amount of gold or silver to go in coins

Auger Maker - made the carpenter augers (using for boring holes in wood)

Aurifaber - goldsmith

Aveantor - hay and forage merchant

Avowry - term for the lord of the manor

Axel tree turner - made axel's for wagons and coaches

Backmaker - made "backs", vats, tubs, a cooper

Backster - baker

Backus Boy - kitchen servant (from back of the house)

Back Washer - employed to clean the wool

Badger - licensed pauper who wore a badge with the word "P", could only work in defined area. "Badgering" from this

Badgy Fiddler - boy trumpeter in the military

Bagman - traveling salesman

Bagniokeeper - charge of bath house or brothel

Bailie - bailiff

Bailiff - officer of the sheriff, a land Stewart, also looked after the fishing rights on rivers, King’s representative or agent of lord of the manor, officer under a sheriff to serve writs

Bairman - pauper or beggar

Baler - bails hay or wool or cotton

Balister - archer or cross bowman

Ballast Heaver - loaded ballast into the ships hold

Ballard Master - in charge of loading ballast into ships

Baller - assisted the potter by measuring out balls of clay

Bal maiden - female mine worker who worked o the surface

Band filer - metalworker in the gun making industry

Bandster - bound the wheat sheaves after harvest

Bang beggar - officer of the parish who controlled the length of stay any stranger to the parish

Banker - dug trenches & ditches to allow drainage of the land, placing the surplus dirt in banks around the edges

Banksman - mining industry being in charge of the cages at the pit head

Barber Surgeon - a Barber was also a Surgeon. In the 18^th Century an Act was passes that limited Barbers to hair-cutting, dentistry and blood letting

Bard - poet or minstrel

Bareman - begger or pauper

Bargee - worked on or owned a barge

Barge mate - Naval officer

Barilla maker - manufactured barilla, used in the glass & ceramics industry

Bar keeper - tollkeeper

Barrister - Lawyer

Baxter - baker

Belhoste - tavern keeper

Bartoner - charge of monastic farm, also known as Barton

Basil worker - worked with sheep and goat skins

Basketman - made baskets and furniture from wicker, also person who emptied the basket of coal being offloaded from the colliers into the barges

Bast dresser - employed in dressing fibre or matting

Bathing machine - owned the bathing huts used at seaside

Batman - officers servant in the army

Batt maker - made wadding used in quilts & mattress

Battledore maker - made the beaters used on clothes carpets etc to remove the dust. Later they made the paddles used in washing machines

Bayweaver - who wove bay (a fine woolen fabric also known as baize)

Beadle - town crier

Beadsman - employed to pray for his employer

Bead piercer - drilled holes in beads

Beamer - in textile trade to wind the warp on the roller before putting it on the loom

Bearer - worked underground carrying the coal to the bottom of the pit shaft and placed it in containers for uplifting to surface

Beater - cleansed and thickened the cloth by treading it underwater with fuller's earth

Beaver - made felt used in hat making

Bedral - sexton

Bedder - upholsterer; person who tends to the breeding & birthing of cattle

Bedman - sexton

Beeskepmaker - made beehives

Belleyetere - bell founder

Belter - made bells

Bellman - watchman or town crier employed by post office collecting letters by walking the streets ringing bells

Bender - person who cut leather

Besom Maker – broom maker (besom is a broom of twigs)

Biddy - female servant usually Irish

Bird Boy - to scare away birds from crops

Black Borderer - made black edged stationary for funerals

Bladesmith - sword maker or knife maker

Blindsman - deals with incorrectly addressed letters and parcels at the Post Office

Blower - glass blower, person who operated the bellows at a blacksmith

Bluestocking - female writer

Boarding Officer - inspected ships before entering port

Boatswain - ship's officer in charge of riggings & sails

Bolter - sifted meal

Bondager - bonded female worker on a farm

Bondman - bonded to master to learn skill or trade

Boniface - innkeeper

Book Keeper - looks after books in business

Botcher - tailor or cobbler

Brazier - brass worker

Brewster - female brewer, beer manufacturer

Brightsmith - metal worker

Broderer - embroiderer

Brownsmith - copper or brass smith

Buffalo soldier - served in the black regiment in U S Army

Bull wacker - oxen driver

Bummer - army deserter

Brugomaster - mayor

Burl - cup-bearer

Burnisher - metal polisher

Bushel maker - cooper

Cakeman – dealer in cattle cake

Carder - cards or combs wool, cotton or flax to remove impurities

Cartman – one who drives a cart or the like

Cartwright - maker or driver of carts, man skilled in making carts

Canting caller - auctioneer

Caulker - fills cracks in windows, ships, or seams to make them watertight (uses tar or oakum-hemp fiber made by taking old ropes apart)

Chaisemaker – carriage maker

Chambermaid - female servant attending to bedrooms

Chandler - maker or seller of candles; retailer of groceries

Charwoman - cleaning woman

Chiffonier - wig maker

Chimney sweep - chimney cleaner

Claker - magician or astrologer

Clark - clerk

Clarke - cleric or scribe

Clerk – clergyman, cleric

Clicker – servant of a salesman who stood at the door to invite customers, one who received the matter in the galley from compositors and arranged it in due form ready for printing, one who makes eyelet holes in boots using a machine which clicked

Clod Hopper – plowman

Clothier – dealer, seller or maker of cloth, master weaver

Cobbler – shoemaker

Cohen - priest

Collier - coal miner

Colporteur - peddler of books or bibles

Comber – wool comber – one who cards/combs wool or other fibers

Compositor – typesetter – one who sets type by hand in a print shop

Confectioner - maker of candy

Conveyor - granter or seller

Cooper – one who makes or repairs vessels made of staves & hoops, such as casks, barrels, tubs, etc.

Coppice – one who takes care of small wood copse of small trees, shrubs, etc.

Cordwainer – shoemaker, originally any leather worker using leather from Cordova/Cordoba in Spain

Costermonger - peddler of fruits & vegetables

Crocker - potter

Crowner – coroner

Culler – one who picks/selects the weak animals from a flock/herd & rejects/kills them

Cupola Tender - cares for rounded roofs or domes

Curer - person who cures tobacco

Currier – one who tanned leather by incorporating oil or grease, user of curry combs on horses, one who dresses the coat of a horse with a currycomb

Cutler – one who makes or sells knives, etc.

Damster - builder of dams

Dareman – dairyman – one who keeps or runs a dairy

Deathsman - executioner

Distiller - maker of alcoholic beverages

Docker – stevedore, dock worker, loads or unloads ships

Domestic - house servant

Dowser – finds water underground, one who finds water using a rod or witching stick

Dragoon - mounted infantryman

Draper - dealer in cloth & dry goods

Drayman - driver of a low strong cart carrying heavy loads

Dresser - surgeon's assistant in a hospital

Driver - slave overseer

Drover - driver of animals to market, dealer in cattle

Drugger - pharmacist

Drummer - traveling salesman

Duffer - peddler of cheap goods

Dver – one who dves cloth

Eggler - egg or poultry dealer

Elymaker - oil maker

Endholderf – inn keeper

Enumerator - census taker

Eremite - hermit

Executrix - female executor

Faber - artisan or workman

Factor – agent, commission merchant, who acts or transacts business for another, Scottish steward or bailiff of an estate

Falkner - keeper - trainer of falcons

Farrier - blacksmith who shoes horses, horse doctor, cares for & treats horses

Faulkner - falconer

Feather Merchant - one who loafs while others work

Fence Viewer – person who inspects farmer’s fences

Feller - lumberjack

Fell Monger - removes hair or wool from hides in preparation for leather making

Fever – blacksmith

Flax Dresser – one who works with flax fibers

Fletcher - maker of bows and arrows

Framer – farmer

Freemason – stone cutter

Fuller – one who cleans & thickens woolen cloth (an early dry cleaning process), one who fulls cloth, one who shrinks and thickens woolen cloth by moistening, heating, and pressing, one who cleans and finishes cloth

Furrier - seller & maker of furs

Gaffer - foreman of work crew

Gangsman - foreman

Gaoler – jailor, a keeper of the gaol

Garner - granary keeper

Gelder – one who castrates horses or other animals

Gilder - person who applies gold leaf

Ginerr – joiner – a skilled carpenter ho does complicated woodwork & makes furniture

Glazier - puts glass in windows

Glover – dealer, seller or maker of gloves

Gobar – jobber – person who buys goods from manufacturers and sells to consumer

Goldsmith - banker, maker of gold articles

Grace wife - midwife

Grainer - artisan who paints a cheap wood to resemble the graining of an expensive wood or marble

Grecher – grocer – one who sells food and household items

Green Grocer - seller of fruit and vegetables

Grismiller - grinds grain

Guilder - maker of gold or silver coins

Haberdasher - seller of mens clothing

Hacker – maker of hoes

Hansard - weapon maker or seller

Hatchelet/Hatcheler – one who combed out or carded flax

Hawker – peddler – one who carries his wares around & offers them for sale by shouting

Haymonger – dealer in hay

Hayward – keeper of fences

Headborough – Parish (English) officer having the functions of a petty constable

Hedger – one who makes, repairs or tends hedges

Higgler – itinerant peddler

Hilliard/Hiller – a person (or could be a thing) that hills plants

Hillier – roof tiler

Hind - farm laborer

Hoofer – dancer

Hooker - reaper

Hooper - makes hoops for barrels or casks

Hostler/Holster - horse servant at an inn, also called “ostler”, takes charge of horses at an inn/stable (stableman)

Howdy wife - midwife

Huckster - seller of small articles

Husbandman - a farmer, a farmer who cultivated the land

Iceman - seller or delivery of ice

Indent Servant - one who has committed to working for someone for a fixed number of years (usually 4-7) in exchanged for passage to America or some other financial advantage

Intelligencer – spy

Ironmonger – dealer (especially English) in ironware or hardware

Jack - young male assistant, sailor or lumberjack

Jagger - fish peddler

Jobber – see “gobar”

Jorman/Journeyman - craftsman hired by the day, workman who knows his trade & has completed an apprenticeship

Joyner/Joiner – A skilled carpenter

Keeler - bargeman

Keller - salt keeper

Kellogg - slaughter man

Kempster – wool comber

Knacker - harness maker, buyer of old horses

Lacewoman - lady's maid

Lardner - official in charge of pig food

Laster - shoemaker

Lavender - laundress

Leech – physician

Leederer - leathermaker

Limeburner – person who makes lime by burning or calcining limestone, etc.

Limner – one who limns (to illuminate as in a manuscript – archaic)

Longshoreman – stevedore

Lormer – maker of horse gear

Malender - farmer

Malster/Maltster – person who makes & sells malt (used in brewing beer/ale)

Manciple - steward

Mango - slave dealer

Marshall - horse servant, or groom

Mason/Macon/Marson – stonecutter, man whose work is building with stone or brick

Master Mariner - ship's captain

Mayer – physician

Millow/Miller – one who owns or runs a mill especially a flour mill

Millpeck - sharpener of mill stones

Millwright – one who designs, builds or sets up a mill

Mintmaster – one who issued local currency

Muleskinner - teamster

Muleteer - mule driver

Neatherder – herds cows

Nettir/Knitter – makes cloth or article of clothing by looping yarn or thread together with long needles

Nob thatcher - wig maker

Noterer - notary

Orderly - soldier who functioned as a servant

Ordinary keeper - innkeeper

Osler - bird catcher

Ostler – see “hostler”

Outrider – servant/attendant riding a horse beside-before a carriage (later also meant a cowboy supervising cattle at a distance from a ranch house or central camp)

Owler - sheep or wool smuggler

Oxnard - herder of oxen

Packman – itinerant peddler who travels about carrying goods in a pack for sale

Pannier man - fish monger

Parochus - rector, pastor

Pastor – shepherd

Pattern maker – a maker of a clog shod with an iron ring. A clog was a wooden pole with a pattern cut into the end.

Peever - pepper seller

Peregrinator – itinerant wanderer

Peruker – wig maker

Pettifogger - shyster lawyer

Pigman – crockery dealer

Pit Brow lass - female mine worker who worked on the surface

Plowman/Ploughman – farmer, one who guides a plow (British – plough), a farm worker

Plowwright/Ploughwright – one who makes and repairs plows (British ploughs)

Plowboy – one who guides the horse drawing a plow, a country boy

Plumber – one who applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or stained glass windows

Poleman - surveyor's assistant

Porcher - pig-keeper

Porter - gatekeeper or doorkeeper

Potter - maker of pottery

Poulterer - a dealer in poultry

Pricker - witch hunter

Puddler - wrought iron worker

Purser - ships officer in charge of supplies

Quarrier – quarry worker

Quarryman – person who works in a quarry where stone, slate, etc. is dug

Rationer - rat catcher

Rattle watch - town watchman

Registrar - official who registers events such as births, deeds, etc

Revenur - taxman who enforces tax laws on liquor, federal agent enforcing laws against the illegal distilling or smuggling of alcoholic liquor

Rigger – hoist tackle worker

Ripper – seller of fish

Rodman - surveyor's assistant

Roper – maker of ropes, usage also – one who ropes an animal or such using a lasso

Rower - builder of (small) wagon wheels

Runner - smuggler or messenger

Rustler - cattle thief

Saddler – one who makes, repairs, or sells saddles or other furnishings for horses

Savant – a learned scholar – man of learning (French)

Sawbones - physician

Sawyer/Soyor – man whose work is sawing timber into planks, boards, etc.

Schumaker – shoe maker

Scribler – a miner or worthless author

Scrivener - scribe or clerk

Scrutiner – election judge

Seedsman - sower of seeds

Sevier - sieve-maker

Sewer - tailor or shoemaker

Shanty man - lumberman

Share cropper - tenant farmer who would pay rent with part of his crop

Sherman - shear man, cutter of woolen cloth

Ship Husband - repairer of ships while in harbor

Ship wright - builder of ships

Shoe finder - seller of shoe maker tools

Shrieve – sheriff

Sizer – one who applies size (glue, starch or other sticky material) used as filler/glaze or stiffening for porous materials such as cloth (textiles), paper, or wall surfaces

Slatter/Slater – person who covers roofs, etc. with slates

Slaymaker – a maker of reeds or slays for looms

Slopseller – seller of ready made clothes in a slop shop

Smith - metal worker

Snobscat/snob – one who repaired shoes

Sorter – tailor

Spinster – a woman who spins, or an unmarried woman

Spurrer – maker of furs

Squire – country gentleman, farm owner, justice of the peace

Stevedore - laborer who loads & unloads ship cargo

Stokiner – maker or weaver of stockings

Stuff gown/stuff gownsman – junior barrister

Sumpter – porter

Supercargo – officer on merchant ship who is in charge of cargo and the commercial concerns of the ship

Sutler – merchant who followed or camped near a military fort or body of troops and sold tobacco, liquor, etc.

Swailer - miller or dealer in grains

Tabler - boarding house operator

Tanner – a person whose work is tanning hides (making hides into leather at a tanyard)

Taper - candlewick maker or seller

Tapley – one who puts the tap in an ale cask

Tasker - reaper

Tawer – one who taws (convert hide into white leather by mineral tanning as by soaking in aluminum and salt without the use of tannin, a stringent vegetable acid)

Teamster - driver of horses

Thatcher - roofer

Thirdborough – a peace officer of a tithing (English) or a petty constable of a township or manor

Tide waiter - customs official

Tinker - traveling repairman

Tipstaff - policeman

Todd - fox hunter

Topsman - head cattle drover

Travers – toll bridge collection

Tripper – dancer

Tucker – cleaner of cloth goods

Turner - gymnast, lathe worker

Victular – a tavern keeper, or one who provides an army, navy, or ship with food

Vintager - grape farmer, wine maker

Vintner – wine merchant or dealer in wines

Vulcan - blacksmith

Wainwright – a builder of wagons

Wagoner - wagon or cart driver

Waiter – customs officer or tide waiter, one who waited on the tide to collect duty on goods brought in

Wash man - applied the wash (coating) in the manufacture of tin

Watchman - town official who guarded the streets at night

Waterman – boatman who plies for hire

Webber – weaver

Webster – operator of looms

Whacker - horse or oxen team driver

Wharfinger – owner of a wharf

Wheelwright - builder of wagon wheels

Whitcher - maker of chests

Whitesmith – tins smith, worker of iron who finishes or polishes the work

Whitewing – street sweeper

Whitster – bleach of cloth

Whittawer – one who taws skins into whitleather (variant of white leather)

Wright – workman, especially a construction worker

Yardman - railroad yard worker

Yeoman - farmer who owns his own land