Working for a Living

Spring has finally arrived in my part of the world and we are giddy with temperatures approaching the 70s.  Growing up in a farming community, spring brings with it renewed hope and a new planting season.  And even if your ancestors were not farmers, they were likely tied to this cadence of the seasons.  Shopkeepers, taverns, implement dealers and others relied on farmers to have a great crop so that they would purchase goods and services.  So, what does any of this have to do with your ancestor’s story or genealogy?  Well, like our ancestors, what we do for a living often impacts our family and culture.
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As you write your family story, identifying what your ancestors did to earn money for their family. It is unlikely that they thought about a “career” the way we might today. Instead they were doing their best to keep food on the table and a roof over their family.  While some were blessed with abundance and had careers as doctors, lawyers and politicians, many were just starting in a new country with limited resources. 

​If you have been able to trace your ancestors to the old country, what did they do there?  Were they blacksmiths or farmers or shop owners? When they came to the United States did they continue in that trade or did they strike out in a new direction?  What about the first generation born in the United States?  Did they decide to pursue the lure of homesteading on the plains—whether it was homesteading the land or setting up a shop in a prairie town?  Were they successful? Or ill prepared?
 
Are you wondering where you can find out what great-grandfather did for a living? Here are some ideas:

• Look at city directories.  They are often include what kind of work and where someone works as well as family and home address.
• Review census records.  As noted in earlier BLOGS, census records include the occupation as well as if they were employed/unemployed and for how long during that year.  You might get a sense of how well the family was doing by comparing the value of their home or income with neighbors.
• Ask family members.  It could be that you can’t find a specific record but someone in the family knows that Uncle George had a milk delivery route.
• County Histories.  Some early histories include biographies of the early settlers.  Most are extremely flattering to the individuals presented in the book, but they do give you key information such as what they did for living.
• Railroads.  It is worth noting that many worked for the railroad in the early days as the expansion westward continued.  Don’t dismiss railroad records…you just might find a snippet of info.  And if you know that your ancestor worked for a specific rail line but can’t find them, you can learn more about that experience by studying the history of that line.
• Plat books. If your ancestor was a farmer, their land is noted on plat book maps.  If they were doing particularly well, they may have paid extra to have a short blurb about their farm included in the plat book.  Or if you are particularly lucky, your ancestor filled a role like accessor for a township and had his picture included or a picture of their family.  It’s always good to look through the pages of the plat book.
• Organizations and societies.  If your ancestor belonged to a trade, look at the organizations for those trades.  Perhaps your ancestor was a member or officer.
• Newspapers.  As we discuss in a previous post, newspapers can bring more color and detail to your story.  When you are looking at obituaries or marriages or even general articles, you might find more information about your ancestor.  Did they own a store?  If so, there might be ads for their business or if they were early settler in the area, there might be a blurb about the “early years”.  I found a special edition paper from the 1930s for Richland County which had interviews and tidbits about settling the area fifty years before with mention of early pioneers and settlers. 
• Learn more about the trade.  If your ancestor was a carpenter or shopkeeper or blacksmith or one of many other trades, you can find books and online sources to learn more about the trade itself.  Is it a career that still exists?  If your ancestor was a coachman in the 1800s, that trade is limited today—unless you happen to work for the Queen of England.

Finding this information for our family stories, gives us a better understanding of our ancestors in their place and time.  When you write about your family, you could share examples of what a typical day in the life of a blacksmith* was like  (*fill in the trade of your ancestor).  As we think about how working is today than in the 1800s or 1900s, we also find common ground for why people worked. Like our ancestors, we work to provide for our family, keeping the home fires burning, while we learn and contribute to our community.
                    “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
                                                          --Winston Churchill