By Juliana Szucs
Our first introduction to the occupations of our ancestors usually comes from census and vital records, or from city directories. For many of us that introduction reads, “occupation: laborer.” While not terribly insightful, with some digging, we can learn much more about our ancestors’ labors.
William Dennis, “milkman” living at State n. R[ed] H[ook] Lane in the
Spooner’s 1834 Brooklyn city directory, doesn’t tell us much, but Henry R. Stiles’
A History of the City of Brooklyn,
[1] reveals details about the “Milkmen’s dock,” at the foot of Orange Street, near his home.
“Here every morning, rain or shine, came the vendors of lacteal fluid, stabled their horses in a row of sheds erected for the purpose, under the shelter of the Heights; and, clubbing together in the hire of boats, were rowed with their milk-cans over to New York, encountering, not infrequently, during the severe winter months, much suffering and even serious danger from fierce winds and floating ice. Their cans were suspended from yokes across their shoulders, and thus accoutered they peddled off their milk in the city and returned in the afternoon, wind and weather permitting, to the Brooklyn side where they hitched up their teams and started for their homes.”
Local histories, like
this one, are available online via resources including Internet Archive, Google Books, Hathi Trust, and at websites of local libraries, archives, and genealogical and historical organizations.
Newspapers provide coverage of working conditions, strikes, local economic conditions, and so much more. The day-to-day insights into your ancestor’s hometown (albeit sometimes tinged with the political undertones of the reporting newspaper) can give you an up close and personal look at the impact your ancestor’s occupation had on their lives and the lives of those in the community.
For example, in March 1910, a general strike was called by the Central Federated Union
[2] on behalf of Philadelphia’s rapid transit workers. Strikebreakers and police were brought in, and temporary housing was set up, in an effort to thwart the strike. Violence, resulting in injuries and the loss of life and property, occurred regularly over the course of the nearly 3-week strike, including an incident where new employees of the Rapid Transit Company (RTC), fired from streetcars into a crowd in the street.
Other unions stepped up in solidarity with the RTC, including an estimated 40,000 workers from the building trades, 30,000 textile workers, 20,000 metal workers, 19,000 from the garment industry, and thousands in transportation.
[3] The strike had a direct impact on their families, as well as those living and conducting business in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, online at NewspaperArchives.com.
As with local histories, historical newspapers are becoming increasingly available online in subscription collections and free with projects like the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America, among others. Members of the National Genealogical Society enjoy free access to the collections of
NewspaperArchive.com as a benefit of membership. Searches for your ancestor’s employer or a union they may have been a part of can bring some wonderful insights into your laboring ancestors.
Other clues can be found in sources like census records and related agricultural, manufacturing, and industrial schedules. Changes of occupation or in assets recorded in census schedules can reflect upturns and downturns in a farm or business. And look for columns in state and federal census records that may provide clues regarding employment and/or unemployment during the census year. For example, the 1880 U.S. federal censuses the number of months that a person was employed within the census year.
City and county directories may show changes of occupation from year to year, in which case some additional research in the sources mentioned above may reveal a cause.
Where there were strikes, go beyond the impact of the strike and get to the reasons behind it. What were the working conditions like? How old were your laboring ancestors when they entered the workforce? When did they leave? The answers to these and so many more questions can enrich your family story as you seek to commemorate your ancestors and how their labor helped build America.
[1] Henry Reed Stiles, “A History of the City of Brooklyn: including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh, vol. II” online images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofb02stil/page/n145/mode/2up: accessed 27 Aug 2024).
[2] Julianne Kornacki, “General Strike of 1910,” online article,
The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/general-strike-of-1910/: accessed 27 Aug 2024.
Antaya, Jeff. “Reference Desk: Mining Families with Employment Records.” NGS Magazine 42 (Jan–Mar 2016): 44–47.
Baldwin, Jen. “Going Underground: Mining Industry Records.”
NGS Magazine 41 (Jul–Sep 2015): 31–35.
Kluskens, Claire Prechtel. “Butter Makers and More: Revelations of the 1929 Census of Manufacturers.” NGS Magazine 43 (Jul–Sep 2017): 61–64.
Lyttle, Annette Burke. “Uncovering the Stories of Farming Ancestors.” NGS Magazine 43 (Jul–Sep 2017): 31–34.
Martin, Joseph F. “Calumet and Hecla Mining Records.” NGS Magazine 35 (Jan–Mar 2009): 55–58.
Pinnick, Tim. “Coal Miner Research.”
NGS Magazine 32 (Jul–Sep 2006): 23–26.
Stamm, Patricia Walls. “Occupations in Our Family Tub.”
NGS Magazine 32 (Jan–Mar 2006): 12–15.
Stuart-Warren, Paula. “Tracking Railroads and Railroad History.” NGS Magazine 32 (Apr–Jun 2006): 21–25.
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