Occupations: CORDWAINER

An occupation I stumbled upon in the 1855 census in New York State.

Cordwainer = shoemaker who made soft leather shoes and luxury footwear.

To differentiate somewhat, the term cordwainer referred to the maker of fine footwear while the term cobbler generally described the profession which would repair it.

The term cordwainer, originated in England, was intended to refer specifically to the the leather manufactured in Cordoba, Spain, initially from goathide and later from horsehide.  "Cordovan" was the fine quality eqinine shoe leather leather fashioned from the fibrous flat muscle beneath the hide on the rump of the horse. This leather is still used for men's shoes -- one pair can be made from one horse's hide.

Check State & Occupation Information in Census Records

While tracing the children of Rhode Island born blacksmith Hezekiah Peckham, who migrated to Oswego New York, I "lost" his son Benjamin.  Ben was born in RI about 1825 and was found in the 1850 census with his mother and brother, listed as a baker. But I could not find him in 1860 or 1870. In 1880 he seemed to match a record found for a baker age 54, married to Lucy, and living in Michigan with 10 year old daughter Eva who was born in WISCONSIN !

So I looked in the 1870 census in Wisconsin and intially could not find them. Then I tried Benjamin, born RI, no surname and checked for occupation of baker -- there he was as PICKEL with matching wife and daughter plus 3 older sons in Milwaukee.  All three sons were listed as born in New York, so I looked again at the 1860 census and did find him with with Lucy and the 3 boys. I'm glad I noticed that Eva was born in Wisconsin or I might have missed his sons.

What kind of job is that?

Beamsman in a tannery

This is an excerpt from the 1911 UK census.  We had thought that John Holmes was a greengrocer ... so it was surprising to see this entry.  Actually it was his wife Margaret who was the greengrocer and John had a strange sounding job at the tannery.