A to Z Ancestor Occupations

Blogging A to Z this year my theme was Ancestor Occupations. I researched and wrote about different occupations held by some of my ancestors. I tried to keep these posts as short as possible with images, which are apparently worth a thousand words. 

I find if you have a clear idea of your theme, keep your posts short(ish), and write as many scheduled posts as you can before April begins it makes it an enjoyable challenge. I would have liked to read more from others but some were too long to fit into my reading schedule. I did read and comment on some if the title caught my interest. 

Here is a list of my posts:

A is for Antiques Dealer

B is for Brass Finisher

C is for Cabinetmaker

D is for Donkey Chair Proprietor

E is for Engineer

F is for Fruit Merchant

G is for Goldsmith

H is for Horse Breeder

I is for Iron Workers

J is for Jeweler

K is for Keeping Lodgers

L is for Landlord

M is for Miller

N is for North West Mounted Police

O is for Owner of Coatwell Paint & Varnish

P is for Pig Farmer

Q is for Quarantine Worker

R is for  Reporter

S is for Seamstress

T is for Tailor

U is for Ulverton Woolen Mill Builder & Worker

V is for Victualler

W is for Wireless Operator

X is for Xylographer

Y is for Yardmaster

Z is for  Zoo Workers

This is a list of A to Z Blogs I enjoyed and commented on regularly:

Molly's Canopy

Family History Across the Sea

Family History Fun

Tui Snider: Exploring Historic Cemeteries

Canada Genealogy: or Jane's Your Aunt 

GeniAus

Plus one! There is a non-genealogy blog I enjoyed following... The Multicolored Diary 

The Author, Csenge Virág Zalka is a professional storyteller and researcher from Budapest, Hungary and her theme was Folktales of Endangered Species. Some of these animals I had never heard of and it was interesting to read the folklore surrounding each species. Her posts were short, informative and fun to read. 

This is the third A to Z Challenge I have done. These are the other two...

A to Z Challenge 2016 - Genealogy Tips

A to Z Challenge 2018 -  My Family Tree Places

The Calico Printer

My 2x great grandfather's sister, Ann Purdie Falconer Tait was a calico printfield worker in Glasgow in 1859 when she married Robert Sinclair, a calico engraver.  

Book of English Trades 1827, pg.64, mark 103

I didn't know much about calico printing so I looked for more information and found the following books and websites on the subject.

The Calico Printers Association was founded in Britain in 1899 with the merge of 46 textile companies and 13 textile merchants. 

The Dictionary of Dyeing and Calico Printing has recipes for making the colours, so I looked up my favourite colour ... green!

Green colours, pg.260

Relevant Links

Calico Printing defined

Book of English Trades and Library of Useful Arts 1827

The British manufacturers companion and callico printers assistant 1795

A practical treatise on dyeing and calico-printing 1846

A dictionary of dyeing and calico printing : containing a brief account of dyeing and printing textile fabrics 1869

Calico printing and turkey red dying

Calico printers Assoc – where different records are held in UK

Calico printer images on Google

A Practical Handbook of Dyeing and Calico-printing

Industries of the World – Calico printing

Samples from the Calico Printers Association

Calico Print Workers – Sue Wilkes blog post

Canada 150 - Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

During our country's 150th anniversary celebration of confederation I will write posts titled Canada 150 with a link to a publication or website I find that may help you tell the story of your Canadian ancestors.
Click on the Canada 150 label on the right or at the bottom to see all the posts.

Today I have for you...

Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 

for the Province of Quebec

Volume 1, Names of teachers who rec'd bonuses 1850

As part of the Sessional Papers of the Province of Quebec, there was printed a Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Many of the reports contain names of teachers, inspectors and even graduates, but not all reports contain the same information.  

1890 v23, no1 – Civil Engineer Graduates, pg 138

Relevant Links 

Names of teachers who obtained bonuses for success in teaching, vol 1 1850-51

Students graduated at Montreal Polytechnic as Civil Engineer, 1888-89, pg 138

List of Teachers who have received a pension from the government, and amount, 1888-89

Names of teachers who obtained bonuses for success in teaching, 1903-04

Report of the Superintendent of Education of the Province of Quebec

Dentists - Registers, Directories and Periodicals

The only fun thing for me about going to the dentist when I was young, was he would give me a bead of mercury in a small vial to take home and play with. I know, right? That was the good old days.

M.F. Patterson's Illustrated Catalogue of 

Dental Furniture, Instruments and Materials, 1901

My Mom had a gold tooth. I had asked her about it when I was young because I had never seen anyone else with a gold tooth, but I never thought to ask her later in life how that came about - it was just always a part of her appearance.

Article from The Progressive Dentist, Feb 1914

In the following periodicals, look for list of contributors, obituaries, and graduates.

You might enjoy reading Jana Last's tales of her Traveling Dentist ancestor.

Check local libraries for registers of dentists, like these ones at Trove, Australia.


Relevant Links

Women in Dentistry

The Dentists register, UK

Annual report of the Montana Sate Board of Dental Examiners to the Governor

Illinois Board of Dental Examiners

Canada Journal of Dental Science

Biographies of the founders, prominent early members and ex-presidents of the Missouri Sate Dental Association, 1909

Who's Who in Dentistry - United States and Canada, 1916

Journal of the North Carolina Dental Society, 1965

Registered dentists and dental hygienists in Pennsylvania

The Dental Times

Registered dentists, unlicensed assistants and dental hygienists, CT

Beecher's manual and dental directory of the United States, 1884

The Dental Columbian

L'oeuvre des dentistes français pendant la guerre européenne de 1914

Dental Cosmos

Dental Digest

The Dental Record

British Dental Journal

The Dental Advertiser

American Dental Journal

The Dental Register

A Brief History of America’s Most Outrageous Dentist, Painless Parker

A History of Dentistry in Pictures

Transactions of the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics

Practical dentistry, surgical and mechanical: and how to become a registered dentist

The Progressive Dentist

Pacific Coast Dentist

Serendipity Sunday - Landlords of the Inns

While researching my Frost ancestors of Devon, I discovered that the site for Moretonhampstead History Society had a list of Landlords of Moretonhampstead Inns. There I learned that...

On Tuesday, October 21, 1800 my 4x great grandfather, Robert Frost, took over as landlord of the Black Horse Inn in Moretonhampstead, Devon.

The Black Horse was at No 9 Cross Street, and in 1802 became the Golden Lion Inn. It is now residential.

Then I found this website with links to many pubs, inns and landlords...



Relevant Links

Publicians, Inn Keepers & Brewers in Great Britain 

Police

In honour of today being Police and Peace Officers’ National Memorial Day in Canada, which was declared in 1998 to be the last Sunday of September every year, I am reposting this article originally posted on 16 February 2015.
            
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have cousins who were and are in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a niece who is planning to apply to the RCMP when she has finished her studies.  She has been riding all her life and hopes to be a member of the Mounted Unit, and someday be in the Musical Ride.

The Musical Ride started with the North West Mounted Police and had their first public show in 1904. It became a permanent part of the RCMP in 1961, and they perform at fairs and events all across the country. 

My husband's father, Narcisse Dollard Alphonse Nolin (Al), regimental number 12952 was hired by the RCMP on September 6, 1937. He served in Regina Saskatchewan, Rockcliffe Ontario and Montreal Quebec. Al met his beloved Leona in 1937 but regulations kept them from being married at that time. Leona followed Al to Montreal in 1939, getting a job at Woolworths (bring back memories to anyone?) and they were finally married in 1944. Al finished his term on September 5, 1947 and then became an investigator for the Fire Underwriters Investigation Bureau in Montreal.
 

   

Before 1966 all recruits received horse training. Here is Al showing off his riding skills!
 

If you have an ancestor who was a police officer, you may find them mentioned in the following publications and websites. I also listed Police Memorials for several countries and you can find more by searching "police honour roll". Also check city directories.


Relevant Links:

The North West Mounted Police service files at LAC

Officer Down Memorial Page (Canada): Remembering all law enforcement heroes

NWMP graves in the Yukon

The riders of the plains : Royal North West Mounted Police of Canada, 1873-1910

National RCMP graves

RCMP Honour Roll

RCMP Police Dog Trainer Honour Roll

RCMP Honour Roll and death notices - browse at Family Search

RCMP - The Quarterly Index

The Police Blue Book - USA, Canada and Principal Foreign Countries - 1940

FOIA - FBI employees - several records

The United States Secret Service in the late war: and introduction to the leading men at Washington, with the origin and organization of the Secret Service Bureau - 1890

Police History and directory - Chicago 1917

Royal North West Mounted Police Manual - 1906

Police Roll of Honour - UK

Western Australia Police Honour Roll

Australia National Police Honour Roll

Queensland Police Honour Roll

New Zealand Memorial of Police Killed by Criminal Acts (PDF with photos)

List of Irish Police Officers killed in the line of duty

Toronto Police Honour Roll

Ontario Police Honour Roll

Canadian Peace Officer Memorial Assn - Honour Roll

Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial

Canadian Police Dogs killed in the line of duty

Boston Police 1901

Boston Police Records Index

These Boston Police Records also gives names of persons issued a license for various things, like Hackney Carriages, Hand Carts, etc...

The Philadelphia Police, past and present - 1887

International Police, detective, sheriff, constable and identification directory, 1921

The Trooper Police of Australia; a record of mounted police work in the commonwealth from the earliest day of settlement to the present time - 1912

List of magistrates, coroners and constables in County of York, Ontario 1880

Sketches of the Royal Irish Constabulary

Return of Police force in Baronies in County of Limerick 1851



Related Post:  Irish Constabulary Resources

Serendipity Sunday - Descriptions of Occuptions

In 1918 the United States Bureau of Labor put out a few publications describing occupations, what qualifications or schooling it took to get that job and in some a list of "kindred" or related occupations. The following are definitions for occupations to do with woolen and worsted goods.

Occupation - Textile and Clothing

Each booklet gives a list of "code words" for that occupation near the beginning. On this page for the Street Railway you will see the directions for using the code words.

Occupation - Street Railway Code Words

Relevant Links

Boots and shoes, harness and saddlery, tanning

Cane-sugar refining, flour milling

Coal and water gas, paint and varnish,paper, printing trades, rubber goods

Electrical manufacturing, distribution and maintenance

Glass

Hotels and restaurants

Logging camps and sawmills

Medicinal manufacturing

Metal working, building and general construction, railroad transportation, shipbuilding

Mines and mining

Office employees

Slaughtering and meat packing

Street railways

Textiles and clothing

Water transportation (Seamen, pilots, etc)

Where's the Fire?

Fire can give us life or give us death. Some people are fascinated by fire. As a Girl Guide I made many fires in the woods with friends.  Now I love fire as long as it is in a fireplace or fire pit.

Burning of Parliament Building Montreal c1849 (McCord Museum)

The first "house" fire I remember was when I was quite young and a garage went up in flames one night, just 2 doors down from our house. All of us who lived on the street, and from a few streets down, were standing there, not too close as it was very hot and sparks were flying, mesmerized by the flames that no one could do anything about.  Our town had no fire department, and it was too late anyways. The owners built their garage first and they stored materials in that garage to start to build their house.

The second was the 1972 tragic case of arson at the Blue Bird Café in Montreal, leaving 37 people dead. The younger sister of my friend was one of the victims, there with some friends to see another friend off on a trip.

The third fire that touched our lives, was that of the empty old hotel right across the street from my house. I lived in the house built c1815 by Col John Scriver, the son of an Empire Loyalist.  John's son Julius had built his house across the street, and it later became the Frontier Inn. The Inn had been closed up for a long time, and the night it went up in flames the whole town came out to watch and mourn the loss of a beautiful historic building.  All the volunteer fire department could do, good as they were, was to keep the fire from spreading to near by homes.

Image from BANQ

Historically many a city has been destroyed by fire. A couple of the more famous being the Great Fire of London in 1666, the San Francisco fire caused by the earthquake of 1906, and the Great Fire of 1852 in Montreal.

Fire fighting has come a long way since those days, and the men and women who become fire fighters are a special breed. Many small towns have volunteer fire departments, which is not to say they are untrained.  Ours was one of the best in the country! Our village firemen came around and checked everyone's fireplace and chimney on request in the fall. I must say the Chief was quite impressed with our old Rumford fireplaces.

Was your ancestor one of these brave people that risked their lives for others?

I have gathered some links to fire departments and the men that served there. You can find more by searching using keywords "[city] fire department (+history)" and "firefighter roll of honour". Also do the search at HahtiTrust, they may have others and some photos may be clearer.


Relevant Links:

List of historic Disastrous Fires

Montreal's Blue Bird Café Fire 1972

Montreal's Blue Bird Café Victims

Fire fighters of Houston - 1838-1915

Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of Brooklyn 1885

History of the Toronto Fire Department 1924

Our Firemen: faithful to duty, true to friendship NY 1891

Descriptive and illustrated price list of firemen uniforms - US 1893

The 30th anniversary and annual fire book of the veterans Fireman's Association of San Francisco, Inc - 1929

The Exempt firemen of San Francisco; their unique and gallant record 1900

1st to 21st Annual Report of the Commissioner of the Firemen's Relief Fund -MA 1911

Our Firemen: History of the New York fire departments, volunteer and paid; 1887

Our Firemen; the official history of the Brooklyn Fire Department 1892

Souvenir book of Indiana State Firemen's Association convention held at Fort Wayne 1920

Our Firemen: history of the Pittsburgh fire department, 1889

Our Firemen: a record of the faithful and heroic men who guard the property and lives of the city of Detroit - 1894

Souvenir program; Firemen's Relief Assoc - Manila, Jan 1909

History of the Calgary Fire Department 1910

Souvenir of the Vancouver Fire Department 1905

Souvenir of the Ottawa Fire Department 1905

Souvenir of the Saskatoon Fire Department 1905

History of the Fire and Police Departments of Paterson NJ 1893

South Australian CFS Fire Fighter Roll of Honour

South Australian MFS Fire Fighter Roll of Honour

Queensland Fire and Rescue Honour Roll

Toronto Fire Fighter Honour Roll

Victoria Australia CFA Honour Roll

Souvenir of the Silver Jubilee -  Avenel Fire Company NJ 1913

The Hibernia fire engine company, no. 1, NY 1859

Winnipeg Fire Prevention Bulletin, 1919

Annual Report of the Boston Fire Department