Ever wanted to know the meaning of some of the occupations on the records you care researching. Look at these definitions:
Accomptant - Accountant
Amanuesis - Secretary or stenographer
Artificer - Soldier mechanic who does repairs
Bluestocking - Female writer
Boniface - Innkeeper
Braizer - one who works with brass
Brightsmith - Metal worker
Caulker - one who fills cracks of seams in ships or windows to make them water tight
Chandler - trader in supplies, provisions. Also a candle maker and seller
Chiffonnier - wig maker
Colporteur - Book peddler
Cooper - Barrel, cask maker
Cordwainer - Shoemaker. Originally any leather worker who used leather from Cordova/Cordoba, Spain.
Crowner - Coroner
Currier - one who dressed a horse's coat with a curry comb. Also one who tanned leather with oil or grease
Docker - Dock worker
Dowser - one who finds water using a divining rod or witching stick
Drayman - driver of a dray (a study low cart without fixed sides for carrying heavy loads)
Duffer - Peddler
Factor - Commission merchant, an agent for another in a business transaction; Scottish, a stweard or bailiff of an estate
Farrier - Blacksmith
Fell Monger - one who removes hair or wool from hides in preparation for tanning
Flecther - arrow maker
Fuller - one who shrunk and thickened (fulled woolen cloth by moistening, heating and pressing the material)
Glazier - Glass worker
Gaoler - Jail (gaol) keeper
Hatcheler - one who combed or carded flax
Hind - Farm Laborer
Hooper - one who made hoops for casks and barrels
Hostler - a groom who took care of horses, often at an inn
Husbandman - Farmer
Journeyman - one who had served his apprenticeship, not bound to a mater, but hired by the day
Joyner/Joiner - skilled carpenter
Leech - Physician
Manciple - Steward
Mintmaster - one who issued local currency
Pattern Maker - maker of a clog shod with an iron ring. A clog was a wooden pole with a pattern cut into the end
Peregrinator - itinerant worker
Peruker/Peruke Maker - wig maker
Pettifogger - shyster lawyer
Plumber - one who applies sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for windows
Supercargo - ships officer in charge of cargo and commercial transactions
Tapley - one who puts the tap in ale casks
Tide Waiter - customs inpector
Tipstaff - Policeman
Tuner - person who turns wood on a lathe into decorative spindles
Vitualler - tavern keep, or one who provides an army, navy or ship with food supplies
Vulcan - blacksmiths
Wagoner - teamster not for hire
Wainwright - wagon maker
Waterman - boatman who hired out himself and his boat
Webster - loom operator
Wharfing - Wharf owner
Wheelwright - maker of wheels for carriages, etc.
Whitesmith - tinsmith, an iron worker who finished or polished the work
