Saturday night has made its weekly appearance, so that means it is time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver on Genea-Musings.
This week’s challenge will take some data gathering:
1) What were the occupations of your ancestors?
2) Please go back several generations (say parents or grandparents or great-grandparents) and list the occupations that they had in the records you’ve found for them. You could do this, say, by ancestor table number.
I’ve listed my ancestors by ancestor table number, but have omitted females who had no occupation (not even housewife) listed.
2. George Michael Sabo (1926-1985), my father, had these occupations, from my personal knowledge since he wasn’t yet working in 1940:
- Shoe Salesman – Stern Brothers Department Store
- Purchasing agent for Curtiss-Wright
3. Doris Priscilla Adams (1923-2008), my mother, had these occupations, again from personal knowledge:
- Secretary – ABC Industries, which made copper rollers for fabric printing
- Office Manager -ABC Industries
4. George Kucharik (aka Sabo) (1893-1936), my grandfather:
- 1920 – factory worker
- 1930 – owner, butcher shop
6. Vernon Tarbox Adams (1899-1968), my grandfather:
- 1920 – plantman – telegraphy
- 1930 – chief operator – Western Union
- 1940 – district supervisor – Western Union
8. Stephen Kucharik (aka Sabo) (1855-1933), my great grandfather:
- 1900 – labor
- 1910 – laborer in a bleachery
- 1920 – helper, bleachery
- 1930 – not found
10. Michael Scerbak (1868-1932), my great grandfather:
- not found in records, but factory worker 1890s
- carpenter
- farmer
12. Charles Edwin Adams (1877-1922), my great grandfather:
- 1900 – Shoe cutter
- 1910 – shoe cutter
- 1920 – manager in hotel shop
13. Annie Maude Stewart (1874-1940), my great grandmother:
- 1900 – none
- 1910 – none
- 1920 – merchant, hotel shop
- 1930 – employer, dry goods store
- 1940 – none
14. Hartwell Thomas Coleman (1868-1938), my great grandfather
- 1900 – none
- 1910 – master mariner, tugboat
- 1920 – tugboat captain
- 1930 – store keeper
My Slovak ancestors do not appear in any records in the villages where they lived that include occupations, but all were peasant farmers:
16. John Kucharik (1820-1893)
18. Michael Kacsenyak (1834-after 1895)
20. John Scerbak (1836-1916)
22. John Murcko (1831-1917)
24. Calvin Segee Adams (1843-1921), my 2X great grandfather:
- 1870 – boat buildings
- 1880 – boat builder
- 1900 – boat builder
- 1910 – boat carpenter
- 1920 – none
26. Charles Augustus Stewart (1822-1894), my 2X great grandfather:
- 1850 – farmer
- 1860 – farmer
- 1870 – farmer
- 1880 – farmer
28. William Coleman (1834-1905), my 2X great grandfather:
- 1860 – farm laborer
- 1870 – steamboat captain
- 1880 – master of tugboat
- 1900 – captain
30. Frits Wille Oscar Emil Jensen (1845-1920), my 2X great grandfather:
- 1880 – policeman at prison near Copenhagen
- 1900 – detective
- 1910 – none
That’s it through my 2X great grandparents. Although the women were listed as having no occupation at all, they helped in the fields in Slovakia in addition to running the home and those ancestresses in America certainly had plenty to do in the house, too!
Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge.