Workday Wednesday Challenge: Occupations in Census Records

Yesterday was my lucky day! I was one of the five GeneaBloggers who won a one-year Archives.com  subscription in Geneabloggers' Archives.com US Federal Census Contest. As explained in Workday Wednesday - Labor Day Edition - Ancestors' Occupations and the Census, I already have a subscription so I am "re-gifting" it by offering it as the prize for this Workday Wednesday Challenge.

Keeping in the spirit of my entry post, here is the challenge:

1. Select an ancestor whom you have found in at least three censuses.
2. Review the occupational information found on each census and write a blog post (or a comment to this post) giving at least the following information:

• Name of the ancestor and your relationship
• The occupation recorded in each census year
• Other information you find such as the industry in which the ancestor worked, whether they were unemployed, etc.
• Do you know of other occupations your ancestors engaged in, but are not reflected in census records?

3. If you are writing a post on your own blog, paste a link in the comments below.
4. Deadline for entries is midnight (Pacific time) Wednesday, 14 September 2011; winner will be selected at random from all entries and announced on Thursday, 15 September.

Here's mine as an example:

Ambrose B. (A.B.) Martindale, my paternal great-grandfather (1844-1918)

• 1880 - Works in saw mill - Jackson Twp., Carter Co., Missouri 
• 1900 - Saw mill owner - Nacogdoches Co., TX
• 1910 - Operator, saw mill - Nacogdoches Co., TX - census indicates he is an employer

In 1894 Ambrose was appointed the first postmaster in Carmona, Polk Co., TX; at the time I believe he was also managing a saw mill.



© 2011 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research