Labor Day marks the end of summer and the beginning of school and is often celebrated with family get-togethers and athletic events. Held on the first Monday in September, it was created to honor the accomplishments of the American workforce. The labor movement started Labor Day in the late 1800’s, and it became a U.S. holiday in 1894. But, the U.S. is not the only place where workers are honored. International Workers’ Day is celebrated on May 1st in more than 60 countries around the world! In Japan, Labor Day is celebrated on Thanksgiving Day, so citizens can give each other thanks for the hard work they did during the year.
Because Labor Day is all about workers, it is an opportune time to try to discover some of your ancestors’ occupations. Here are some ideas of where you can look to find out what your ancestors used to do:
- U.S. and British census records
- U.S. City directories not all years of city directories include occupations)
- Military records (especially Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI, & WWII):
- Family photographs in FamilySearch Memories
- Diaries and journals
- Birth, marriage, and death certificates
- Obituaries
On FamilySearch, the Sources and Memories for a particular ancestor may already include many of these records and can be accessed from your ancestor’s Person Page. When an image is attached to a source, be sure to look at the image because sometimes the occupation may not be indexed, but it can be found on the image.
By searching for occupations, I have discovered direct line ancestors who were agricultural laborers, a farm implement dealer, a groom, a malster, a private in the Inch, Ireland Yeomanry, a farmer, a teamster, a coal miner, a domestic servant, a braider, a nurse in a workhouse, a master carpenter, and a schoolteacher. And, this is not an exhaustive list!
A good starting place to look for relatives’ occupations might be in the 1950 census. Using this resource, I discovered my widowed Grandmother Critchlow was working in Provo, Utah as a Food Handler in a Chicken Products Company. My Grandfather Frost was working as a Butler on a Private Estate in Newport, Rhode Island and his wife was working as an Interior Decorator (we know from her diaries that she mainly made curtains). My parents were living in Rexburg, Idaho—Dad was a College Biology Teacher and Mom was a Jr. High Teacher. It was fascinating to see their varied activities in 1950.
A study at Emory University noted that children in families where family stories were told and remembered by youth “had better self-esteem, higher levels of social competence, higher quality friendships, and less anxiety and stress. They also had fewer behavioral problems, as reported by parents.” Learning about ancestors’ occupations might be the springboard to family stories that teach important lessons to children.
Have some fun this Labor Day learning about your relatives’ occupations!
– Marianne Bates, Consultant, GraniteFamilySearch Center
Sources:
Christensen, Joanne. “September and Labor Day,” 13 July 2020
Clark, Carol. “How family stories help children weather hard times.” Emory University, 29 April 2020, URL: https://news.emory.edu/stories/2020/04/esc_covid_19_family_stories/campus.html
Photo: William Frost (1824-1907) worked most of his life as a farm laborer, but was also listed as a Malster in the British 1851 census.