Occupations past and present

[ellie]

Has anyone found in their research that the same occupations keep cropping up? do you take after any of your ancestors in your work?

[sparkstopper]

Hi Ellie....

Most of my WESTON direct ancestors and their 'offshoots' were Chainmakers,
all in the BC area (although one did travel to Glasgow)......They probably fought
hard to keeps their embers glowing.....I've spent 30 years in the Fire Service, trying
to put them out....So I suppose there is some sought of connection.....Cheers SparkS....

[ellie]

Thanks for your reply Sparks- 30 years in the fire service? - that is impressive

[moyra40]

For most of the 19th century my direct ancestors the Littles were bottlemakers. I have traced my gggrandfather and his son from 1841 (possibly earlier, ggg was already a bottlemaker then) to 1904 in South Africa. Four generations in all. Until the new bottle machines (Owens machine) threw a lot of them out of work.
And not only them, the family names reveal that they were connected with other bottlemaking families, by marriage and friendship. My second cousin in France has other bottlemaking dynasties, Atkinson and Best, in his direct ancestors!
The men in the works wouldn't accept a manager who hadn't risen 'through the ranks'.
But the only time my ggrandfather actually owned a bottleworks, he went bankrupt.......
Alison.

[davidh1959]

Most of my direct ancestors on my mothers side were Nailers or Stonemasons. Many of them emigrated to the USA, which is where I way have got my wonderlust. I have worked as an Airline Steward for the last 20 years.

One of my paternal gGrandfathers was a Foscog maker. Apparently they were some kind of device fitted to horse shoes to stop the slipping on the cobbles during icy conditions. Also, my brother has followed in our grandfathers line as a carpenter, his son Ben is now the 4th generation in the family.

[snoopysue]

I've got a lot of metal workers generally, with moulders, casters, founders, nailers and the odd puddler turning up. As most lived in the Black Country that's not unusual as much as inevitable.
There is also a family who were silk and ribbon weavers in Nuneaton.
My great great grandmother was a nurse and midwife - which is where my grandmother thinks I became a radiographer. My grandmother went to work in america, my sister has lived in germany and I've been in Denmark for 16 years.
My dad and my grandfather were both metallurgists. My dad was the 4th generartion working for GKN in Darlaston.

The days have gone were people went into a trade because their father did, but there are definately geographical and social reasons for choosing the occupations we do. I know that the reasons I chose radiography had as much to do with wanting to work with people as they had to do with wanting a technical occupation - radiography balances both sides pretty well.