My Wife’s Ancestor Occupations

Having done my own ancestor occupations yesterday, I thought it would be good to do the same for my wife.

Like in mine, in the below table, I’ve used the notation “KH” for most of the wives as their occupation is listed as “Keeping House”. While the job of raising a family, preparing meals, and often gardening or tending animals is not a simple task, it adds little interest to this study. I’ve also used the letters F/M to denote “father” or “mother”. Where an individual had different occupations in different census records, I’ve indicated both of them.

My Wife – Donna VanDeCar – Preschool Teacher/Director

            F – Charles VanDeCar – Factory Worker

                        FF – Archibald VanDeCar – Machinist

                                    FFF – Dennis Birley Vandecar – Farmer

                                                FFFF – Dennis Oliver Vandecar – Farmer

                                                            FFFFF – Anninias Vandecar – Farmer

                                                FFFM – Cordelia Huntley – KH                               

                                                            FFFMF – John Huntley – Farmer

                                    FFM – Alta Larrow – Servant / KH

                                                FFMF – Charles Larrow – Farmer

                                                FFMM – Adelaide Campbell – KH

                                                            FFMMF – Orin Campbell – Farmer

                        FM – Gertrude Duba –  KH

                                    FMF – William Duba – Farmer

                                                FMFF – John Duba – Sawmill Operator

                                                FMFM – Delphina Dion – KH  

                                    FMM – Rachel Swaney – KH

                                                FMMF – Christopher Swaney – Farmer

                                                            FMMFF – John Swaney – Farmer

                                                FMMM – Nancy Kitchen – KH

            M – Mary Ellen Wright – KH

                        MF – Frank Wright – Farmer

                                    MFF – Jonah Dayton Wright – Farmer

                                                MFFF – Benjamin Wright – Farmer

                                                MFFM – Phoebe – KH

                                    MFM – Abigail Barrows – KH

                                                MFMF – Andrew Barrows – Blacksmith

                                                MFMM – Lucy Reed – KH

                        MM – Cassie Cincush – KH

                                    MMF – Adolph Cincus – Farmer

                                                MMF2 – Michael Kowalske – Farmer

                                                MMFM – Wilhelmia Lupke – KH

                                    MMM – Annie Addis – KH

                                                MMMF – Joseph Addis -- Farmer

                                                MMMM – Weronika Ratnow – KH

With only a few exceptions, my wife’s ancestors were all farmers. Coming from that kind of background, the fact that my wife went on to college and even got a master’s degree was definitely breaking tradition.