OCCUPATION FILES ON ANCESTRY–1600-1995–What are they? Have you seen these?

I was researching one of my husband’s ancestors the other day (his 7th great grandfather, Benjamin Clarke), when I came across a record I had never seen before.

This record actually showed up when I was checking the shaky leaf on Ancestry.  I do check those shaky leafs every day.  Why?  Because it seems to me that whoever you have been working on recently will be shown on those hints.  Sometimes I find they are hints I am already familiar with, but many times, I have come across new information.  I’m NOT talking about family trees, but actual document records.

In this case it was the DELAWARE, CRAFTPERSON FILES, 1600-1995

I was not familiar with this set of records.  AND, I have absolutely no one who is from or ever lived in Delaware.  At least not that I’m aware of.

Why would Benjamin Clarke, who lived in Massachusetts be listed in this file?

Here is the explanation of this source, directly from Ancestry.

"About Delaware, Craftperson Files, 1600-1995

The Winterthur Library is devoted to the study of everyday life in America and America’s craft traditions, including furniture making, silversmithing, pottery making, textile production, etc. This collection includes images of a series of card files containing the names, working dates, places of residence, and other information about American craftspeople. Data on the cards relate to a wide range of craftspeople:

• artists / painters
• blacksmiths
• engravers
• fraktur artists
• furniture makers / cabinetmakers / turners / joiners
• gilders
• clock- and watchmakers
• glass workers
• goldsmiths
• graphic artists
• jewelers
• metalsmiths
• potters
• sculptors
• silversmiths / silver plate workers

Information on the cards includes the names of craftspeople, occupation and working dates, birth and death dates, where they lived, what they made, notes about their professional lives, and bibliographical and source references. (Information about furniture makers and silversmiths is more complete than other occupations, and some of the cards don’t include complete information.)"
 
WOW!  That’s a lot of occupations.  And, look at the information that may be included on the cards.

• Birth & death dates
• Where they lived
• Occupation & working dates
• What they made
• Notes about their professional lives
• Bibliographical source references

The card shown above, for Benjamin Clarke, doesn’t list all of those items, but look what it does give me.  Year of birth & death, year the record was recorded, where he lived and his occupation.  And, by the way, this information matched what I already have for Benjamin, so I added it as a source for those items in my Legacy database.

Here are some other samples of cards in this database that contain different kinds of information.  I just began scrolling through the film and found these.  Some contain a lot of information and others just a little.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

     

     

I’m anxious to continue exploring this database.
 
Please tell me if you were aware of this group of records?  If so, what have you found?  Or, if not, do you think it would be helpful to you?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

FINDING OCCUPATIONS IN LEGACY 8 - How to use the search function 

SHAKY LEAVES ON ANCESTRY CAN LEAD TO NEW RECORDS-Here's how 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

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