Help with deciphering an occupation

[SarahND]

Hi all,
Could someone enlighten me on the occupation of William Speirs in the 1841 in Fulton, Kilbarchan? The image is here: http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... play_media

Ancestry says he is a "Tibe turner" but with that, I'm none the wiser!

All the best,
Sarah

[nelmit]

Hi all,
Could someone enlighten me on the occupation of William Speirs in the 1841 in Fulton, Kilbarchan? The image is here: http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... play_media

Ancestry says he is a "Tibe turner" but with that, I'm none the wiser!

All the best,
Sarah

It looks like Tile or Tube so my best guess is Tube Turner (he did something with metal tubes).

Regards,
Annette

[Russell]

Hi Sarah
FreeCen say "Jib Turner" so I'm no wiser than you. One possibility is that he did heavy turning producing some parts of a hand loom which had a local name e.g. the rollers the warp were gathered on - but that's just a guess

[SarahND]

Thanks Annette and Russell
He was an innkeeper in Linwood by the time his son was born in 1847, so maybe he got tired of turning whatever it was I think I'll look at a couple of his children's births closer to the time and see what it says. The family left Kilbarchan (hard though that is for Russell to believe) before the 1851 census, went to Connecticut where he died shortly after. However, he just arrived in time to get caught by the 1850 census in the U.S. and said he was a brick maker. A man of many talents, apparently!


Sarah

[SarahND]

Okay, I think I have it now. Grace's birth in 1839 gave no occupation for the father, but the birth of wee John in 1842 said the following:

Kilbarchan 1842
John, lawful son to William Speir, Tile burner and Agnes McNeish was Born February 1st.

So, I'm thinking that burning tiles and making bricks are not so different... What do you think?

Cheers,
Sarah

[Currie]

Hello Sarah,

Appears it could be a part of brick and tile manufacturing. The tile is turned over to even up the drying process. Or maybe it just means turning it out of the mould.

From an 1866 Parliamentary report on a Brick and Tile Yard:

"The men themselves sometimes turn tiles on Sunday, when we want to have them dried quickly in case of a pressing order."

All the best,
Alan

[SarahND]

Thanks, Alan.
So he was turning tiles after all, rather than burning them! I wonder if they used to get in trouble with the church for turning tiles on Sunday? I remember reading some court documents once where people were taken to task for repairing a fence on the sabbath.

All the best,
Sarah

[Hibee]

And this.....

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/t ... 1009212407

Hibee

[SarahND]

My head is spinning! Was he turning or burning or both? Seems that both things are actual occupations. Amazing what one learns when one does genealogy! In this case, I am trying to go back on the line of someone whose DNA matches mine very closely and hopefully find the link between our families. As usual, the crucial bit of information I need is just before the first census...

Thanks, Hibee, for your contribution to the question,
Sarah

[Currie]

Hello Sarah,

I think I’ll change my vote to Burner as it’s probably the most likely. The census form looks like Turner, but maybe it was misheard.

A search in 1841 at FreeCen for occupation tile brings up 904 results. There were 19 Burners and no Turners.

This book contains several descriptions of the manufacture of draining tiles.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SEx ... AJ&pg=PA27

All the best,
Alan