Help deciphering father's occupation

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:02 pm

I'm seeing "Handloom" now for that word which I thought started with letter M ...which makes no sense at all....think I'd better go lie down...

Best wishes
Lesley

hg · Post by hg » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:52 pm

not sure about furniture, but the second word starts with an H, if you compare it with Hair the H's are the same, but cant make it out as house, the last letter may be a d (it looks like it overlaps into the next box) or is that a 1 , in which case cause of death would be paralis 13 months. As for warehouse - again not sure, could be a w or an H but the last letter looks like an n when I compare the n in Brown. Maybe Lesley is right and it is Handloom. The fourth word looks like dead. when I compare with the d's in deceased they are the same, although I agree it does not make sense.

Sorry if I have just confused it even more.

Helen

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:05 am

Hello Sarah,

Just a few theories but possibly not much help re the occupation.

1. Looks like furniture but could start with a T. What looks like an L in the third word could be a loop extending down from the middle of the first word and could be part of a G or a Y etc. Maybe there’s an upper case G in the middle of the first word and it is actually two words although its top loop doesn’t look right.

2. Looks like House.

3. If you take out the L maybe it looks a bit like storeman but starting with a lower case S which could be a bit inconsistent and other bits don’t look quite right. The theoretical loop from above may be hiding a letter.

4. I don’t think you can quibble too much over dead, that’s what it looks like and that is what is supposed to be there and he probably just has a thing about separating different entries with a blank where possible. Dead is as good as and means the same as Dec’d.

Hope that's of some use,
Alan

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:11 am

Good morning all,
Thanks for your ideas! Here I am with a cup of coffee, trying to make some sense of all your interpretations... Let's see, putting it all together (and ignoring for the moment all Alan's potential descending loops) we have:

1. Furnisher/Furniture
2. House/Houd
3. Merchant/Warehouse/Handloom/Storeman
4. Dead/Dealr

How about a Furnisher of House Handlooms? After all, someone had to furnish handlooms to all those handloom weavers...

Makes more sense than a tarnisher of house handlooms, which is what it looks like.
I think I like it

How about the rest of you?

Thanks again,
Sarah

momat · Post by **momat** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:40 am

Hi ,
Thought I would add my little bit here.
On the Death cert it looks like Euphemia's mother's name is Jane Lennox.
There is a Marriage on the IGI site that sounds like them.

JOHN BROWN Pedigree
Male Family

Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:

Marriages:
Spouse: JEAN LENNOX Family
Marriage:
14 OCT 1788 Sorn, Ayr, Scotland

Maybe a search on Scotland's People for a death for a Jane Brown / Lennox would bring up husbands occupation.
I have no credits so can't look for you.

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:49 am

Hi Maureen,
Yes, I had seen that marriage and did try the search... but I'm afraid she must have died before 1855 (not too surprising). In the 1851 census there is a Mary Brown age 12 living with Euphemia and William, so perhaps she had a brother whose death I could find

k

All the best,
Sarah

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:01 am

I dunno Sarah, I think if it was Furnisher of House Handlooms (or even Heirlooms?) that he would have written it a different way, using different words?

How about Furnishing House (as in shop – and that goes back a long way) storeman. The last letter looks like the top of a g and the missing bottom loop has migrated a half inch to the left. (I’m still working on that!!).

In other words the first two are the place of employment and the next word is the job.

Still guessing,
Alan

momat · Post by **momat** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:06 am

Hi Sarah,
the IGI site also has a birth to this pair of a THOMAS BROWN 1809 in Sorn??

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:11 am

Hi Alan,
You and your loops

You mean that the two vertical strokes that were taken for the upward line of the d and the l of "handloom" are really the bottom of the g in "Furnishing" that has jumped left?

I do like the idea of the place of employment, then the job. Does it have to be Furnishing House though, rather than Furniture House? Oh, I guess that is to account for the loops below...

k

Cheers,
Sarah

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:19 am

I think Furnishing is more in keeping with the language of the period than Furniture.