"So, what do you do?" That is a question so often asked by one American to another. It is the question that for many cultures is considered rude. Maybe its because it seems to try to put people into social classes. Maybe because for them work is not as closely tied to identity.
But, for Americans it is a very natural small talk opening. It is a way to seek connection. The conversation might go something like this:
A: "So, what do you do?"
B: "I'm a teacher. I've been a public-school teacher for 20 years."
A: "Wow! My brother is a teacher in Alabama. He teaches High School Science. What about you?"
And so on. This is all done - usually without judgement or with any intent to establish pecking order. Though, social ordering happens in this way, too, in some circles.
For Americans it is natural to ask - what did my ancestors do for an occupation?
As I looked along my family lines I, like many find farmers. Some were small local farmers growing and raising enough for sustenance and community exchange while others were truly farming as a business venture.
In the late 18th and early 19th century a few of my ancestors stood out for doing things other than farming. A direct paternal ancestor, Malcolm, was, in addition to farming, a militiaman and scout on the western frontier. His son, Sylvester, began as guard/bailiff, but his experience led him to the legal profession becoming a Justice of the Peace and ultimately a Probate Judge. He also was a tutor at times.
Another interesting profession during that time period was a second great-grandfather, Philip Blume, who was a saddler - first in his role during the War of 1812 and later as a profession. It is also possible that he dipped into investing into hospitality (Blume Hotel) and coal mining in his later years as his children were directly involved in the activities. Philip's mother, Elizabeth, mentions that her son, Jacob, "received the wine of life" indicating the good things were happening for him - and this is the time that the coal business was taking off for Jacob with his future brother-in-law.
One fourth great-grandfather, Timothy Bates, would have current conservative Christian fellowships spinning their heads. He came with his father, Ephriam, to Ohio because of a combination of opportunity and abolitionists beliefs developed under the influence of Jacob Green. Pioneers on the frontier and religiously zealous - Timothy preached on Sundays at a Christian Church that often met on his farm in his distillery using the whiskey barrels as benches.
Moving further into the 19th century my family followed the rivers. Monroe McCown was very entrepreneurial. He was a lay Methodist minister, a fruit farmer, blacksmith, steamboat clerk and possibly pilot. His wife, Henrietta, owned a good bit of property in the main town and in the countryside - where she may have rented out property for others to farm. In her younger years she had been a seamstress and may have continued that activity as the opportunity arose. Their son, Sylvester, was similarly entrepreneurial. Like his father, he apprenticed in blacksmithing, managed a fruit farm in Ohio, and he speculated on timber in Louisiana and Arkansas.
One second great-grandfather never came to America. Zacharias Anderson, born in 1836 to a tenant farmer living in a backstuga in Naverstad, Sweden. He eventually moved to Grebbestad near the coast where he first tried cobbling - but changed his primary occupation to strandfiskare or beach fishing which consisted of cast net fishing, small boat usage, and fishing from the shore. When Zacharais' son, Oscar, came to the U.S. he would lean on those things he had learned from his father occupying himself as a boat captain, fisherman, bridge builder, and general construction contractor. I could see echoes of this fishing legacy while growing up in the panhandle of Florida where my grandmother and aunt, (Zacharias' grandchildren) would scoop crabs, gig flounder, and uncles would cast nets for mullet. Even today, I can't visit an Aquarium without getting hungry.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, two ancestors on opposite sides of the family tree set up general goods and sundry stores.
One, Robert Wylie, operated on the old routes - the rivers, specifically the Ohio. The other, William Ira Goad, operated on the new routes - the rail roads, along the L&N specifically in Repton, AL William's son-in-law, Alva Otto Huckaby, was a carpenter along the L&N and followed it south into Florida.
Fully into the 20th century both of my grandfathers were eventually employed by the federal government. Before that, Herbert McCown, managed a small farm, worked in his cousin's coal mine, and traveled with a timber company. The government job allowed him to stay near the farm as he obtained a job with the Army Corp of Engineers with the hydroelectric dam operations on the Ohio. His wife, Nellie, with her love of books was a librarian. Ira Huckaby eventually worked for the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, first as a carpenter then as an estimator for the Public Works Department. Before that he was driving a taxi.
Dad farmed as a teen and worked in a jewelry store. But he quickly joined the Navy, He didn't stay in long. He did, though, learn a skill and used it to get a contracting job with the USAF as an electronic technician, He used that skill for most of his career. He later earned a college degree and retired as a computer specialist.
As for me, my first official job was as an appliance installer for a small appliance store. As I was going to college, I worked in the Couty School Art Department doing whatever needed to be done for the program administrator. After earning a degree, I began working for the USAF in software maintenance and weapon system analysis activities.
"What do you do?" is not the same as "Who are you?" or at least it shouldn't be. And yet, it gives a window into the skills a person possessed and the nature of life they experienced. Exploring the occupations of these ancestors works much the same for opening a window into their lives for those who inquire.
