Obsolete Jobs Trivia

1. The song in the quiz title is well known, so let's start there. "Low bridge, everybody down." Why?

From Quiz Life on the Erie Canal: "I've Got a Mule..."

Answer: passengers on top of a canalboat needed to duck to fit under many bridges

Bridges for road traffic crossing the canal were barely high enough for boats to pass under. For freight boats that didn't matter, but in good weather, passengers liked to sit on chairs or luggage on the roof. "Every Bridge makes us bend double if seated on anything, and in many cases you have to lie on your back. The Man at the helm gives the word to the passengers: 'Bridge,' 'very low Bridge,' 'the lowest in the Canal,' as the case may be. Some serious accidents have happened... [but] in general it affords amusement to the passengers who soon imitate the cry..." --From an 1836 trip on the canal quoted at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/eriecanal.htm Trivia about the song: It was written in the early 20th Century when the canal had shifted away from animal power, as a nostalgic look back, but was never sung on the actual 19th Century canal. See http://daveruch.com/erie-canal-song/

From Quiz The Dirty, Dangerous Charcoal Maker's Job, 1850

Answer: iron furnaces to extract iron from iron ore

Iron furnaces usually owned hundreds of acres where iron ore existed, not just as an investment in underground ore, but because they needed the charcoal from the wood. Coal mined from underground could be used too, and it gradually took over as the dominant fuel in the 1840-1860 period, when iron furnaces changed their technology. The gradual disappearance of the hometown blacksmith, the increasing cost of wood and increasing availability of mined coal, and other changes, eliminated the need for wood-based charcoal, and the collier's job disappeared.

From Quiz Obsolete Jobs

Answer: straight razor

With a warm moist towel to soften the skin first, a carefully stropped blade, a steady hand, and an astringent aftershave afterwards, a straight razor shave can be a relaxing experience. Men who lived in town and didn't like shaving themselves might go over to the barber's shop a few times a week, and the close straight razor shave would keep them looking good. I had a friend do it to me and really enjoyed the relaxing aspect, but fewer commercial barber shops offer it, due in part to fear of spreading blood-borne diseases, and also due to the fact that disposable blades make shaving oneself easier, so men don't need to pay for shaves anymore - and of course there are now electric shavers. One imagines men with long beards in the old days, but in typical US/British fashion, clean-shaven faces were the norm for decades or centuries up to the 1860s, then beards returned from the turn of the 20th century to the hippy era.

From Quiz The Ash-Covered Profession of the Blacksmith

Answer: Anvil

A blacksmith shapes metal by placing it on an anvil and pounding it with a metal hammer. The anvil and the hammer are both kept hot and the piece of metal to be shaped is usually put in a forge to get it hot and to soften it and make it easier to work. The anvil is not a simple block of metal, it has different shapes on each side which are used as molds on which to shape the hot metal. On one side is a conical shaped horn which is used when hammering curved pieces of metal. It also has holes on the top so that holes can be punched into the metal being worked if it is needed. The first metal anvils were made of bronze, and then cast iron. Today, most anvils are made from steel, which is stronger and less likely to become brittle over time. The anvil is one of the blacksmith's most important pieces of equipment and was often handed down from father to son.

From Quiz The Trivial Profession of Court Jester

Answer: Donkey's Tail

These points were emblematic of donkey's tails. At one time court jesters also wore a donkey tail on their backsides! Donkeys or asses have long been a symbol of simple mindedness and tom-foolery in Western societies.

From Quiz The Macabre Profession of Body Snatching

Answer: Theft of the clothing or jewels was a much more serious crime.

Theft of a corpse was a misdemeanor and in some places not a crime at all. Theft of the clothing or jewels was a serious offence that could result in lengthy prison sentences or transportation to Australia.

From Quiz Archaic Occupations

Answer: takes care of the interior of a church

This is a British term. Originally the verger carried the verge, or emblem of authority, of an important person in a procession. Of course, Cadfael was a monk in medieval England at the Abbey of Shrewsbury.

From Quiz Your Ancestors Did What?

Answer: Sold eels

There are several references in Victorian census documents to people being employed as a 'palingman'.The name may come from the Dutch word for eel. The fence builder was called a palingwright, the man who mended buckets would be a tinker and the person who looked after the hedges was called a pleacher or lengthsman.

From Quiz History's Horrid Jobs

Answer: Searched for small iron nodules in peat bogs.

Where streams flow through peat bogs, iron is collected and naturally concentrated, by bacterial action, into pea sized nodules. In some areas, this process can result in considerable quantities of available iron. The Bog Iron Hunter spent his days sifting through the peat bogs searching for these nodules. The work was carried out all year round, and in winter must have been extremely cold, damp, and unhealthy. You can read about the work of the Bog Iron Hunter and other professions of Roman and Saxon Britain at http://www.channel4/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/roman.html.

From Quiz Obsolete Occupations

Answer: Woolmaking

A billy is a spinning machine. The billy piecer would have to lean over the machine and join up the pieces of broken yarn. This work was often done by children as young as six years of age.

From Quiz Life on the Erie Canal: "I've Got a Mule..."

Answer: the animals on shore pulled them by a rope

Boats were towed by a long rope, connected to horses or mules walking along the towpath beside the canal. A worker, often a boy, needed to be on the towpath with the animals and he was generally discouraged from riding, though the temptation was great. The canalboat's upper speed was as fast as the boy could walk or ride, 3-4 miles an hour.

From Quiz The Dirty, Dangerous Charcoal Maker's Job, 1850

Answer: one mound of wood/charcoal ran it for a day and a half

At the old Hopewell Iron Furnace, now a National Park Service site in Pennnsylvania, the NPS website estimates a collier's mound of wood, turned into charcoal, would keep the furnace burning a day and a half. One furnace required 200 acres of woods a year. Because several iron furnaces might be operating in an area, continually producing, iron regions were obvious for the changes they brought to the landscape, in part from removing the ore, in part from clearcutting the woods and letting new regrowth begin.

From Quiz Archaic Occupations

Answer: shoes horses

My brother was a veterinarian and then got training as a farrier. The term is related to the Latin word for iron, ferrum, which also explains why the chemical symbol for iron is Fe.

From Quiz History's Horrid Jobs

Answer: Wool

Fullers turned coarse, greasy wool into soft, compact material, hence their work was very important. Unfortunately it was also rather unpleasant. The natural wool was placed into large vats of stale urine, and the Fullers, also known as Walkers or Waulkmillers, spent much of their working day treading the wool. Eventually the ammonia given off by the urine dissolved the natural grease of the wool, and softened and compacted it. To learn more of the work of the Fuller, and other medieval occupations, see http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/medieval.html.

From Quiz Obsolete Occupations

Answer: Metal

Usually a brazier worked with brass.

From Quiz Life on the Erie Canal: "I've Got a Mule..."

Answer: the locks acted as stair steps to raise or lower a boat to different levels

Each section of the Erie Canal was perfectly level, usually for many miles. When the surrounding land finally rose or fell so much that the next section had to be at a new higher or lower level, a lock was used to raise or lower boats to the new level, using only water power. There were 83 locks in the original 363-mile Erie Canal.

From Quiz The Dirty, Dangerous Charcoal Maker's Job, 1850

Answer: 30 feet across, the size of a small house

Because the mound was higher than a man in the middle, though it sloped down all around, a log was generally cut with notches for crude steps and laid on the outside, so the collier could climb up it. A mound was typically made of around 30 cords of wood. Hardwood was better than soft, quick-burning wood like pine. A collier would usually have the area he needed clearcut, except for saplings to start the reforestation for the next cutting.

From Quiz The Trivial Profession of Court Jester

Answer: The jester himself

The image was usually a head, most often of the jester himself. It was sometimes called a bauble. This wooden implement was painted in bright colors and often had satin ribbons attached.

From Quiz Archaic Occupations

Answer: managed the household of a king or noble

Like many archaic occupational names, chamberlain is often seen as a surname in English-speaking nations. I am personally acquainted with people named Cooper, Smith, Chamberlain, Sexton, and Franklin. Perhaps that is why the definitions of these terms intrigue me so much.

From Quiz Your Ancestors Did What?

Answer: Gleaners

Gleaning goes back to ancient times. In ancient Jewish communities, farmers were not allowed to harvest to the very edge of a field so as to leave a small proportion of the crop for the poor. In England, during the 19th century, gleaning was a legal right for cottagers. A cottager was a person who lived in a cottage, usually on a larger Manor, and had little or no land of their own.

From Quiz History's Horrid Jobs

Answer: By walking bare legged through reed beds.

Leeches are blood sucking worms found in many damp environments. Leech collectors, who were often women, walked bare legged through marshes and fens, allowing the leeches to attach themselves. The leeches would then be carefully removed, or allowed to drink their fill of blood and drop off naturally. Use of leeches is gaining credence in modern medical techniques, particularly in plastic surgery, as they can efficiently remove blood from damaged tissue without the need for surgery. Medieval doctors were often nicknamed 'leeches' due to their use of these creatures, and the widespread practice of removing blood in order to relieve various conditions.

From Quiz Obsolete Occupations

Answer: Candles

A chandler can also be a trader, especially one who supplies food and drink for ships.

From Quiz Life on the Erie Canal: "I've Got a Mule..."

Answer: the canal connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie, opening cheap water transportation

In the very early 19th century, when the Erie Canal was planned and construction began, water was the cheapest, easiest way to transport goods. There were no railroads yet, and roads were impossible to maintain without modern pavement. The canal-building era opened up new areas for farmers and others to sell what they produced. Anything that could be taken to Lake Erie could now go by water along the canal, then down the Hudson River, and onto a boat at New York City bound anywhere. The reverse was true also. The new artery for transportation also allowed people to travel more to visit family back east or to head west to settle, or just to travel for pleasure; a new idea gaining popularity. When railroads arrived, they competed with canals, but canals still outdid them in some areas, such as shipping freight slowly but cheaply, if time didn't matter.

From Quiz The Dirty, Dangerous Charcoal Maker's Job, 1850

Answer: the chimney

The chimney was made of logs set in a four-log square like a cabin or three-log triangle atop each other until the right height was achieved. It created an opening going down the center of the mound, letting air in to the bottom, or not, as needed. The top of the chimney didn't stick up. It was only level with the top of the mound and was accessed by the notched log the collier used to climb up the mound.

From Quiz This Plant is Closed - Go Away!

Answer: service station attendants

Once upon a time, a team of (mostly) men and women would come out, fill your car's fuel tank, check your oil, water, tire pressure, etc. But the 1970s fuel crisis and attendant (hehe) higher prices ended all that! Most Americans have probably never seen an actual filling station attendant. Surprisingly, attendants were still required by law in Oregon and New Jersey. Drivers in those states can be fined as much as $500 for fueling their own cars. State lawmakers cite safety concerns; detractors have insinuated that New Jerseyans and Oregonians may be too stupid to pump their own gas. I don't want to fuel an argument here, so I'll let it go. Doctors - house calls? Maybe the White House staff physician makes house calls! And I suppose the wait staff (I can't say waiter/waitress any more) at a "greasy spoon" can still provide all the "gas" and oil you want - but you get the idea.

From Quiz The Ash-Covered Profession of the Blacksmith

Answer: It helped the blacksmith tell how hot the metal was

The blacksmith worked in a shop called a forge. The forge was deliberately kept dark in order to help the blacksmith judge how hot the metal was that he was working with. This judgment was made by observing the color of the hot iron. As iron is heated it changes color. It starts glowing red and then progresses to orange, then yellow, and then white. Blacksmiths usually worked with iron that had been heated to a yellow-orange color. Darkness helped the smith judge when the metal had become the correct temperature to work with, but had not become too hot.

From Quiz The Trivial Profession of Court Jester

Answer: Twelfth Night

Feste appears in "Twelfth Night". He is Countess Olivia's jester and his role in this work is an example of how the jester held a unique position in the house of the aristocracy and royalty. Although a servant, he was free to come and go and occasionally entertained at another residence. He is referred to as the fool and his character is not taken seriously by any other person in the story.

From Quiz Archaic Occupations

Answer: He was a non-noble property holder.

Nope, it is not Ben Franklin. Franklins were freeholding property owners who owned extensive property. So I suppose they would be sort of like gentlemen farmers, eh?

From Quiz Your Ancestors Did What?

Answer: Wood

A 'fagetter' collected pieces of wood from local forests and bundled them up into faggots for sale as firewood. The original term faggot comes from the old French word 'fagot', meaning a bundle of sticks.

From Quiz So You Want to be a Desperado

Answer: Hole in the Wall

It is believed that the Hole in the Wall is located in the mountain ravines near where Colorado, Wyoming and Utah meet. To date, no one has been able to find it. Now that is a good hideout.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:54 AM

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