Occupations

[Alec]

How reliable are occupations listed in early Census and Marriage certificates? I am researching my 3 x Great Grandfather George Bowman, born ~1781.

It appears from the LDS site that he and his wife, Mary, had up to 8 children, christened in Osbaldwick near York. I have been getting marriage certificates for these individuals to confirm the relationships. However although other facts appear consistent such as dates and places of birth, the occupation of George Bowman is either listed as Labourer or Farmer (the census of 1841 and 51 also list him as a farmer).

Obviously there is a possibility of two separate George Bowmans being involved but was wondering just how accurate some of these entries were.

[naomiatt]

Hello Alec - this might be useful to read through - http://www.1841-census.co.uk/
and http://dnausers.dnet.co.uk/dnetnLDQ/.../external.html
Some people seem to have studied the accuracy of both 1841 and 1851, but for certain regions..

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Sometimes "farmer" meant someone who farmed a couple of fields in his own right - perhaps keeping a few cows and selling the milk. His income was often subsidised by doing seasonal labour for someone else, on a larger farm.
So, depending on the view of the person recording the information, our man could be recorded as either farmer or labourer.
I think that at village marriages, when completing the registers the rector often relied on his own knowledge of the families concerned. At registry office marriages, however, the registrar had to rely solely on the information supplied to him - this could result in "bigging up," either to sound better, or because it was the perspective held by the informer.
I have some tenant farmers with just a couple of fields who have been "farmer" at census, but "labourer" in the baptism register when their children were christened.

But always worth checking with census what other (if any) George Bowmans, with children with same names and ages, were around.

Jay

[Alec]

Thank you all for your replies.

It certainly makes sense that someone engaged in subsistence farming would need to have alternative work for example during the winter months. Also that some individuals might "talk up" their status a bit. I guess that's nothing new!

I can get back to my 2nd great grandfather relatively easily. His DOB is documented as 1822 or 1823 and place of birth is Murton (in the parish of Osbaldwick), near York. There is only one other Henry Bowman born around that time in York (and he is listed in the census at Goodramsgate).

From the LDS site there is a Henry Bowman, christened in Osbaldwick 20 Oct 1822. His parents are listed as George Bowman and Mary. From the LDS site there are a number of children with George Bowman and Mary as their parents (Sarah c.1813, John c.1815, Ellen c.1817, George c. 1818, Joseph c. 1819 and Henry c. 1822). There also may be a Mary b. 1810 and William b. 1811. Again on LDS, a George Bowman and Mary Dixon were married in Osbaldwick in 1807.

The connection between these individuals is a bit tenuous hence I am trying to build up connections. The National Probate Calendar links Ellen, George and Joseph together. The marriage certificates for George junior and Henry have George senior as a Farmer, those for John and Joseph list him as a Labourer (the 1841 & 51 censuses says he is a Farmer).

On balance of probability, I believe that I have most of these relationships correct.

One particular quandry does remain; the marriage certificate for George Jr and a Mary Nelson is not a photocopy of the original and I believe that the bride's age has been incorrectly transcribed (the 1851 censu has her age as 58 and his age as 31. The marriage certificate in 1847 has him aged 29 and her aged 24 (I think it ought to be 54). Could be the wrong individuals but again places and other dates match up.