Friday, November 6, 2015

Ancestors and Occupations: How those that came before made a living

I'm going to take a few posts to look at how my ancestors made their living. Right off, I'd say that farmers and millers will  rank 1st and 2nd, but you never know. I'm going to go family by family, generation by generation. I thought about chronological order, but decided the other would be easier. Some folks will have more than one occupation listed. When in doubt, I'll skip on to the next person. I will try to include the time frame for each person [1650-1675, for instance] and will include the females, if I have anything specific on them. Several ancestors were involved in local politics; unless politics became the person's primary job, I'll not include office holding.

For those of you who equate planter and farmer as the same occupation, I'm differentiating the two by land holdings [plantation: large farmstead; farm: smaller farmstead] and whether the property is referred to as a plantation or farm in records.

PRALL:

Jan Arentsen van Heerde: bouw meester [bowery master] or the head, manager, of a farmstead on Staten Island. [c1650 - c1658] (no record of Jan after 1658)
 
Arent Jansen Prall: wheelwright in Kingston and on Staten Island [c1663 - 1725] and farmer/planter on Staten Island [c1675 - 1725]

Pieter Prall: farmer and planter on Staten Island [by 1697 - 1748] (Pieter began with a 40 acre farm, but later established a homestead that was called "Morning Star.")

Aaron Prall: businessman, probably a tanner  in Hunterdon Co., NJ and Kingston, NY [c1716 - at least early 1730s], farmer [c1716 - 1757] in Hunterdon Co., NJ.

Cornelius Prall Sr.: farmer, operator of a sawmill and gristmill at various times in Hunterdon and neighboring counties in New Jersey [mid-1750s - 1813]

Cornelius Prall Jr.: farmer in New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania [by 1791 - 1834].

Isaac Rittenhouse Prall: farmer in Harford Co., MD and York Co., PA [mid-1820s - 1865] (The 1870 Clinton Co., OH census shows him as an 'ex-farmer.')

Hugh McDonald Prall: carpenter in Ohio [1870s], farmer in Grant Co., IN [1880s], thereafter listed as a solicitor/canvasser, collector, clerk and cornice-maker [1890s-1907] in Grant Co., IN. (The solicitor and canvasser jobs were apparently collecting data for the city/county directories or pollster. Collector may have been the same.)

William Marshall Prall: solicitor [1895/6], candy maker [1897 -1900] in Marion, IN, [1901-1906] in Cincinnati, OH and [1907-1839] in Indianapolis, IN.

Hugh Charles Prall: tool and die maker [1939-1977] Indianapolis, IN.

Terry Dean Prall: elementary and middle school teacher, Nocatee, FL [1973-1979], Arcadia, FL [1979-2003], Arcadia, FL;  genealogist [1990-current], Arcadia, FL and Avon, IN.

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