Starting off with my parents -- my Dad is a welder, pipefitter, and boilermaker. He's had numerous other jobs in the past though including working at fast food establishments, being a maintenance person at an apartment complex, and even working at a gas station until he found his way into welding. As a youngin', he worked in the tobacco fields, which was kind of like a right of passage back in those days.
My Mom has been unemployed since she was pregnant with me. Her last proper job was at Thornton's in about September of 1992. Prior to that, she worked at the Deli inside the Citi-Center Mall downtown, and had also worked at Riverside Downs racetrack, a beer distributor, a tax office, delivering newspapers, and of course as a youngin', she helped out in the tobacco fields.
My Grandparents -- Granddad Glen was an ironworker and farmer. I don't know much about his work career other than that work took him to big cities like New York City, Chicago, and Kansas City, Missouri. Grandma Mina, as far as I know, was a waitress for most of her life. Here in Henderson, I know she worked at the Ramada for many, many years.
Grandpa Jady was a jack of all trades who held many occupations in his lifetime and the most consistent one was farmer. At one time or another, though, Grandpa worked for the oil fields, worked as a maintenance shop foreman, drove a cement truck.. You name it, my Grandpa Jady probably done it.
Grandma Glynda was a bookkeeper through and through. She was a tax preparer for many moons, but primarily she did books wherever she worked. She did books and secretarial work for many car lots, A.D.M, and her last place of employment was the Dodge Store. Grandma was exceptionally good at math... my weakest subject.
As for my Great-Grandparents -- Clint Mefford worked in the coal mines - more appropriately, he was a manager of one, and that brought in decent money. It's been said many times that the Mefford family didn't really feel the Great Depression quite like my Blanford family did. Edith, his wife, as far as I know was a homemaker without ever having a true occupation.
Doc Jones to the best of my knowledge was a farmer and his wife without occupation aside from housewife and fulltime mother. Looking back at census - in the 1930 census, he was a deckhand on a boat and in 1940, he worked for the W.P.A.
Dick Blanford was a farmer through and through. In his later years, he ran an apple orchard and was well known for his apple cider. He worked a lot with livestock and ever so often you'd see his name in the newspaper for auctioning off either livestock or some old farm equipment. His wife, Lorene, was a stay at home wife and mother - which was a handful, trust me. They had a passel of children.
Henry Sandefur did a little bit of everything in his life. He was a fireman on and off. I know he drove a school bus at one time or another. In the 1930 census, at just 17, he was working in a furniture factory (probably Delker Brothers here in Henderson.) In the 1940 census, he was working for the W.P.A. His wife, Anna, was a stay at home wife and mother until her children, or at least almost all of her children, were out of the nest. She became a school bus driver and that's the job she retired from in the late 80's.
My Great-Great-Grandparents -- French Mefford was a farmer and his wife, Emma, did not work. Frank Bastin started out as a coal miner, then a foreman in the coal mines, and then in his later life turned into a farmer. His wife, Lena, did not work. We're getting back into the days where it just wasn't a thing for women to work whatsoever. Their one and only job was to take care of the house, husband, and children.
Aaron Jones was a blacksmith, until his later years, then he began to farm. Bill White was also a farmer his whole life, either on his own farm, or labor on another's farm. Martin Blanford was a farmer as well - the Blanford's well versed in the nature of farming. It seems like that's quite literally ALL they did.
Charles LaRue was a farmer as well. The LaRue's are a long line of farmers going back many, many generations. Eugene Sandefur in the 1900 census was a house painter, by 1910 and for the rest of his life until he retired - he was a mail carrier. I believe he mostly ran rural routes even though the family lived in town on Clay St. His wife, Ollie, in the 1900 census is given the occupation of 'weaver,' and that's the only time she's ever listed as having an occupation.
John R. Thompson was a farmer - although I dare say his best money was made when they found oil on his property in Niagara. The Thompson's, too, are a long line of farmers. It seems like my Catholic lines (Blanford, Thompson, Nally, etc) are all farmers. Not sure if it really has much to do with the religion or not, but it seems likely that it does, at least to some degree.
I could go on and continue listing my ancestors, but from this point, their occupations wouldn't change. I do believe with heavy certainty that all of my 3x Great-Grandfathers and probably 4x, and 5x, and so on... were all farmers. I can't think of a single one, off the top of my hand, that had a different occupation.
Unfortunately, this blog is a bit boring and probably isn't as chalk full of information as some of my others but... what can I say? I occasionally have slightly boring ancestors, haha. Not really boring, I guess, but... their work lives were uneventful for the most part. Especially coming from long lines of farmers. I wish I knew more about the types of crops they grew. Sadly, I don't.
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