06 September 2010

Labor Day

In response to the prompt from geneabloggers, I've decided to post a brief entry about the occupations of my distant ancestors.

I think that most people who research their family history would like to find something particularly stunning such as an ancestor being someone particularly famous (though not infamous...), royalty, rich, etc... My grandfather who passed away in the mid-1980s claimed we were related to a "baron". I think he may have even said it was a Polish baron, but that would be inconsistent with his view that his heritage was entirely "German".

I've never found anything (beyond a reasonable doubt) about anyone being particularly famous. I have, however, noticed that many of my ancestors (and all of the direct ancestors back to at least the 1830s) have been skilled and I have yet to find any that were listed as being farmers or peasants. I've had a couple of millers and smiths, one medical doctor and a few mechanics/machinists. Nothing particularly exciting from a 21st century perspective, but they were part of a relatively small portion of the population in Latvia at that time.