Old Time Occupations beginning with the letter D

Ships passenger lists, census returns and other documents used in genealogy may give an ancestor’s occupation, this list gives more modern interpretations of those terms.

Dareman – dairyman
Daunsel – gentleman in waiting; groom; squire
Dexter – dyer
Diviner/Dowser – one who finds water under the ground
Docker – stevedor; dock worker who loads and unloads cargo
Dowser – finder of water (or other items) using dowsing rods or witching stick
Draper – dealer in cloth and dry goods
Drayman – driver of the dray: a long strong cart without fixed sides for carrying heavy loads (later a brewery delivery team ie. the Budweiser Clydesdales)
Dresser – surgeon’s assistant in a hospital
Drover – driver of animals to market; dealer in cattle
Drummer – traveling salesman
Dubbere – cloth dubber ie. one who raises the nap of cloth
Dudder – probably a maker of coarse cloaks
Duffer – peddler
Dyer – one who dyes cloth
Dysshere – probably a ditcher, or in some cases a disher

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