Old Time Occupations beginning with the letter C

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.

Campaner – bell maker
Cancellarius – chancellor
Cardmaker – maker of cards (instruments for combing wool)
Carner – granary keeper
Carnifex – butcher
Carpentarius – carpenter
Carter – maker or driver carts
Caulker – filler of cracks (in ships or windows)
Cautioner – guarantor (One who becomes security for another)
Chaisemaker – carriage maker
Chaloner – dealer in shalloon (a material made in Chalons)
Chandler – maker or seller of candles; retailer of groceries; dealer or trader
Chapman – merchant, often itinerant
Chesterman – guard
Chiffonier – wigmaker
Chirugion – apothecary or surgeon
Cissor – tailor
Clarke – cleric or scribe
Clericus – clerk
Clerk – clergyman, cleric
Clicker – printer in charge of final layout
Clicker – (shoe mfg) in charge of lace holes
Cobbler – shoe maker/repairer
Cocus (Keu) – cook
Cohen – priest
Collier – coalminer
Colporteur – peddler of books
Combere – woolcomber
Conveyor – grantor or seller
Cooper – maker or repairer of vessels made of staves & hoops ie. barrels, casks and tubs
Coppice keeper – one who takes care of small wood
Cordewanarius/Cordwainer/Corvisor – shoemaker, originally any leather worker using Cordovan leather (leather from Cordova/Cordoba, Spain)
Costermonger – peddler of fruits and vegetables
Cotiler – cutler
Crayman – driver of a cart carrying heavy loads
Crocker – potter; maker of crocks
Crowner – coroner
Cuhreur/Cunreur – currier
Culler – gelder of male animals
Cuper – cooper
Currrier – tanner of leather; user of curry comb on horses
Cutler – one who makes or sells knives etc.

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