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11 Jobs From 1850 That Are Totally Extinct

Portlandia shaking hands
Portlandia shaking hands

Portlandia screengrab

The recent recession may have turned the job market on its head, but larger economic factors have drastically changed the U.S. market over the last century. The Industrial Revolution has all but eliminated once stable, middle-class jobs that were commonplace for your great-grandparents living in rural farmlands.

To find out what types of jobs were around before the Industrial Revolution, we combed through the occupational classification list from 1850, the first year the government collected data on what Americans do for work, provided b y the Bureau of Labor Statistics . We then compared it to a part of today's Census called the Standard Occupational Classifications , which identifies 31,000 active occupations in America.

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Below are jobs from the past that are no longer recognized by the BLS:

1. Chimney-sweeps: Someone who inspects and cleans chimneys. The job typically requires a certain level of dexterity since it involves a lot of climbing, squatting, kneeling, and stretching.

chimney sweep
chimney sweep

Wikipedia


2. Daguerreotypists: These people were the pioneers of photography u sing the camera obscura, an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen.

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Wikipedia

3. Drover: Someone who drives cattle or sheep.

Cattle
Cattle

Discovery Channel via Netflix


4. Hemp dressers: Someone who worked in the linen industry separating the coarse parts of hemp. They were also known as hacklers, the instruments they used to separate hemp.

Dangerous Factory Worker Boy
Dangerous Factory Worker Boy

Library Of Congress

5. Lapidaries: An artist who collects precious gemstones and minerals and forms them into decorative items.

gems rocks quartz
gems rocks quartz

genista / Flickr

6. Lathmaker: Someone who works to set up, operate, or tend wood sawing.

wood cutter
wood cutter

Wikipedia

7. Match makers: Someone whose job consists of matching two people up, usually for the purpose of marriage.

matchmaker
matchmaker

Wikipedia

8. Occultists: People who study magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, and divination.

rocks walking
rocks walking

Wikipedia

9. Quarrymen: A man who works in or manages a quarry, which is a type of open pit mine for extracting rocks and minerals.

quarrymen
quarrymen

Wikipedia

10. Shoe peg maker : This is a traditional form of shoe-making using pegged construction.

shoe maker
shoe maker

Wikipedia


11. Salaeratus makers: A person who makes baking soda.

chemist
chemist

Wikipedia



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