Might he just have played the organ in the church and still have been a coppersmith? I have a builder who was the church organist, a tinsmith who wrote hymns. Another which I still can't comprehend - an Ag Lab who became a teacher!! My great grandfather was an iron moulder who made grates and became an inspector in the insurance business. His wife encouraged him to better himself. Another of my ancestors was an organ builder in 1881 - obviously working with his father and brother who were organ builders, by 1891 he was a carpenter and joiner - not so different because you had a lot of carpentry in creating a church organ but by 1901 he has followed another of his brothers and was a "Wholesale Clothing Manufacturer". My daughter was in sales and marketing in 5 star hotels and airlines - she's now a camel farmer so what could be more different! From smart uniform and 3" heels to mucking out the animals, etc. She also has llamas, pigs, rabbits, ducks, geese, hens, Pygmy goats and umpteen other critters. Liz www.btinternet.com/~e.newbery OPC for Street, Somerset ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charani" <familyhunter@family-hunter.co.uk> To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 1:29 PM Subject: Re: [B&D] William Henry HARRIS c1825 BRISTOL > Brad Rogers wrote: > >> Stranger things happen; My father always wanted to be a musician. He >> managed it. >> >> "How?" I hear you ask. >> >> He joined the army. Whilst there he joined the band, and was taught to >> play and read music. > > Makes sense and it could have happened back then as well, that's why I > added "on the face of it" :)) > >> Going the other way, from musician to (in this case) Coppersmith is, to >> my mind, not a big jump. Especially if he was struggling to make money >> as a musician. He'd have had to do something to earn money. > > The only real problem I can see is that to be a coppersmith, he would > have had to serve an apprenticeship. I don't think he'd have been > allowed to be a musician during his apprenticeship. If he was already > a musician and struggling financially, he'd have been quite a bit > older than most when he started his apprenticeship. > > The only way I could see that working out was if he'd apprenticed and > possibly qualified as a coppersmith, then became a musician but went > back to being a coppersmith when/if being a musician didn't work out. > That, though, begs the question: how did he keep his skills up > during the musical period. > > -- > Charani (UK) > OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM > Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM > http://wsom-opc.org.uk > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

On Sat, 6 Feb 2010 14:09:53 -0000 "Liz" <e.newbery@btinternet.com> wrote: Hello Liz, > Another which I still can't comprehend - an Ag Lab who became > a teacher!! Don't forget that the term Ag Lab is a catch all. Some of those jobs were quite skilled. Okay, it was still manual work, so still quite a leap. Unless he was teaching at agricultural college. :-) -- Regards _ / ) "The blindingly obvious is / _)rad never immediately apparent"

Liz wrote: > Might he just have played the organ in the church and still have been a > coppersmith? It's possible. > I have a builder who was the church organist, a tinsmith who > wrote hymns. Another which I still can't comprehend - an Ag Lab who became > a teacher!! The problem with Ag Labs is it's such a catch-all term and many ag labs weren't totally illiterate. Clearly your ag lab had a degree of education, enjoyed the learning process and took it further. There's a man in Walton who's shown as an ag lab at the baptism of most of his children but for one in the middle, he's given as a turf merchant. He goes back to being an ag lab for the rest. He does show up as a turf dealer elsewhere. It made me wonder how many more of the alleged ag labs were actually something much more than their job title suggested. Then there are the farmers sons who are given as ag labs in censuses and when they marry. Clearly they were learning the trade, so to speak, and not ag labs like many of those in the village. > My great grandfather was an iron moulder who made grates and > became an inspector in the insurance business. His wife encouraged him to > better himself. Another of my ancestors was an organ builder in 1881 - > obviously working with his father and brother who were organ builders, by > 1891 he was a carpenter and joiner - not so different because you had a lot > of carpentry in creating a church organ but by 1901 he has followed another > of his brothers and was a "Wholesale Clothing Manufacturer". Perhaps an accident, ill health, lack of financial security or simply not enjoying the work could be responsible for the changes. Just as people today make radical career changes, as you illustrated, I think the same could have happened in the past. Somewhere along the line, a belief has arisen that whilst those in the past may have had hard lives, they were nevertheless perfect, didn't move from where they were born, did the same job all their lives, were well behaved God-fearing people who didn't digress from the straight and narrow. It only takes a few years of genealogical research to discover that the above was not true for all by ny means. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk

My father in law was a lorry driver for the docks ,joined the RAF them when demobbed went to college & became a teacher My youngest son was a computer engineer here in London but is now buying & selling horses in Wilts ! Ann Liz wrote: > Might he just have played the organ in the church and still have been a > coppersmith? I have a builder who was the church organist, a tinsmith who > wrote hymns. Another which I still can't comprehend - an Ag Lab who became > a teacher!! My great grandfather was an iron moulder who made grates and > became an inspector in the insurance business. His wife encouraged him to > better himself. Another of my ancestors was an organ builder in 1881 - > obviously working with his father and brother who were organ builders, by > 1891 he was a carpenter and joiner - not so different because you had a lot > of carpentry in creating a church organ but by 1901 he has followed another > of his brothers and was a "Wholesale Clothing Manufacturer". > > My daughter was in sales and marketing in 5 star hotels and airlines - she's > now a camel farmer so what could be more different! From smart uniform and > 3" heels to mucking out the animals, etc. She also has llamas, pigs, > rabbits, ducks, geese, hens, Pygmy goats and umpteen other critters. > Liz > www.btinternet.com/~e.newbery > OPC for Street, Somerset > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Charani" <familyhunter@family-hunter.co.uk> > To: <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 1:29 PM > Subject: Re: [B&D] William Henry HARRIS c1825 BRISTOL > > > >> Brad Rogers wrote: >> >> >>> Stranger things happen; My father always wanted to be a musician. He >>> managed it. >>> >>> "How?" I hear you ask. >>> >>> He joined the army. Whilst there he joined the band, and was taught to >>> play and read music. >>> >> Makes sense and it could have happened back then as well, that's why I >> added "on the face of it" :)) >> >> >>> Going the other way, from musician to (in this case) Coppersmith is, to >>> my mind, not a big jump. Especially if he was struggling to make money >>> as a musician. He'd have had to do something to earn money. >>> >> The only real problem I can see is that to be a coppersmith, he would >> have had to serve an apprenticeship. I don't think he'd have been >> allowed to be a musician during his apprenticeship. If he was already >> a musician and struggling financially, he'd have been quite a bit >> older than most when he started his apprenticeship. >> >> The only way I could see that working out was if he'd apprenticed and >> possibly qualified as a coppersmith, then became a musician but went >> back to being a coppersmith when/if being a musician didn't work out. >> That, though, begs the question: how did he keep his skills up >> during the musical period. >> >> -- >> Charani (UK) >> OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM >> Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM >> http://wsom-opc.org.uk >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >