Malcolm, I don't have the experience of transcribing the documents the documents that Deb does - I just read them later- but almost everytime I have found the term "agent" listed as an occupation for a fellow, further investigation has revealed he in fact had been selling something on behalf of someone else, usually a commercial business of some kind. In small towns, like Penetang in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a tradesman usually sold goods from his business location but also acted as an agent for various other businesses based in far away places - like Toronto. Space generally limited the amount of goods he could display and no doubt his finances played a part in how much inventory he could carry. As an example, if he was a hardware store proprietor he carried the usual small hardware items required by farmers and homeowners but if someone required an item he did not have in stock, he could order it and have it shipped in from another company. Therefore he acted as an agent or a salesman for this company. Just as it is today, many had to have more than one occupation to keep bread on the table so the local furniture maker also crafted caskets and by extension became an undertaker. He could well have been an agent for an insurance company. Certainly this would be one way to be guaranteed payment! What I find most interesting in Deb's latest posting is the term "artisan" and how often it was listed as an occupation. Artisan of what? The definition of an artisan is "a skilled manual worker or craftsman" and nowadays refers to anyone who has the talent to create a unique item - potters, carvers etc. Usually a blacksmith is listed as such and the same holds true for many other occupations but in the early days of the last century just what did these artisans create or make? It certainly would give us a better insight into their lives if they had been more specific! Pam