There are two Peter Thompson's listed in the 1910 Census, both age 50; one is living in the 27th Ward whose occupation is a woodwork carver (shaper?), and the otherr is living in the 17th Ward whose occupation is dry sea sailor (huh?).  I'm guessing this just confuses things more.   Good luck, Ruth --- On Wed, 1/18/12, Laura Aanenson <where2look4ancestors@gmail.com> wrote: From: Laura Aanenson <where2look4ancestors@gmail.com> Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] 1900 occupation - shafer? To: COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 11:41 AM Good afternoon Cooksters, Could some kind soul please help me? I cannot read an occupation that appears on the 1900 census. The ancestor in question is Peter Thompson who appears on line 92 of this page: <http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=7602&iid=004113735_00154&fn=Peter&ln=Thompson&st=r&ssrc=&pid=11108148<http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=7602&iid=004113735_00154&fn=Peter&ln=Thompson&st=r&ssrc=&pid=11108148> > which is from "Census Place: *Chicago Ward 26, Cook, Illinois*; Roll: * T623_276*; Page: *6B*; Enumeration District: *779" * The family story is that Peter was a sailor before leaving Norway. I didn't see anything similar to shafer before and after page 310 on the list of 1900 US Census Occupations listed on Rootdig: <http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2011/05/1900-us-census-occupations.html<http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2011/05/1900-us-census-occupations.html> > Peter is one of my brick wall ancestors and I am hoping that by determining his occupation in this census, I can move closer to finding him in Norway. Thanks in advance! Relatively speaking, Laura PS: Are we related? See my family tree here http://livinginthepastlane.comand here http://livinginthepastlane.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message