Hi Shane I always think that the occupation thing is something of a red herring. Like 'Huguenot names' 'Huguenot occupations' are somewhat spurious - whilst many were weavers, the majority were not. The only company legally allowed to work in Aleppo was the Honourable Company of Merchants Trading into the East Indies - the Honourable East India Company. There are likely to be records for him if he did work for the Company - it's my other specialist research area - but the records are not available online and can only be searched in person or by hiring a researcher. I'm actually in the BL in early December - send me details and I'll have a quick look in the index for you. Regards Tony Fuller Editor, Huguenot Families

<SNIP> Tony sez: "I always think that the occupation thing is something of a red herring. Like 'Huguenot names' 'Huguenot occupations' are somewhat spurious - whilst many were weavers, the majority were not." </SNIP> IMHO, and looking at the sociohistorical data (of which there is a fair bit in academic publications), Tony is right. One of the reasons why Huguenot emigrants are associated in popular histories and studies with certain trades -- weaving, silversmithing -- is that (a) Huguenots of these backgrounds were studied by historians at various points because (b) organized attempts were made to woo Huguenots with those skills to various locales at particular times -- weaving in particular, given the "trade secret" knowledge around (a) fabric types and (b) methods of production. Courting a group of Huguenot emigrants from the right part of the low countries and/or Northern France was an excellent way to build particular kinds of industries in one's country/region/county, and (as I've pointed out before) several locales in what is now Germany, and in England, did such things. As far as the general data sets will let us speculate, there was no particular affinity between any trade and Huguenots. Huguenots were far more likely than Catholics to be involved in trades associated with urban concentration and capital formation, but (a) that correlation could indicate "lawyer" or "mechanic" (i.e., engineer) as much as "silversmith" or "weaver" and (b) that reflects the fundamental link between money and literacy (on the one hand) and Huguenot predisposition on the other. Scripture in the vernacular and a (pseudo) democratic form of local church organization are only of interest to people who can read, who understand power and who want to exercise both.