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Archiver > GEN-DE > 2001-05 > 0988919888


From: "Thomas Hassett" <>
Subject: Re: Locksmith on Ellis Island Manifests
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 19:58:08 GMT
References: <9ciiml$7hc0$1@newssvr05-en0.news.prodigy.com>, <3AEEE0C8.E1BE40A6@memlane.com>, <9cr6jg$kgm$02$1@news.t-online.com>


There were drivers before there were automobiles. They drove real
horsepower - a team. My grandfather was a driver for a family - he was a
coachman which looks better on a resume than stablehand. Two consumer
products which required much drayage and drivers in days of yore were coal
and ice - to each and every house. Both of these arrive today at my house
via gas pipes and electrical wires.
Bernice
"Thomas Arbs" <> wrote in message
news:9cr6jg$kgm$02$1@news.t-online.com...
> On Tue, 01 May 2001 10:14:01 -0600, Uwe-Karsten Krickhahn
> <> wrote:
>
> >Hallo Mike
> >Locksmith could have been a general term which could have encompassed a
> >blacksmith etc. as well. Not to underestimate that trades people always
had
> >it a little easier to find work.
> >Uwe Krickhahn
> >Medicine Hat, Alberta
> >Canada
> >www.kartenmeister.com
> >
> >"Fischer, Mike" wrote:
> >
> >> I've noticed in my perusal of the Ellis Island Manifests (1900-1924),
that
> >> often as many as 10% of the adult male passengers list their profession
as
> >> locksmith. Is this a translation problem, an inside joke, or were
there
> >> really that many locksmiths in Germany at that time? (And what strange
> >> persecution would have led them to flee to the US? How strange!)
> >> Thanks!
> >> Mike Fischer
> >>
>
> Mike, Uwe-Karsten,
>
> also bear in mind that in the early days of the automobile the
> locksmith was the predecessor of the car mechanic as we know him
> today. The German word "Kfz-Schlosser", or car locksmith, deprecated
> but still in use, bears witness of that.
>
> You'll find there are also numbers of "drivers" whose quality was also
> not merely that they knew to drive but that they also knew to fix
> automobiles.
>
> I don't know when the car mechanic was introduced as a profession of
> its own, but I could imagine it was not earlier than those days.
> --
> Thomas Arbs <mailto:> <http://www.arbs.de/>;
> looking for ARBS / ARPS, COLHOUN / COLQUHOUN
> soc.genealogy.german FAQ at <http://www.genealogy.net/gene/faqs/sgg.html>;


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