Archaic occupation medieval-1900s
What was a tinker?
A tinker mended pots, pans, and kettles, usually travelling a circuit with his tools and family. The word was also flung at travelling people generally, so treat a census tinker as a trade first and read the household around it. You will find the term in British, Irish, and Scottish records, mostly medieval-1900s.
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FAQs
What is a tinker in modern terms?+
A sheet-metal repairer. Treat the match as a guide rather than a swap: tools and markets changed, so read the title against the record's own date (medieval-1900s).
Why do census occupation columns use words nobody says now?+
Enumerators wrote down whatever the household told them, spelled by ear, and local trade slang went straight onto the form. Directories, apprenticeship papers, and wills often carry the fuller wording for the same person.
Where do these definitions come from?+
They are drawn from period dictionaries, government archive glossaries, and standard genealogy references, cross-checked against each other; provenance is documented with the dataset. Inside AncestorIQ, Deep Research reads the record itself and explains terms like this in context, against your ancestor's own document.
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