Occupations in 1800s

[andieh69]

I have been reviewing the records of my ancestors and I was wondering what the it would have meant in the social class hierarchy to have these jobs.

Spinner
Laborer
Cultivator
Landowner
Shepard
Surveyor
Peasant

Also can someone tell me the Italian words for these?

Thank you

[Tessa78]

Here is a link to Italian occupations and the English equivalents.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... ngocc.html

Also posted this to your other thread.

T.

[andieh69]

Thank you this is great.. What would the class order likely have been for these. I'm assuming landowner would have been higher and peasant lowest.. Curious about the others.

[arturo.c]

I assume that the landowner would top the list, because land definitely meant wealth at the time (depending always on the fertility, the availability of wells, streams or springs, and the number of hands available in the family for farming).
The surveyor would come next, first of all because he had to be somewhat educated and licensed to ply his trade, and although he wouldn't be always as wealthy as a landowner, unlike him he had to be literate and could rub shoulders with the town's prominent people (the doctor, the notary, the archpriest, the commander of the local "Carabinieri" station, etc.).
"Peasant" and "Cultivator" should be synonyms for "sharecropper", while a "laborer" is presumably hired for the day, depending on whether extra help in the field was needed. Also a shepherd's standing would be different if he owned his own flock or tended to somebody else's sheep.
A "spinner" is very likely a woman or girl working in a thread mill. Men too worked as spinners, but women could be paid less and work longer hours.

[ivette.carlier]

Thanks for both post and replies. They taught me a lot.