Title: Colonial Jobs List | Synonym
Headings: Colonial Jobs List
Colonial Jobs List
Explore this article
1 The Household Trades
2 The Building Trades
3 The Rural Trades
4 Other Important Trades

Content: The shoemaker sold both ready-to-wear shoes and custom-made shoes. Tailors, who were almost always men, specialized in measuring and sewing garments for both men and women. Millinery, or the making of hats, was one of the few trades open to women in colonial times. In addition to making and selling hats, the milliner would also sell fabric and goods made from fabric. The gunsmith used the skills of many trades in the creation of firearms, and would have made and repaired other items that required casting, such as furniture hardware and harness fittings. Silversmiths, who fashioned bowls, urns, teapots and other decorative items, were regarded as artists. 2 The Building Trades
Much work went into the building of homes and other structures in the colonies. Brickmaking was a job that fell to unskilled laborers or indentured servants. In the case of wealthy landowners, the job was assigned to slaves, as Thomas Jefferson did when building Monticello. Carpenters were also important in a time when almost every structure was built from wood.