8 Comments

I thank you for the wonderful job you are doing bringing all this history to light! EI, for one, really appreciate the effort!!

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Were there no wagonmakers listed in the census? My 2nd great Grandfather was apprenticed to a wagonmaker when his father died. Maybe that's what a joiner was? Someone had to make all those farm wagons, stage coaches and conestoga wagons.

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I did not see wagonmaker listed. Maybe the carpenters were making them. What year was he apprenticed?

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After 1847. I haven't found out where and when the apprenticeship happened. His father died and the sons were apprenticed to a watchmaker, a tailor, and a wagonmaker, my 2nd great Grandfather, James Reed Jordan Wilson. The sons were born in Rockbridge County, VA. After their father died, his wife moved the family to Nicholas County, (W)VA. We don't know where the father died, or where the family was when these apprentices were ordered. I tend to think his father was a wogonmaker, too. The father's name was Daniel and / or William Wilson . The mother's name was Nancy and / or Susan McCue.

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Do you have access to the census records on Ancestry.com? Or another genealogy site? I suggest you look at the 1850 census for Nicholas County.

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I have scoured the 1850 census. James R. Wilson is in the household of Dickson McClung, dwelling #544, listed as laborer. The only wagonmaker is James B. Shaver, dwelling # 551. In 1850 James' indenture would have been done. I just realized, This is totally off track for your blog. Sorry! I just get so frustrated sometimes.

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No problem. Thank you for reading and participating.

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