Bill Kirby: The name of the game was a work in progress
Bill Kirby
"In the end, we’ll all become stories.”
– Margaret Atwood
Do you know what a bailie is?
What about a baxter or a boniface?
What about a costermonger?
They are old names for once common professions, and often appear on old documents describing a person's work.
It is not only helpful but informative to know such vocations if you are doing family research, which is why the Augusta Genealogical Society ran a partial list in its latest newsletter.
The newsletter is always interesting, but the list of old names for everyday jobs is a delight. Here are a few:
Baxter – A baker
Bailie – A bailiff
Clark – A clerk
Collier – A coal miner
Draper – Dealer in dry goods
Duffer – A peddler
Fletcher – One who makes bows and arrows
Hacker – Maker of hoes
Docker – A stevedore or dock worker
Boniface – An innkeeper
Chandler – Someone who makes or sells candles
And a costermonger? It's a fruit or vegetable peddler.
History found … then lost:Save time, trouble by sourcing your genealogy research
Augusta Genealogical Society:Cluster and collateral research take work, but are worth time
SPEAKING OF OLD NAMES: Christy Brunk wrote in to ask me a regional name question: Who was the Betty in "Betty's Branch" – a local tributary.
She said she suspected it had nothing to do with a person named "Betty," but was actually a reference to the Bettis family, well-known across the river in South Carolina.
Our longtime newspaper fishing editor Bill Baab said she is correct. It should be referred to as Bettis Branch.
From Bill Baab:
YOUR TRAVELS: Dottie Daly, of McCormick, sent two postcards from West Virginia. She writes: "Three-hour train ride through the mountains … trees were in full fall colors. Spectacular."
She added in a second postcard, "I'll say it again, 'What a Country!' "
Rhea Markowitz spent a weekend in New York and "visited Lady Liberty and her fascinating museum, Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum, and paid my respects at the 911 Memorial. Hard to believe I lived there in the 1970s and 1980s."
Sandra and Shirley Johnson were enjoying a Georgia autumn, sending postcards from Morganton and Dahlonega.
TODAY'S JOKE: Earl Williams shares this one.
The doctor had just completed an exam and diagnosis for his long-term patient and returns with the bad news.
"I'm sorry to inform you, Mr. Jones, but my findings predict you only have six more months to live."
"But doctor," the shocked patient replies, "I have so much left to do including paying off my debts. As a matter of fact, I owe you $5,000 from previous visits and there is no way I can do it in six months."
The doctor looked at him, paused, then said, "In that case, I will give you six more months!"
Bill Kirby has reported, photographed and commented on life in Augusta and Georgia for 45 years.