[PW] Re: ?meaning of FA = Fatilognist

[Autumn Trenton]

If your one Google hit is the same one I'm seeing, the FA abbreviation 
doesn't actually appear in the census.  This document contains instructions 
for someone *transcribing* the original documents today.  As a side note, 
these instructions are specifically for the Mortality Schedule, which isn't 
the same as the census.  In both the mortality schedule and the regular 
census, the occupation is written out fully.

My father, who has plenty of experience transcribing censuses and other 
older records, suggested it's a mistranscription of "Tobacconist."  The 
record is from Georgia, after all.  The person who made that document and 
made up the abbreviation also indicated that "fatilognist" was a guess of a 
transcription with a question mark after the word.  However, his/her 
transcription doesn't seem to be complete yet, so I couldn't locate the 
original record to verify that.

Perhaps even more interesting are the enumerators' instructions on what to 
record for occupations.  The 1880 instructions include such gems as "Call no 
man a 'commissioner,' a 'collector,' an 'agent,' an 'artist,' an 'overseer,' 
a 'professor,' a 'treasurer,' a 'contractor,' or a 'speculator,' without 
further explanation" and "Use the word 'huckster' in all cases where it 
applies."

Hope that helps.

Autumn


>From: AllenAmet at aol.com
>Reply-To: list at project-wombat.org
>To: list at project-wombat.org
>Subject: [PW]  ?meaning of FA = Fatilognist
>Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:57:41 EDT
>
>Hi,
>
>   In trying to decipher the world of the census takers, e.g. in 1880, I 
>see
>this last abbreviation below (and word) for the various 'jobs':
>
>PR Preacher/Minister  ED Editor  PS Prostitute  F Farmer  R Repairman;
>FA = Fatilognist
>
>   In using Google, I get only one hit, the same text as this.
>
>   Has anyone ever heard of this word? Has the occupation died out 
>completely,
>whatever it was?  Or is it a mistranscription of some kind?
>
>   And in a separate and unrelated question, I see an old 1885 
>advertisement
>in a newspaper, offering both "ice boxes" and "refrigerators" (for home 
>use).
>So what was the difference, in the days before electricity?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Allen
>
>_______________________________________________
>Project Wombat
>list at project-wombat.org
>http://www.project-wombat.org

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