Ken Gilbert, Columbus, Ohio: My maternal second great-grandfather Carl Magnus Aufschlager (1836-1910) was a beinringler—a craftsman who made buttons, beads, and rings from ivory (bein) and animal bones. His work was sold in Wurttemburg, Bavaria, and Austria.

Douglas I. Hodgkin, Lewiston, Maine: My father, Clayton P. Hodgkin, worked for the American Electro Metal Company (now Elmet Technologies) in Lewiston, Maine, as an “annealer.” This job involved heating and cooling tungsten shipped from the Rocky Mountains to increase its malleability and reduce its hardness for making light bulb filaments. The 1940 census-taker termed him a “kneeler”!

Amanda Madden, Nashua, New Hampshire: My great-grandfather James Lawrence Madden made hand-rolled cigars at Waitt & Bond in Boston's North End from about 1900 to1930. His wife, Alice Nolan, was a piano action maker; she assembled the network of levers, hammers, springs, and dampers that respond to piano keys.

Charlie Bass, Corpus Christi, Texas: John Bass (1630-1716) of Braintree, Massachusetts, was my 9th great-grandfather. In addition to his occupation as a wheelwright, he was elected as a "viewer of fences" to help settle property disputes between neighbors, keep animals out of gardens, and make rulings on how high a fence should be and who bore the responsibility for its repair.

Jennifer Blums-Grüneis, Brunnenthal, Austria: My ancestor William Chandler (b. abt. 1595) of Bishop's Stortford, England, was a pointer (poynter) by trade. Pointers made lace tags that were used to fasten clothing before buttons became standard.

Justin Friar, Southington, Connecticut: My grandmother Joyce E. Howard graduated from high school in Fairport, New York, in 1943 and took a job packing heavy ketchup crates. But then, her life was transformed. She had applied to the Department of Justice to work in the FBI’s fingerprinting department in Washington, DC. That September, when she was just 17, Joyce was selected for a position and moved to the capital. For a salary of $1,752 per year, including overtime, she processed fingerprint files deemed vital to the nation's home front defense.

Elizabeth Burdick-Romero, Newark, Ohio: My great-great-aunt Winifred colorized photographs as piecework for a company. In the early 1970s, when I was about twelve and she was quite old, I watched her work at her home in northern Colorado. She used paint, or ink. In Winifred’s house was a beautiful example of her work—a parchment-like lampshade with rawhide lacing that featured her colorized images of a beautiful mountain scene.

Marilyn Stanley, Wells, Maine: My great-grandfather Robert Potter (born October 12, 1885, in Blackburn, England; died October 8, 1965, in Massachusetts) of Taunton, Massachusetts, worked as an electrician—but he also had a side gig as a magician. Under the name “Paul D’Almar,” he performed “original sleight of hand and humorous feats of magic,” as stated on his promotional materials. His three young daughters (including my paternal grandmother, Mildred) were his assistants. According to my grandmother, the sisters wore cute matching outfits and helped their father with classic magic stunts such as pulling a live rabbit out of a hat.