Adverts for ancestors' professions 6

Concluding our browse through the advertisements in the Natal Almanac is this
large advert for Pepworth's stores. There was almost nothing you couldn't buy there in the way of 'Manchester' items: lace, gloves, ribbons, frillings, undies, stockings, corsets, hats - Pepworth could clothe you from top to toe. His shop was the forerunner of Greenacres, Stuttafords and other large department stores of a later era.

Henry Pepworth rose to prominence as a Town Councillor
 for Pietermaritzburg during the 1850s.

Adverts for ancestors' professions 5

From that valuable source again, the Natal Almanac: it is interesting to see J Coney listed as an undertaker - he was also a photographer. Most photographers at the time had various skills to provide extra income.

Adverts for ancestors' professions 4

Bowman the photographer, operating a 'saloon' (studio) in Longmarket St. Pietermaritzburg,  advertises the 'new cerrotype process'.

T Bond and Co  are millers, bakers and corn dealers in Durban and Shaw Bros are wool pressers in Longmarket St Pietermaritzburg, ready to receive from country friends and merchants, wool, hides and forage. Wool-pressing nowadays is done by machine.

Adverts for ancestors' professions 2

It is surprising what can emerge in a deceased estate file. Here, an engraving showing the ancestor's place of business, Tattersall's in Durban, taken from his letterhead. It doesn't get much better than this in family history research. And it is another reason why one should never stop at the Death Notice but peruse every single piece of paper in the estate file.

Adverts for ancestors' professions

Who wouldn't be thrilled to add this informative and decorative
advertisement to their family history publication? Mr Geo Willson was a man of many parts, it seems: cabinet maker, upholsterer, importer, coffin maker ('and all the fittings') and undertaker. The advert appeared in the Natal Almanac of 1880.