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Business and Occupations

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Occupations

• Czech Genealogy for Beginners: Occupation Dictionary

Guild Records

A guild is an association of professionals with similar economic interests based on a certain craft or trade, devoted to the protection of their rights, training of new members, protection of trade secrets, and furthering of their political, economic, and trade interests. Such trades included, but were not limited to, tannery, metalworking of various sorts, tailoring, and shoemaking.

Guilds operated on the apprentice, journeyman, and master principle. A young man was assigned to work with a master for several years. During this time, he learned the basics of the trade. After the apprentice attained a certain level of knowledge and skill, he was promoted to journeyman. At this time, he was to travel the land in search of masters in his field for whom he could work and from whom he could learn the requisite skills to become a master himself. When he completed his journeyman time with appropriate skill and knowledge, he would be promoted to master. This was an important step. He could then set up his own shop and work in his field. The guild system insured that learners attained a certain level of competence in their fields, as they had to pass certain levels with an accomplished master.

Guild records were created by the guilds themselves, they belong to the guilds and reflect what that guild deemed important. They are extremely varied and the researcher should not assume that such records will contain any standard type of information. Some of these records are still in the possession of the guilds, others have been collected into regional archives.

Merchant Marines

Merchant marines are sailors who work on commercial ships. Finland had a large merchant marine enterprise that traveled and traded worldwide.

Among the records of the Finnish merchant marine are:

Records of the navigational schools [merenkulkukoulu/navigationsskola].

Records of the sailors’ houses [merimieshuone/sjömanshus].

The sailors’ houses recruited and registered sailors. They made crew assignments for each ship and recorded the ships’ crews as they embarked and disembarked. These records contain individual names, birth dates, birthplaces, marital status, position on the ship, salary, and previous ship assignments, with some ports listed for each journey.

Records of Finnish Lutheran churches or sailors’ houses in foreign ports.

Merchant Marine Records [Kauppalaivasto/Handelsflottan]

Merchant marine records are a valuable research tool. Finland had a large number of Finnish merchant marines; many of them deserted or emigrated and ended up in the United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Pacific coast, Atlantic coast), Canada, Australia, or Russia.

These are records of sailors on commercial ships. Finland had a large merchant marine enterprise that traveled and traded worldwide. In the nineteenth century Finland provided the bulk of the merchant marine services for the Russian Empire. Among the records of the merchant marine are records of the navigational schools [merenkulkukoulu / navigationsskola] and records of the sailors’ houses [merimieshuone / sjömanshus]. The sailors houses recruited and registered sailors. They made crew assignments for each ship and recorded the ships’ crews as they embarked and disembarked.

They contain names of individual sailors, birth dates and places, marital status, position on the ship, salary, and previous ship assignments, with some ports listed for each journey. If any sailors deserted or died during the voyage it was indicated on the register. Originals can be found at provincial archives and in the municipal archives of some coastal cities. Recent records would be at the schools or sailors’ institutions.

FamilySearch Library Collection

Since there were many Finnish merchant marines, these records are a valuable source for researchers. To find them, look in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under Finland and the main port cities:

FINLAND - MERCHANT MARINE

FINLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - MERCHANT MARINE

FINLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - BUSINESS RECORDS AND COMMERCE

FINLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - OCCUPATIONS

FINLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - SCHOOLS

FINLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - TOWN RECORDS