Just what is a GUAGER?

[theHandpuppet]

I found this record for James Gilliland in a 1791 New York Directory and was wondering -- just what in the world is a guager?

Gilliland, James, guager, Greenwich street.

Thanks for any help.

[CBHagman]

1. It's time for the occupations glossary!

Apparently it's some type of excise officer. See the following link and scroll down.

http://www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/morayweb/Scottish%20Occupations.htm

Mind you, it could be a misspelling of gauger. Given how much people misspell things on the Internet in an age when there's supposedly a set of rules for spelling and usage, you can only imagine how inconsistent spelling was in our forebears' day.

Believe me, I empathize. One of my great-great-grandmothers was listed as a doubler in a city directory from the mid-19th century.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Thanks for your help and for the useful link

Sounds like a rather boring occupation but I would imagine the port of New York would have needed quite a few "guagers". I'm used to all manner of misspellings in the records -- my own ancestors were quite creative in the variety of ways they spelled the family surname.

:hi: