One of the very interesting things about family history is finding out the occupations of your relatives from census returns or trade directories. So I took a look through the Thwaites Directory of 1863 for the Isle of Man to see what sort of trades the Teare families were involved in. There are Thwaites Directories covering Douglas, Ramsey, Castletown and Peel. You can find them on Frances Coakley’s Manx Notebook (http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook) under the town name.
Sometimes names of jobs have not changed much since the 19th century. A plumber, painter, banker or doctor are all job types that sit easily with us today but others are today very rare, non existent or have changed so much from their original usage. So anything to do with horses such as livery, stable keepers, which would have been quite common and even associated trades like black smith are now quite specialist. Coal merchants have almost disappeared and boot and shoe makers, drapers and grocers although recognizable names are not necessarily the places we would search out today to do our shopping. So just as today we would struggle to find a guano importer in Ramsey (or anywhere else on the island?) then an estate agent or a garden centre and an IT consultant or even a job centre of course don’t figure at all in Thwaites Directory.
Douglas
BOOT and SHOE MAKERS: Teare Thomas 11 Great Nelson Street, h 1 St Georges Street
LIVERY STABLE KEEPERS and HORSE GIG and CAB PROPRIETORS: Teare Daniel Castle Mona Lawn
LODGING HOUSES: Tear Margaret Finch Road
SHOPKEEPERS: Teare Ann St Georges Street, Teare Philip Back Strand Street
WOODTURNERS: Teare Thomas Queen St
Ramsey
HARBOUR MASTER: Teare Charles, 11 Albert street
TEARE and KERRUISH: Importer of British and foreign seeds, guano, &c., Customs’, ship, and bill broker, money scrivener, commission agent,&c., Custom House Quay; and brick and tile maker, Mona bank; Teare Robert, h. Summerland
COAL MERCHANTS: Teare Charles, liarbonr Office; h. Albert street
DRAPERS (LINEN AND WOOLLEN): Teare Thomas, Parliament street
GROCERS, & TEA & PROVISION DEALERS: Teare James, 13 Church street, Teare Robert, Sandy road
HOTELS, INNS, AND TAVERNS: Commercial, Margaret Teare, South Quay
LODGING HOUSES: Teare Anne,4 Solway terrace
SURGEON: Teare Thomas Murray, 9 Auckland terrace
TIMBER MERCHANTS: Teare Robert, Sandy road
Peel
FARMER: Tear Robert Douglas St
ROPEMAKERS: Tear John Quay Lane
Listed in the Peel directory but without a trade:
Tear Mrs Elizabeth Douglas St – the 1861 census lists her occupation as a nurse. She is a widow (55) living with her two daughters, May Alice (unmarried 26) and Elizabeth Thompson (married 24), who are both dressmakers, also her granddaughter Elizabeth Thompson (3)
Teare Mr William Factory Lane – I can find no William Teare in Factory Lane in the 1861 or 1871 census
Castletown
There are no traders with the name Teare listed in the Castltown directory.