Assessing Labor and Class in 1837 Salem

It is a difficult task to look back into historical documents and retroactively assess and assign class to persons based solely on their occupations.  There is a definite level of subjectivity and uncertainty in doing it.  In some cases, it is difficult to assign all the members of a single occupation to a specific class.  For example, farmers might be leasing tenants living on credit, but can range up to landowners with significant holdings who generate substantial annual income from farming.  A business owner might be a small shopkeeper renting space and stocking their stores based upon credit, but can range up to the owners & investors of large industrial manufactories.  Yet it seems like a worthwhile endeavor to attempt to define classes based upon occupations, to try and formulate a sense of how more (or less) socially stratified a small coastal New England city like Salem was like during the 19th Century transition from maritime trading to an increasingly industrialized economy. 

In attempting to classify the occupations listed in the 1837 Salem City Directory, I used approaches developed by historian Tyler Anbinder to inform my own attempt.  In his book "Five Points," Anbinder developed a class-based analysis for the 19th Century residents of the notorious New York City neighborhood of Five Points.  In his article "Which Poor Man's Fight?" Anbinder developed a class-analysis of men who were held subject to the military draft across the Union during the Civil War.[1]  The following formulation, however, is distinctly my own.  

I developed an eight-tier classification of occupational classes (see the list below).  Higher status positions were classified as either business professionals or business owners.  Middle status occupations were classified as either professionals or workers.  Lower status occupations were classified as either skilled or unskilled workers.  A seventh category encompassed occupations, such as farmers, which were difficult to assign to one status level.  An eighth category consisted of those people with unknown occupations, as these were not listed in the 1837 Salem City Directory.  Here are the results:

5% high status professionals

4% high status business owners

1% middle status professionals

5% middle status workers

41% low status skilled workers

23% low status unskilled workers

2% difficult to classify

19% unknown status; no occupation listed

The results are not too surprising.  Although about one-fifth of the population sample is omitted here, it appears there was a small upper class (9%), an even smaller middle class (6%) and a very large lower class (64%).  Despite the level of uncertainty with this assessment, Salem in 1837 can be characterized as a largely blue collar, working class community with relatively small middle and upper classes.  Salem likely compares very similarly to many northeastern industrial communities in regards to social class stratification at this point in history.

[1] Tyler Anbinder, Five Points (New York: The Free Press, 2001).  Tyler Anbinder, “Which Poor Man’s Fight? Immigrants and the Federal Conscription of 1863,” (Civil War History 52 no. 4, 2006), 344-372.

163 (5%) High Status Professionals – Agents, Architects, Bank Executives, City Marshal, Chemists, Company Treasurers, Dentists, District Attorney, Doctors, Engineers, Gentlemen, Hospital/ Infirmary Directors, Insurance Company Presidents, Intelligence Officer, Judges, Lawyers/Councilors, Merchants, Military Officers, Newmarket Company Treasurer, Physicians, Veterinary Surgeon

112 (4%) High Status Business Owners – Candle/ Soap Manufacturers, Chair Manufacturers, Clay Pipe Manufacturers, Clothiers, Coffee House Proprietors, Dry Goods/ Fancy Goods Dealers, Fish Dealers, Food Dealers, Garden Seed Suppliers, Glass and Crockery Suppliers, Food and Liquor Dealers, Hardware Stores, Hotel Proprietors, India Rubber Company, Inn & Boardinghouse Keepers, Lumber Dealers, Manufacturers,  Millwrights, Precision Instrument Makers/ Dealers, Proprietors, Restauranteurs, Shoe Dealers, Shoe Manufacturers, Shopkeepers, Stationary/ Paper Stores, Stone Dealers, Traders, Warehouse Owners, Wine Merchants, Wood/Coal/Lime/Iron Suppliers

31 (1%) Middle Status Professionals – Assessors, Clergymen, Chemists, City Treasurer, Company Agents, Female Orphan Asylum, Postmasters, Register of Deeds, Superintendent of Almshouse, Superintendent of Hearses

152 (5%) Middle Status Workers – Apothecaries, Auctioneers, Book Sellers, Chandlers, Cashiers, Clerks, Government Workers (incl. City Crier, City Newsroom, Court Hayscales, Police Court, Revenue Boat), Leather Inspector, Notary Publics, Portrait Painters, Salesmen, Sheriffs, Teachers

1,282 (41%) Low Status Skilled Workers - Bakers, Barbers, Blacksmiths, Bleachers, Boilermakers, Book Binders, Brass Workers, Brewers, Bricklayers, Brick Makers, Burnishers, Butchers, Cabinet Makers, Cap Makers, Carpenters, Carvers, Caulkers, Chaise/ Coach/ Wagon Makers, Cigar Makers, Colorers, Conductors, Confectioners/ Cake Makers, Coopers, Coppersmiths, Coasters, Cooks, Cordwainers/ Shoemakers, Distillers, Dressmakers,  Dyers, Factory Workers, Florists, Furriers, Gardeners, Glass Makers, Glaziers, Gilders, Grocers, Gum Copal Workers, Gunsmiths, Hairdressers, Hatters, Housewrights, Ironworkers, Jewelers, Laboratory Workers, Lead Company Workers, Leather Workers, Locksmiths, Machinists, Masons, Mill Rights, Milliners, Morocco Manufacturers, Nurses, Painters, Pianoforte Makers, Pilots, Plasterers, Plumbers, Polishers, Potters, Pump & Block Makers, Precious Metal Workers, Precision Instrument Makers, Printers, Refiners, Riding School Instructors, Riggers, Ropemakers, Roofers, Saddlers, Sailmakers, Sawyers, Seamstresses, Servants, Sextons, Shipwrights/ Shipbuilders, Ship Joiners, Shoemakers, Spar Makers, Stablers, Stagecoach Drivers/ Workers, Stair Makers, Stonecutters, Tailors/ Tailoresses, Tanners, Textile Workers, Tin Plate Workers, Tobacco Workers, Toll House Keepers, Turners, Umbrella Makers, Upholsterers, Varnishers, Victualers, Weavers, Watch Makers, Wheelwrights, Wig Makers

715 (23%)  Lower Status Unskilled Workers - Cartmen, Chimney Sweeps, Clothes Cleaners, Coffee House Workers, Constables, Curriers, Drovers, Hostlers, Grooms, Laborers, Mariners, Policemen, Peddlers, Porters, Sailors, Ragpickers, Scavengers, Teamsters, Truckmen, Undertakers, Waiters, Watchmen, Waggoners

69 (2%) Difficult to Classify – Authors, Custom House Employees, Expressmen, Health Boat, Farmers, Financiers, Fishermen, Gamblers, Hunters, Railroad Employees, Speculators, Students, Superintendents of Institutions, Wharfinger/ Wood Wharves

590 (19%) Unknown - No Occupation listed (196 Men, 394 Women)