1823		1828-9		1839		1846
Bricklayers, &c		Bricklayers, &c		Bricklayers		Traders
Adams James, Baldock Street		Andrews Samuel, Cribb Street		Hitch Caleb (& brickmaker) Baldock Street		Hitch Caleb, brickmaker & surveyor
Andrews Samuel, Cribb Street		Adams James, Baldock Street		Reason Alfred, Mill Lane		Mayfield John Shepherd, carpenter, builder & undertaker
Hitch Caleb, (& brickmaker & surveyor) Water Row		Hitch Caleb, (& brickmaker & surveyor) Water Row		Smith George Escott (& lime burner) Amwell End		Reason Alfred, bricklayer
Smith George, West Mill Road		Smith George, West Mill Road		Builders		Smith George Escott, bricklayer
Smith William, Mill Lane				Hitch Caleb (& bricklayer) Baldock Street		Stevens John, builder, brick & tile maker
				Hitch James (& carpenter) Star Lane
				Mayfield John (& carpenter) Amwell Road

1851 Post Office Directory for Hertfordshire

• Hitch Caleb, builder & brickmaker. Baldock Street

• Hitch James, builder, upholsterer, undertaker, English & foreign timber merchant, & barge builder, Star Lane

• Hitch Walter, surveyor & builder, & agent to Western Insurance company, Baldock Street

• Mayfield John S., builder, Amwell End

• Reason Alfred, builder, New Road

• Stevens John, builder & agent to Star life insurance co., New Road

Notes

• There is no good natural building stone in Hertfordshire, but there are deposits of brick earth and most buildings in the county in the early 19th century would have been constructed with locally made hand made bricks. This meant that someone who built houses might be described as a bricklayer rather than a builder. He may also have been responsible to making the bricks he used. The above list refers to all references of brickmakers, bricklayers and builders listed under Ware.

• The information from 1823, 1828/9 and 1839 comes from Pigot's Directories, which listed traders by occupation for each town in the county.

• The information from 1846 and 1851 comes from Post Office Directories, which list traders in alphabetical order for each town. Later directories are, in general, more detailed than earlier ones.

• Trade directories list traders, and most bricklayers who are listed would probably now be described as builders. There are no equivalent lists for labourers and skilled employees, and relevant records relating to their employment rarely survive.

• If someone is described as a brickmaker or bricklayer on a baptism record, birth or marriage certificate, or in the early censuses, but are not listed in the trade directories they were most likely an employee of one of the listed traders, or a casual labourer with relevant skills.

The fact that the Goodman name does not occur in the trade directories suggests that they were building workers - probably not well paid - and this is supported but the fact that John Goodman is described in the 1861 census as a pauper - possibly suggesting that he was a former bricklayer too ill or elderly to support himself. (There may be some surviving workhouse union records - I haven't checked at HALS to see).

The fact that Ephraim Goodman went to America and did well is not surprising. The social structure in England at the time kept labourers "in their place" (see "All Things Bright and Beautiful")- and there were excellent opportunities for skilled workmen (especially in the building trades) in the New World.