anyone have a tip to find old professional licenses? [View all]
my grandpa and my ggrandpa were both farriers in chicago. ggramps had a blacksmith's shop. i think the biz might go back 1 more generation aw well. that would be the guy who came here for ireland in that branch of the fam.
gramps was 14 when he died, and tried to take it over, but couldnt cut it.
so he made his living as a farrier. i think they would have needed licenses. that would tell me where the shop was, etc.
as i started to post this thread i remembered that uic has a huge collection of early municipal records. so, i hit them up, chatted w a librarian who couldnt find anything. he suggested i send an email to the special collections librarian, which i did.
i have no idea if there even was a license required for those trades in those years. but a farriers license is a thing. if not that, hoping they will find some business records.
anyone ever used this kind of record to fill out your story?
= new reply since forum marked as read