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Author Topic: James the Dryster - female name or error?  (Read 319 times)

Offline ReJen

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James the Dryster - female name or error?
« on: Monday 15 December 25 00:43 GMT (UK) »
Hello, can anyone help with my quandary?

I have a potential death record for my ggg+grandfather:
James Worth a Dryster, died 14th Feb 1727 in Pointon, Prestbury, Cheshire.

I assumed a dryster was someone who dried things...
I'm not sure if drying is a process of coal mining in Poynton, or more likely milling of some kind?

But my main problem is that the Family Search listing has them as a female. I wondered if this was because of the feminine suffix "-ster".
I couldn't find any evidence of James being a female name in 1700s, but I don't know for sure.
Maybe it is a mistake?

If James was in your family would you say they're a he or a she?

Hope you can help, rejen

Online Neale1961

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #1 on: Monday 15 December 25 01:23 GMT (UK) »
I think female is a mistake ( a misreading of the start of February)
One would expect James to be male.
Milligan - Jardine – Glencross – Dinwoodie - Brown: (Dumfriesshire & Kirkcudbrightshire)
Clark – Faulds – Cuthbertson – Bryson – Wilson: (Ayrshire & Renfrewshire)
Neale – Cater – Kinder - Harrison: (Warwickshire & Queensland)
Roberts - Spry: (Cornwall, Middlesex & Queensland)
Munster: (Schleswig-Holstein & Queensland) and Plate: (Braunschweig, Neubruck & Queensland & New York)

Online Neale1961

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #2 on: Monday 15 December 25 01:25 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: ReJen on Monday 15 December 25 00:43 GMT (UK)

I assumed a dryster was someone who dried things...

Yes, I would say so. It seems there would be several possibilities - for example, it might have been drying things in a kiln. Or it could have been drying fabric / cloth, or drying grain for a malthouse.
What was the principal industry in the area at the time?
Milligan - Jardine – Glencross – Dinwoodie - Brown: (Dumfriesshire & Kirkcudbrightshire)
Clark – Faulds – Cuthbertson – Bryson – Wilson: (Ayrshire & Renfrewshire)
Neale – Cater – Kinder - Harrison: (Warwickshire & Queensland)
Roberts - Spry: (Cornwall, Middlesex & Queensland)
Munster: (Schleswig-Holstein & Queensland) and Plate: (Braunschweig, Neubruck & Queensland & New York)

Offline Ray T

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #3 on: Monday 15 December 25 08:06 GMT (UK) »
Coal mining.

Offline RJ_Paton

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #4 on: Monday 15 December 25 08:46 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: Ray T on Monday 15 December 25 08:06 GMT (UK)
Coal mining.

Early 1700s Seems a bit early for coal mining to be the main industry, the Industrial Revolution was still on the horizon.  A quick search shows that salt and various agricultural trades were still the predominant jobs around

Offline hanes teulu

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #5 on: Monday 15 December 25 09:25 GMT (UK) »
Chester Chronicle, 15 Jan 1796

Offline Ray T

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #6 on: Monday 15 December 25 09:44 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: RJ_Paton on Monday 15 December 25 08:46 GMT (UK)
Quote from: Ray T on Monday 15 December 25 08:06 GMT (UK)
Coal mining.

Early 1700s Seems a bit early for coal mining to be the main industry, the Industrial Revolution was still on the horizon.  A quick search shows that salt and various agricultural trades were still the predominant jobs around

Probably, but salt was mined (still is) much further to the west and copper was mined nearer by at Alderley Edge. I’d definitely go for an agricultural connection and the name “Worth” indicates to me that he was likely to have been local.

Offline JenB

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #7 on: Monday 15 December 25 09:54 GMT (UK) »
The Dialect Dictionary has dryster as ‘one who has charge of turning and drying the grain in a kiln’ or ‘one whose business is to dry cloth in a bleach-field’.
https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi02wrig/page/194/mode/2up
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Offline hanes teulu

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Re: James the Dryster - female name or error?
« Reply #8 on: Monday 15 December 25 09:57 GMT (UK) »
Every reference I've seen to date related to milling except one which I was about to post but is covered in JenB's previous post
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