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AF-1119: The Tanner’s Trade: Skin, Stink, and Skill | Ancestral FIndings Podcast
07/07/2025
AF-1119: The Tanner’s Trade: Skin, Stink, and Skill | Ancestral FIndings Podcast
Of all the historical occupations that could be found in a family tree, few were more pungent, more physically difficult, or more socially isolating than tanning. While farmers, blacksmiths, and even coal miners occupied central places in their communities, the tanner often worked on the outskirts—literally and figuratively. Tanning was essential to everyday life, producing the leather needed for clothing, shoes, belts, saddles, bookbinding, harnesses, and more. But because of how it was done—using rotting flesh, animal brains, and gallons of urine—it was also one of the filthiest and most unpleasant jobs in history. Yet, for centuries, it was vital. Leather was life: warm, durable, flexible, and necessary. And the people who made it weren’t forgotten in the records, even if they were avoided in the streets. Podcast Notes: Ancestral Findings Podcast: This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups: Genealogy Giveaway: Genealogy eBooks: Follow Along: Support Ancestral Findings: #Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips
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