Labor Day 2026: Honoring My Carpenter and Joiner Ancestors

Credit: KateCox, Pixaby

On this Labor Day, I would like to feature an occupation of many of my ancestors: carpentry and joinery. First, I would like to explain the difference, as I myself did not have a clear understanding between the two. Basically, joiners create items of wood in a workshop, typically without using metal fasteners. Carpenters install or fit these items onsite, using nails, screws, or other metal fasteners. Google explained the key differences:

• Where They Work: Joiners work in a factory or workshop with large machines. Carpenters work on building sites with portable hand tools.
• What They Make: Joiners craft furniture, windows, stairs, and doors. Carpenters build roofs, framing, floors, and install the doors or stairs that joiners make.
• How They Join Wood: Joiners use interlocking wood joints like tongue-and-groove. Carpenters use metal fasteners like nails, screws, and bolts.

Here are a list of my 13 ancestors who have worked in carpentry or joinery as a way to make a living either part or the whole of their career life or who were involved in significant carpentry projects:

1. Bryan Henry Robbins (1944 - 2019) - my father built our two-bedroom house with front and back decks in Alaska without the use of power tools because it was a mile from the nearest town and there were no power lines or electricity sources on site. He also built an outhouse, two barns, and a goat milkhouse on that property. After we moved to Washington, he completed the unfinished log home he and my mother purchased, creating three bedrooms and a hall closet on the second floor and finishing the bathroom and kitchen. Pretty much every home we lived in previous to these two had Dad's handiwork and improvements in them. He even finished the interior of one of our boats, creating wooden hatches and storage areas along the inside of the hull. Finally, he created a beautiful hi fi stereo cabinet that held a turntable, reel-to-reel tape player, radio, speakers, and storage for LP records and  reel tapes. It was varnished and had upholstered panels.

The house Bryan built near Klawock, Alaska, as it appeared in 1974.

2. Robert Louis Robbins (1920 - 2003) - my paternal grandfather built a three-bedroom house and an auto body shop in Coopersville, Ottawa Co., Michigan after WWII. He may have used money from the G.I. Bill to finance it. Later, he constructed a shop inside the house so my grandmother, a beautician, could work from home. The buildings stand today at 185 River Street.

3 and 4. John Martin Hoekstra (1892 - 1975) - my maternal great-grandfather had various jobs (metal polisher, plater) in factories throughout his lifetime and eventually worked as a postal clerk for the U.S. Postal Service. But around 1920, he, his father Martin (1868 - 1944), and his brother Louis moved their families from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Tacoma, Washington for a few years to work in the yard shops for the Northern Pacific Railroad in Tacoma, Pierce Co., Washington. Their jobs were to do carpentry, repair work, and painting.

5. George Emmett Lewis (1868 - 1964) - my paternal great-great-grandfather had a very long career in carpentry, "retiring" at the age of 84 after a fall from a roof landed him in the hospital (he checked himself out and returned to finishing the roofing job!). An article featuring him at age 92 stated he had worked summers as a carpenter-cabinetmaker and in the winter as a millwright. Even after retiring, he spent much of his time in wood working, creating flower pot holders, lawn ornaments, step stools, cabinets, and many toys for his young descendants and neighborhood children, including rocking horses and doll cradles. Muskegon County, Michigan has many houses that he built that likely are still standing. I wish I had a way to locate and catalog them!

6. Charles Frisbie Strong (1852 - 1921) - this past month I had the rare pleasure of visiting one of my ancestral locations, the Woodburn, Oregon area. Most of my family lived back East, mainly in Michigan, but I did have some ancestors who came out West at least short term. I have mentioned my Hoekstra ancestors above and how they came out West to Tacoma for a while; Charles was John Hoekstra's father-in-law and one of my maternal great-great-grandfathers. Charles, his wife Mary, and four of their teen and adult children, moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Willamette Valley for a few years around 1907. Charles and Mary's oldest son, Frank, was a carpenter and during my research trip I found at least one record stating Charles was helping Frank in his carpentry work.

7. Charles H. Robbins (1844 - 1934) - my paternal 3rd-great-grandfather was a Civil War Union veteran and a life-long carpenter. He built many of the homes and business buildings in Hesperia, Michigan, which lies on the Newaygo-County border.

8. John Wilkinson, Sr. (1845 - 1917) - another paternal 3rd-great-grandfather and life-long carpenter, John plied his trade in both Ontario and Michigan. From about 1882 through the end of his life, he lived and worked in Whitehall in Muskegon County, Michigan. His grandson was George Lewis, mentioned above.

9. William Parker Wright (1830 - 1915) - a maternal 3rd-great-grandfather, he is typically named as a mason and once as a carriage maker in various records. In the 1865 New York State census, he is occupied as a carpenter in the Town of Nichols, Tioga County. He was the father-in-law of Charles H. Strong, above.

10. Nelson H. Peck (c. 1819 - 1849) - Nelson, a paternal 4th-great-grandfather, is one of my brick wall ancestors. He died young at age 30 and is never named in a federal census that I've been able to find. When he died, he left behind a widow with a baby girl, Viola, who had just turned one year old the day before. She became my 3rd-great-grandmother Robbins and married Charles H. Robbins, above. We know Nelson was a carpenter and a joiner since he is mentioned in local histories of Coudersport, Potter Co., Pennsylvania, which were informed by the 1848 local tax roll.

11. Levi Edward McLallin (c. 1823 - 1882) - this Civil War Union veteran and paternal 4th-great-grandfather was listed as a carpenter in the 1870 census of New Haven Village in Macomb County, Michigan. 

12. Henry Jacobs (1787 - 1876) - Henry was a War of 1812 veteran and worked as a carpenter in the Town of Candor, Tioga Co., New York from at least 1855 to 1865. He was Charles Strong's maternal grandfather.

13. Adriaan Van Klinken (c. 1778 - 1832) - in 1797, Adriaan was 19 years old and was listed as a carpenter's boy in Noordgouwe, Zeeland, the Netherlands. His death record in Nieuwerke, Zeeland states his occupation was a carpenter.

One of the things that stands out most to me as I review this heritage is how the carpentry trade was passed down the generations. Sometimes it went from a man to his son-in-law or from a man to his grandson, instead of the traditional father-to-son legacy. I'm proud of the hard work and beautiful craftsmanship my ancestors did. We have sawdust in our veins!

Do you have ancestors who were carpenters or joiners?