Most of my ancestors have been labourers. Many of them did a lot of digging as part of their work, especially since a lot of them were agricultural workers. Some may have only deep enough to plant crops, while others may have dug a little deeper.
I’ve already speculated about my 4x Great Grandfather, Petrus Pieterszoon “Pieter” van der Fluit and the possibility that the reason he relocated from Zuid Holland to Noord Holland was to work digging canals and other work related to polder construction and waterworks. Unfortunately, the timing does not seem quite right. Furthermore, and of greater importance, I’ve yet to discover any real evidence to support the theory.
Turning to my mother’s side of the family, my great grandfather Milton Leo Burgess was a man of many occupations over his working life: farmer; plumber; and woolen mill worker (where he lost a finger of his left hand due to a work injury). Unique amongst the labouring jobs held by my ancestors, apparently Milton spent a short period of time sometime around 1950 working as a gravedigger. The only source I have for this is my mother. While she knew her grandfather well, if he was a gravedigger in the early 1950s she would have been too young to have had any memories of the time he held that job. It is something he likely told her when she was older.
A Deck of Ancestors 