Tinsmith
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Le Ferblantier | The Tinsmith
The ferblantier, or tinsmith, was a producer of tools and utensils, often household items such as pots and pans for example, using iron covered with a thin layer of tin (tinplate). He also knew how to repair utensils made of sheet steel. This is in contrast to the chaudronnier, or coppersmith, who mostly worked with copper or bronze.
Many were itinerant, or travelling, tinsmiths, going from village to village, or door-to-door, selling their wares. They carried a knapsack on their back, held up by leather harnesses. On one of their shoulders, they balanced a long iron rod on which his products were displayed: candle and cake molds, funnels, teapots, cups, pots, etc.
By the end of the 19th century, the travelling tinsmith upgrading his method of transportation from walking to horse-drawn vehicle, allowing him to transport larger pieces. Instead of a metal rod balancing on a shoulder to showcase his wares, he hung them all around the outside of his vehicle, creating a racket whenever he arrived in town. A large vehicle also meant that the tinsmith could carry the tools he needed to make smaller pieces on the spot, or repair existing pieces.
The tinsmith (source: "Der Klempner", digital image of a c. 1880 drawing (artist unknown) appearing in Was willst du werden? Bilder aus dem Handwerkerleben, Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org).
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Known persons who had the occupation of tinsmith: Pierre Basquien/Bastien, Antoine Beaumont dit Pistolet, François Beaumont, Guillaume Berlinguet, Pierre Paul Bourgeat dit Provençal, Zéphirin Chartre, Louis Coursol dit Laflotte, Louis Desrouard dit Vilmaire, François Fournaise dit Toulouse dit Laboucane dit Lafumée, Charles Gaudeboeuf dit Dauvergne, André Lapierre, notaire, Joseph Liberge, Jean Loiseau/Lozeau, Claude Morin, François Tinon dit Desroches, Édouard R. Turcotte, Charles Vézina
Known persons who had the occupation of master tinsmith: Pierre Basquien/Bastien, Guillaume Berlinguet, Jean Loiseau/Lozeau, Édouard Robitaille
Sources:
Claude Lemay, "Fonctions et métiers délaissés", l'Ancêtre, number 281, volume 34, winter 2008, and number 280, volume 34, winter 2007; electronic edition, Société généalogique de Québec (www.sgq.qc.ca/images/_SGQ/R_LAncetre_plus_libre/ENT-FONCTIONS-METIERS-DELAISSES.pdf).
Jeanne Pomerleau, Métiers ambulants d'autrefois (Montréal, Québec: Guérin, 1990), 213-219.