What Kept People Busy in 1850?

In the effort to fill in the blanks of a genealogy, one part of the record is largely overlooked, the documentation of what kept people busy from day to day. What did people do? How did they make a living? Where or to whom did one go to get a horse shod or a cabinet made?  The answers to those questions with regard to the 1850s have been around for a while, thanks to the efforts of two men named Thomson and Bassett.  Read the article, "What Kept People Busy in 1850?"