Slager, print by Jan and Casper Luyken, 1694. Credits: Picturing the past.
A slager is a butcher. An old term for slager is ‘vleeshouwer’ or ‘vleeschhouwer’ (literally: meat cleaver).
Poor people did not often eat meat. One of the recurring themes in letters written by emigrants to the United States is their surprise that everyone is able to afford eating meat. These ‘spekbrieven’ [bacon letters] are one of the reasons why many relatives chose to follow them.
About Yvette HoitinkYvette Hoitink, MLitt, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist, writer, and lecturer in the Netherlands. She has a Master of Letters in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee, and holds the Certification of Genealogist and Qualified Genealogist credentials. Yvette served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and won excellence awards for her articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Yvette has been doing genealogy for over 30 years. She helps people from across the world find their ancestors from the Netherlands and its former colonies, including New Netherland. Read about Yvette's professional genealogy services.
Yvette Hoitink, MLitt, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist, writer, and lecturer from the Netherlands who helps people find their ancestors from the Netherlands and its former colonies, including New Netherland. She has a Master of Letters in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee, and holds the Certified Genealogist and Qualified Genealogist credentials.
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Another name for slager is slachter.
They are similar but not the same today. A slachter is the person who kills the animal, the slager is the one who sells the meat. Historically, both tasks would have been done by the same person.
Interesting to know there is a difference. I have an ancestor named Slager, which in later records was changed to Slagter, occupation vleeshouwer. Is this just an alternate spelling?
And according to family lore, my maternal great grandmother said that she liked the United States just find except that she couldn’t get any good horse meat.
Have you got any more information on slagers and their families?
My family says we have always been labourers and couldn’t find any relatives that were butchers although, were all slagers