Around 1902, widow Nancy Rampley hired a young neighbor man to help with the farm work during the busy time of the year. According to her widow’s pension application, she also provided him with board in addition to a monthly.
In 1903 the hired man was her son-in-law.
Several of my immigrant families in the 1880 census have a “hired man” who, upon further research, was discovered to be a relative of the wife or husband in the family. The relationship was not stated in the census.
Some immigrants, if their financial situation warranted, would have hired help, someone unrelated who was from their same area of origin who they wanted to help after they “crossed the pond.”
Sometimes the hired help was simply an unrelated neighbor who was willing to work.
It’s up to the researcher to determine if the hired help had a connection to the family other than a financial one.
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