Exactly. Trade related surnames weren't forged over generations, they were given to, or forced upon, one person in a specific time and location. * Farmer was

Exactly. Trade related surnames weren't forged over generations, they were given to, or forced upon, one person in a specific time and location. * Farmer was a tax collector (fermier), where Franklin was a successful farmer who owned land. * Brewster and Baxter were women brewers, not much opportunity for a long line of those. * Fuller had an ancestor who pounded wool and clay with a hammer, they took the place of people who did it with their feet, the Walkers. It's fun to think about, especially for those who have a name like Faulkner. But, many of these trades/technologies were a flash-in-the-pan that lasted just a few generations (e.g. Parsons, Warner, Stoddard), during a time when western civilization was incredibly unstable.