What does the occupation "Works in Woods" mean? In an 1880 US Census entry, the occupation of Daniel Card is listed as "Works in Woods." What does that mean? Where I grew up, the word "woods" was a synonym for forest so I immediately thought "Works in the Forest". If that's true, what kind of work was he likely doing in the forest? Lumbering? I also see how "Works in Woods" could be another way to say "Carpenter". The census entry is from Pennsylvania. You can see on the image that many others who lived near him had the same occupation.

I think you can interpret "Works in woods" as being involved in lumbering out in the forests. There are various tasks involved (such as felling, climbing and limbing trees, attaching chains, hauling with mule teams, etc.), and they may or may not be divided into individual specialties depending on the operation. "Works in woods" is simply avoiding such complications.

The phrase is very unlikely to be used for carpentry, cabinet-making, etc. as the normal terms are more likely to be used, and further, the use of the plural form, "woods", indicates "forest" was meant. If the phrase "Works in wood" had been used, the carpentry interpretation would be more reasonable.