The United States was a very different place in 1890. The individual Census Takers who would visit your home or farm were given a list of codes for each occupation that they could then record on the census questionnaire for your family.

Take a look at this list...you may have to go to your dictionary to find out what some of these jobs were. There are some interesting oddities: photographer is on the list even though George Eastman's first camera (which he called the "Kodak") wasn't offered for sale until 1888; A person who built stairs for a living had their own category; Railroads had thirteen different occupations, but if you look closely at the codes for each of those thirteen jobs...the Census Bureau only used two different codes.
What can you find that surprises you?