When my grandmother used to make butter, she always let the whole (sweet) milk sit in the churn unrefrigerated until it began to sour.  Then she would churn it and the butter would rise to the top.  What was left was the buttermilk which is really sour milk with little or no butter cream left in it.  :-)  Later when you asked for a glass of milk to drink, you asked for sweet milk or buttermilk.

So I would say a "buttermaker" was one who soured milk in order to make butter and buttermilk.

Joan Logan Brooks

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