The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
stoker
NOUN: 1. One who is employed to feed fuel to and tend a furnace, as on a steam locomotive or a steamship. 2. A mechanical device for feeding coal to a furnace.
ETYMOLOGY: Dutch, from stoken, to stoke, from Middle Dutch stken, to poke.
**BG**
Or, maybe they did know what stoker meant...
~;o)