Hi Everyone Came across the occupation of "Expressman" on an 1880 United States Census. Any ideas as to what his job entailed? Cheers Joan

could be someone working on the railway looking after cargo, possibly the valuable cargo such as currency / mail East of London FHS member All e'mail scanned by McAfee virusscan

Hi Joan and Listers As usual, 'Arry Stottle (Slowhands) gave us the right answer....... Refer to: Hall Genealogy Website - Index of Old Occupations http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/index.html EXPRESSMAN A Messenger - He would collect and deliver letters, packages or parcels that needed quick service. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Wikipedia entry referred to earlier is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressman An expressman refers to anyone who has the duty of packing, managing, and ensuring the delivery of any cargo. During the 19th century, expressman usually referred to someone was to ensure the safe delivery of a train's gold or currency in the express car. This job included Guarding the safe or other cargo against outlaws Memorizing the safe's combination until delivery Expressmen make an appearance in Mark Twain's unpopular "The Invalid's Story." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Old Occupations site referenced above is a very useful site. Regards Ruth Curtis Adelaide, South Australia This email has been checked by Norton AntiVirus 2006 ============================================================================ On Monday, 29 Jan 2007, Joan Canning [mailto:ja.perl@bigpond.net.au] wrote: Hi Everyone Came across the occupation of "Expressman" on an 1880 United States Census. Any ideas as to what his job entailed? Cheers Joan ============================================================================