<PRE>My GGGrandfather John Ballantyne had listed on his Masonic papers his occupation as a Commercial Traveller. Can anyone on this list tell me what that is? Maybe a salesman? Thank you, Shari in Ohio

Dear Shari Yes, a Commercial Traveller was what is known as, on the other side of the pond, a salesman. They represented either manufacturers or wholesalers and did just what it says - travel around selling goods to businesses. In the food trade in Orkney, we got lots of visits from the major food and confectionery companies such as Heinz, Cross & Blackwell, Cadburys, Rowantrees, Terrys, Esslemonts of Aberdeen, Millers (confectioners who still make wonderful mints called Pandrops), cigarette companies such as Imperial Tobacco, Gallaghers, WD & HO Wills, and the major whisky companies such as Haigs, Johnnie Walker, Ushers, Matthew Gloag - The Famous Grouse - to name but a few. They were always smartly dressed. The Heinz representative was the last person I remember wearing a bowler hat. He still wore it up to the late 1960s - early 1970s. After that dress standard tended to drop a bit!! Commercial Travellers were a great crowd (almost exclusively men) who spent most of their life living out of suitcases, staying in hotels all around the country. Travelling to Orkney was seen either as an honour or a punishment, depending on the rep's outlook on life. When they had to travel by boat from the 'mainland' in gales in the depths of winter it probably was seen more as punishment, but in the summer the company directors used to enjoy visiting, with the opportunity to sample the local delicacies such as Highland Park and to fish in Orkney's wonderful lochs (lakes to the heathens). Visiting the local Cash & Carry just isn't the same as a visit from the Commercial Traveller. Do you have any idea which company your GGGrandfather represented? Hope this little ramble is of some interest. Regards Bruce Gorie At 20:32 17/09/02 -0400, you wrote: ><PRE>My GGGrandfather John Ballantyne had listed on his Masonic papers his >occupation as a Commercial Traveller. Can anyone on this list tell me what >that is? Maybe a salesman? > Thank > you, > > > Shari in Ohio > > >==== SCOTLAND-ROOTS Mailing List ==== >The archives for the list are located here: >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/scotland-roots >and >http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=scotland-roots

Yes - you're right - a commercial traveller is a travelling salesman - anything from domestic products sold from a suitcase to something similar to a company rep. Whatever he sold - he had to work hard for his wage - and put up with some pretty awful working conditions. Best wishes Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: <Caddygrl92@aol.com> To: <SCOTLAND-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 1:32 AM Subject: [SCT~ROOTS] Ballantyne Occupation Question > <PRE>My GGGrandfather John Ballantyne had listed on his Masonic papers his > occupation as a Commercial Traveller. Can anyone on this list tell me what > that is? Maybe a salesman? > Thank you, > > Shari in Ohio > > > ==== SCOTLAND-ROOTS Mailing List ==== > The archives for the list are located here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/scotland-roots > and > http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=scotland-roots > >