Daily AncestorDept.
Dept. means department, as in Clerk, Dept. store or Fire Dept.; it was an approved abbreviation in the 1900 census occupation column.
Dept. for department is on the 1900 census list of twenty abbreviations that enumerators could use in the narrow occupation column. Expect entries such as Saleswoman, Dept. store, or Fireman, city fire Dept.
City directories use the same short form, and so do military rosters, where Dept. names an army department. In each case the word that follows tells you which department is meant.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 census
Saleswoman, Dept. Store
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Dept.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/dept. Last checked 2026-10-12.