Trav.
Trav. means traveling or traveler, as in commercial traveler, a traveling salesman; it was an approved abbreviation in the 1900 census occupation column.
The 1900 census instructions list Trav. for traveling or traveler. The same instructions told enumerators to return a traveling salesman as a commercial traveler, not a store salesman, and to name the goods he sold, so expect lines such as Commercial trav., hardware.
A traveling salesman spent much of the year away, so check where his family lived and look for him in city directories under the firm he worked for.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 census
Commercial Trav., Hardware
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Trav.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/trav. Last checked 2026-10-10.