Daily AncestorCabman
A cabman drove a horse-drawn cab for hire in a city, and later a motor taxi.
Wiktionary defines a cabman as the driver of a hackney cab, and later of a taxi. Cab is short for cabriolet, a light two-wheeled, one-horse carriage licensed in London to carry no more than two passengers. The hansom cab, patented by Joseph Hansom in 1834, was another single-horse, two-wheeled cab.
The 1900 census instructions told enumerators to distinguish a carriage and hack driver from an expressman, teamster or drayman. In American records the same work may appear as hackman or hack driver.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1900 census
Michl. Furlong, 44, Cabman, Ireland
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Cabman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/cabman. Last checked 2026-10-12.