Daily AncestorCanaller
A canaller was a person who worked on a canal, especially a boatman on the canal boats of the Erie Canal and similar waterways.
Canal boats were pulled by mules or horses walking a towpath beside the water. Canallers included boat captains, steersmen and the drivers who led the towing animals.
In the census the word itself is rare. Look for boatman or canalman, which the 1900 instructions name among water occupations, in canal states such as New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Henry Snow, 26, Boatman (canal), N.Y.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Canaller." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/canaller. Last checked 2026-10-01.