Daily AncestorDrummer
A drummer was a traveling salesman who visited stores to take orders for a wholesale company, drumming up business.
In the 1800s and early 1900s a drummer rode trains from town to town with sample cases, calling on shopkeepers and taking orders for the firm that employed him. Small-town hotels near the depot depended on their trade.
In a census, a drummer is almost never a musician. The official term was commercial traveler, and the 1900 instructions asked enumerators to use that and note the goods sold.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Frank Ames, 31, Drummer, dry goods
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Drummer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/drummer. Last checked 2026-10-01.