Daily AncestorMessenger
A messenger carried messages, letters and small parcels by hand, often a boy working for a telegraph office, bank or store.
A messenger was someone who carried messages, letters or small parcels from one person or place to another.
The 1900 census instructions told enumerators to tell apart an errand boy, office boy and messenger boy and to add the business, as in messenger boy, telegraph. In law the word also named an officer who took charge of a bankrupt's estate, a different job altogether.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 census
Jos. Murphy, 15, Messenger boy, Telegraph
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Daily Ancestor. "Messenger." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/messenger. Last checked 2026-10-10.