Daily AncestorMilkman
A milkman delivered fresh milk to homes and shops, usually early each morning, at first by horse and wagon.
Before home refrigerators, milk spoiled quickly, so it was delivered daily. Before bottles, the milkman carried churns and filled each customer's jug with a measure, and horse-drawn wagons did the rounds from about 1860 into the mid-1900s.
Do not confuse a milkman with a dairyman. The 1900 census instructions say to return as dairyman or dairywoman a person whose farm work had chiefly to do with the dairy, which is a different job from delivering milk in town.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Henry Vos, 35, Milkman, Dairy
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Daily Ancestor. "Milkman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/milkman. Last checked 2026-10-10.