Daily AncestorPatrolman
A patrolman was a police officer, usually a junior one, who walked or rode an assigned beat rather than doing detective or supervisory work.
Wiktionary defines a patrolman as a police officer, especially a junior officer assigned to patrol duty instead of detection or supervision.
In a census the same man may be listed simply as policeman, one of the service occupations the 1900 instructions name. From 1910 the census had an industry column, where the kind of place he worked, such as city police, is usually written. A detective in the same force did the investigating work.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Thos. McGarrity, 36, Patrolman, City police
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Patrolman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/patrolman. Last checked 2026-10-12.