Daily AncestorRoller
In an iron or steel mill, a roller was a skilled worker who ran the rolling mill that pressed hot metal into bars, rails or sheets.
Hot iron or steel was passed back and forth through heavy rollers to shape it. The roller was usually the head of the crew and among the best-paid workers in the mill.
The 1910 census instructions named roller, along with weaver and puddler, as the kind of precise job title enumerators should use instead of laborer. In other contexts a roller might roll cigars, so read the industry.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Jno. Hughes, 41, Roller, iron mill, Penn.
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Roller." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/roller. Last checked 2026-10-01.