Daily AncestorRoustabout
A roustabout was an unskilled laborer doing all-round heavy work, especially on a ship, at a circus, or later in an oil field.
The word is chiefly American and dates from the 1800s. It described a worker with no special trade who did whatever heavy work was needed: on a ship, putting up circus tents and booths, or, later, maintaining an oil field.
In oil fields, roustabout became a set job title and the first step toward roughneck and driller. Read the industry column to know which kind you have.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Sam Lewis, 22, Roustabout, Circus
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Roustabout." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/roustabout. Last checked 2026-10-10.