Certain people are notoriously difficult to trace in the records used by genealogists. None more so than those who moved around a lot in the past because it’s often hard to pinpoint their location from one year to the next. Many of our most important family history records such as census returns and parish records are organised geographically, so people without a fixed place to call home can be difficult to find and to follow through time.
Impoverished individuals who roamed from place to place were often termed tramps, vagrants, vagabonds or itinerant beggars. There were other lone travellers who acted as wandering salesmen. They journeyed between communities selling goods or services, and were variously known as pedlars, tinkers and hawkers. Yet there were also itinerant people who moved around in groups, often with close family connections between them. In the past they included what were then called gypsies, as well as people who operated touring entertainments such as fairgrounds.