In Crawford County's 1850 census, Michael Emmet of Conneautville Borough lists his occupation as "hostler."

While the term also describes a person who takes care of horses at an inn or stable, in Crawford County it would be more likely that hostler referred to a job in the railroad industry.

At the end of a trip, the railroad engineer turned over the care of his locomotive to an employee whose job it was to service the train engine between uses. That employee was called a hostler - a term found in censuses through 1940.