This is a list of people who got a Hawkers and Peddlars License in the year 1881. The licenses came into use after peddlars became too popular. To help lower the number of peddlars, the government ordered that every peddlar have a peddlar's license. People who knew of anyone peddling without a license or sharing a license were asked to tell someone with authority about the lawbreaker(s). This list shows who got a license, when they got it, when it expired, and how much money it had cost to buy the license. For anyone using a horse and buggy, it was $20 for a license, and for anyone on foot, it was $5 to $10. If you didn't have a license, then it was illegal for you to peddle. Anyone unable to pay the amount of money issued was forced to stop peddling. The list of peddlars with licenses was normally put in the local newspaper. In brackets beside the name of the peddlar, the list would say if the peddlar was Syrian/Lebanese, Russian, Jewish, etc. The government wouldn't include the nationality if the peddlars were Irish, Scottish or any other nationality that took up most of the Island's population. Sometimes a store would get a license so that its owners could peddle.

The peddlars were people who went around towns selling their goods. Most Canadian peddlars were Lebanese immigrants. They came to Canada with almost nothing, and if they were unable to continue peddling, they would start store keeping.

PARO, RG19s3ss1 v4 p. 81

Transcript of Peddlar's List Image here