Elzy Ayres
teamster · active 1900–1940
Black hauler who appears in Ocean City's census returns for five straight decades. Listed as a day laborer in 1900; the industry column reads 'hauling' in 1910 and again in 1920; teamster in 'general hauling' in 1930; and in 1940, truck driver with 'Ice Route' written in. By 1950, at 74, he had left the town but was still driving a truck in Worcester County.
In the record (1)
1940
Elzy Ayres, hauling in Ocean City since 1900, is listed in the 1940 census as a truck driver on an 'Ice Route.'
Ayres runs through five Ocean City census returns. Day laborer in 1900; 'hauling' in the industry column in 1910 and again in 1920; teamster in 'general hauling' in 1930; and in 1940 a truck driver with 'Ice Route' written in — most likely the ice plant's, though the return does not say. In 1950, at 74, he had left the town but was still driving a truck in Worcester County.
Fifty years of moving other people's goods across a town that ran on them, legible now only as five lines in five different census books.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-11