[1] It is reported that Traveler was born around 1880 in upstate New York, and was shipped in a boxcar to Texas in the early 1880s to pull Fresno scrapers for the Union Pacific Railroad.

In Texas, Traveler eventually ended up as a match racehorse and stallion around the age of 8-10.

[3] Whether or not this story is true, the first recorded owner of Traveler was a man named Brown Seay.

[2][6] With two broodmares, Fanny Pace and Jenny, he sired the early Quarter Horses Judge Thomas, Judge Welch, and Buster Brown, who was also known as Jack Tolliver, out of Fanny Pace; and Little Joe, King (or "Possum"), and Black Bess out of Jenny; and El Rey, Booger Red, Old Crawford, Texas Chief, John Gardner, and Chulo Mundo, and others by additional mares.

However, according to the American Quarter Horse Association, a "large number" of Traveler's male offspring were gelded, and he was better-known as a broodmare sire.