The Post Office In Rural America
The importance of the Post Office in rural America during the 19th
century cannot be overstated. Post Offices were the hub of activity
for many small towns. A town may not have had a bank but it likely
had a Post Office.
For many, the local Post Office was the only contact they had with the
outside world. If you wanted to find out what was happening, you found
out through newspapers and magazines which would arrive via the U.S.
Mail. If you needed to order a piece of equipment, again you did it
through the mails. Even after trains and telegraphs arrived in later
years, Post Offices continued to be a vital part of a community's well
being and stature.
In family research knowing where the Post Office was located will often
provide the essential clue needed in order to determine where to look
for the records your ancestors left behind. Why? Because churches, banks
and many other businesses tended to group around locations where there
was a Post Office. This alone makes these records a valuable source
of information for historians and family researchers.
Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832 - September 30, 1971
U.S. Post Office Locations
This microfilm publication details Postmaster appointments and
Post Office locations beginning in 1832. Though its official title
is: Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832 - September 30, 1971.
Its true value for the genealogist is as a guide to the Post Offices
located throughout America.
This publication also shows the dates of Presidential appointments of
postmasters and the dates of their confirmation by the Senate. The
records do not contain any other personal information on postmasters.
They also do not contain the names or other information on postal clerks,
mail contractors, or mail carriers.
Postmasters served as little as a few months to more than 30 years.
One such long-serving postmaster was Elihu O. Lyman of Mulberry Corners,
Geauga County, OH, who served a total of 31 years, from February 1852 to
March 1865 and January 1867 to August 1885. Some persons were appointed
several times, such as Dr. William M. Hayford who was four times appointed
as postmaster of Hartland, Livingston County, MI. Dr. Hayford was first
appointed on January 15, 1853, followed by Abraham F. Chambers, who was
appointed January 30, 1856, who Dr. Hayford succeeded on January 23, 1857.
Dr. Hayford's third appointment was on January 28, 1859, followed by
Chauncy P. Worden on March 19, 1861. Dr. Hayford's final appointment was
on June 5, 1885, followed by G. Winfield Wallace, who was appointed
April 24, 1889.
Sometimes, control of the post office was a family affair. The Denmark,
Ashtabula County, OH, post office provides examples of this phenomena.
Its postmasters included Elihu "Knap" and Horace Knapp; Ebenezer Williams,
William H. Williams, and Henry E. Williams; Giles Ives, his son-in-law
William H. Seager, and Daniel K. Palmer, who was father-in-law of Lewis
Ives, a son of Giles Ives. (Family relationships are not stated in these
records).
