USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Guilford > A yankee post office : its history and its post masters > Part 3
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POSTAL HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1800
mental plan which was later carried out, and the Guil- ford area was one of the first testing grounds for this system as will be shown in the chapter devoted to the service of Robert DeForest Bristol, Guilford's twentieth Postmaster. On October 1, 1896, the first ex- perimental rural delivery service was established simul- taneously in several states. One of these was Connect- icut. Nine months later the system was being success- fully operating on eighty-two routes from forty-two Post Offices in twenty-nine states. Thirty-seven years later, on June 30, 1932, the Rural Mail Service had grown to 41,602 routes with a total mileage of 1,358,030 miles and the approximate number of individuals served being 25,594,818. In comparison with the insignificant appropriation of ten thousand dollars made by Congress a little over a quarter of a century ago, in order to test the then more or less fantastic scheme, it now (1934) requires the annual expenditure of $106,000,000 to operate this invaluable adjunct to the life of the nation.
The first county to be covered by Rural Mail Service was Carroll County in Maryland, where this service was definitely established in 1899. Robert DeForest Bristol was carrying the rural delivery mail on an experimental route in Guilford by July 2, 1898. He kept it up for twenty-two years. By 1915, the Fourth Class Post Offices in the nation had been discontinued as a direct result of the introduction of the new system. It is now estimated by the Post Office Department that an annual saving of $1,613,040 was accomplished by the discon- tinuance of the old Fourth Class offices. It is also said that the elimination of "star,"' or contract, routes saves much over $3,000,000 to the government each year. These are naturally staggering figures.
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
When the Rural Mail Routes were first established the salary in the first instance was only about $200 a year. Carriers may now get as high as $2,160 a year depend- ing, of course, on the length of their routes. Motor routes of fifty miles or more pay salaries of $2,450 to $2,600 a year.
Illinois leads all the other states both in the number of rural routes and in mileage, there being 2,383 routes covering a distance of 72,392 miles in that state. Ohio is second with 68,864 miles, while Missouri is third with 60,708. Connecticut has 266 routes with a mileage of 6,944.
The general parcel post delivery is of much more recent origin but serves the public in a manner that was never dreamed of in the long ago when the last stage coach came thundering into Guilford around the north- west corner of the Green, headed for Medad Stone's Tavern. A general parcel post system in the United States was provided for by an Act of Congress dated August 24, 1912, and was made effective January 1, 1913. The success of this innovation in parcel deliv- ery under government auspices may be estimated when it is stated that during the first six months of its exist- ance approximately 300,000,000 parcels were handled.
When this system was first inaugurated in Guilford, Postmaster Levi Odell Chittenden was the Postmaster, and the story of its beginning is detailed in the story of his administration in a later chapter.
The Collect on Delivery System, otherwise known as the "Post Office COD," first came into operation on July 1, 1913, although the Act for its creation was passed January 1 of that year.
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CHAPTER IV
A Retrospective Survey of the Previous History, Postal Rates of Eighteenth Century, and England's Inef- fectual Attempt to Coordinate and Improve the Colonial Postal System.
The question of the rates charged within the Colonies, up to and after the American Revolution, is naturally the subject for study. The best available authority for this section of the Postal Service was Mr. Frank H. Norton of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Norton was a well- known librarian in Brooklyn, published his findings in 1867, and from it we are easily made aware of the tre- mendous amount of study he put into the search for definite data regarding this portion of the mail service.
The most interesting feature of this early postal his- tory was the charges levied for the carrying of the mail. Two centuries or more ago there was a general system obtaining which was followed, it is apparent, for a great many years-even after the British territory became American.
The general rate starting from New York to any place within sixty miles of that city, was single, four pence ; double, eight pence; treble, one shilling; ounce, one shilling and four pence. The rate not exceeding 100 miles from New York in the above ratio was six pence, one shilling, one shilling and six pence, and two shillings. The rate from New York, for instance, to New London, Conn., was nine pence, one shilling and six pence, two shillings and three pence, and three shillings. The rate from New York to South Carolina was, commencing at
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
one shilling and six pence, and increasing as high as six shillings.
It was arranged that all letters brought into the Colonies of North America by the passengers of vessels from abroad, or others, were to be delivered immediately at the post office in the port of entry, if there was one, for the proper distribution by the deputies. The pen- alty for overlooking this was five pounds sterling. This ought to have been quite a substantial reminder to one of the duty involved. Forgetting letters in those days, it seems, might have proved an expensive affair.
The previous chapters of this work show conclusively what a ridiculously ineffective affair the North American Postal System-under British rule-was up to the American Revolution. We have, however, not a great deal to brag about even after that period when it became the product of our own American system. There were some curious regulations concerning the operation of the Post Riders, the activities of whom have been dwelt on in the previous chapters. Connecticut, even as early as 1674, passed a law governing the activities of her Post Riders when it was declared that these public servants by their boldness, or profuse and extravagant spending at the ordinaries (taverns, etc.) and other "places" on the road, and also by great delays in their riding, should be properly regulated, so that the public service may be protected and advanced. Operators of ferries were also punished if they did not attend, within half an hour, to the business of the Post Riders.
In order to properly coordinate the British and the North American Post Service, the British Parliament, as early as 1710, passed an Act consolidating the system in
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RETROSPECTIVE SURVEY OF THE PREVIOUS HISTORY
England and that on the North American Continent. This consolidation was to go into effect on June 1, 1711, and by it there was to be one general Post Office in London for Great Britain, Ireland, North America, the West Indies, etc. A truly ambitious scheme was then figured out by Her Majesty's Post Office Ministers of that period, but it unfortunately was never put into substantial effect. One Postmaster General appointed by Her Majesty (Queen Anne) was to be the head of all the British Territory, and he was to appoint his deputies to have charge of the postal affairs in other countries subject to the Crown. Her Majesty's Post- master General under this arrangement was directed to have one general Post Office in New York and other chief offices in each of the North American Colonies. These deputies were given the exclusive power to pre- pare for or provide the post horses used, as well as furni- ture for the offices, and penalties were announced for violation of this Act.
But the well-made plans of Queen Anne's ministers went sadly awry from all that I have learned. Ambi- tious as was the scheme created in London the far- flung dependencies of the Empire did not experience what might very properly be termed a satisfactory administration of Postal Affairs. It does not take an astute student to gather the information that England's handling of the mail business in the American Colonies was anything but successful. It is also within the range of conservatism to assert that it was no better off at the opening of the Revolution than it was when the Consoli- dation Postal Act was passed in 1711.
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CHAPTER V
A List of Guilford's Postmasters from 1792 to 1934. Their Terms of Service Compared. Twenty-one Persons Held the Office. Introduction to Part Two, and Sketches of Guilford's Postmasters.
The early postal records so far as there was any avail- able information to report having been examined, the next step in the history of the Guilford Post Office is the history of the individuals who for exactly one hundred and forty-five years filled the position of Post- master in this town. As was stated at the beginning of this history, the Guilford Post Office was inaugurated practically with the birth of the Government itself. Washington appointed as his first Postmaster General Samuel Osgood of Boston. He was a colorful character of the distinct New England type. Born in Andover, Mass., in 1748, he died in New York City August 12, 1813. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1770 and first studied theology but later took up statecraft and became one of the foremost leaders in New England and the nation. Osgood held many minor offices until the Revolution opened when he led a company of Minute Men at Lexington. From then on he filled important places in the Continental Army, and later was a member of the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1784. Late in 1785 he was appointed First Commissioner of the United States Treasury. This office he held until 1789, when Washington appointed him the first Postmaster General of the United States of America, which office he later resigned. He remained a resident of New York, had as
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GUILFORD'S POSTMASTERS FROM 1792 TO 1934
his friends some of the greatest men in the nation, was an author of serious books, and his house which stood on Franklin Square in New York, was long a historic man- sion in that city. Osgood was buried in the church on the corner of Nassau and Beekman streets, of which he had been an elder. 1910123
Perhaps at this time it would be well to give the first published list of those citizens who have served as Guil- ford's Postmasters from 1792 to 1934. Here they are as they appear on the records in Washington :
Medad Stone, date unknown (probably late in 1792).
Roger Averill, January 1, 1804.
Medad Stone, April 25, 1806.
Reuben Elliott, March 1, 1815.
Amos Seward, June 15, 1829.
Reuben Elliott, February 26, 1833.
Albert B. Wildman, May 25, 1841.
George Hart, January 29, 1845.
Elisha Hutchinson, July 29, 1845. Albert B. Wildman, June 8, 1849. Franklin C. Phelps, May 5, 1853. John Hale, May 16, 1861.
Samuel H. Seward, June 26, 1865.
Henry E. Norton, October 26, 1865. Franklin C. Phelps, April 25, 1867. Charles Griswold, March 4, 1869. Harvey W. Spencer, March 29, 1886. George N. Bradley, March 7, 1890.
George E. Meigs, May 22, 1894.
Mary B. Griswold, July 24, 1897.
Mary B. Bullard, January 14, 1898. Joel T. Wildman, January 16, 1902.
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
Levi O. Chittenden, May 6, 1903. Edward B. Sullivan, January 5, 1916. Robert DeForest Bristol, July 1, 1924. George A. Sullivan, November 23, 1931.
These twenty men and one woman have served the town of Guilford as their Postmasters for almost a cen- tury and a half. Medad Stone and his friend and con- temporary Judge Elliott each served about twenty-two years, thus establishing a sort of joint record. Charles Griswold holds the unique distinction of having offici- ated longer continuously as Guilford's Postmaster than anyone before or after his term. He served without a break for seventeen years. There were a number of Presidents of the United States and a small host of Postmaster Generals while he was the much respected Postmaster of Guilford.
Levi Odell Chittenden came next with thirteen years of continuous service to his credit, while Franklin C. Phelps followed with ten years. Albert B. Wildman held the office eight years, as did George A. Sullivan a great many years later, while Robert DeForest Bristol had a record of seven years as Postmaster, though he spent a generation of service in all departments of the local Postal Service. I have found no one who gave so much of his life to the work in Guilford.
The shortest term was that of Major Samuel H. Seward in 1865, who was postmaster only two months. George Hart, in 1845, occupied the office only four months, and Roger Averill, early in the last century, was Postmaster for two years. This bare fact is about all that is known about this more or less phantom man. Henry E. Norton had a term of less than two years,
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CORRECTION page 36, line 20 For George A. Sullivan Read Edward B. Sullivan
GUILFORD'S POSTMASTERS FROM 1792 TO 1934
while all of the others served their regular terms of four years.
Vast and almost unbelievable changes have been made in the Post Office system since those misty, far-away days when Medad Stone became the first Postmaster. If that gentleman were alive to-day to check these great changes the result to him would enter the territory, probably, occupied cosily for many years by the late, but lamented, Baron Munchausen.
In the year when this very prominent citizen and Tavern Keeper opened the first "Post Office" there was a local population of 3,460. This number was materially increased during the latter portion of his administration because in 1820, the last census taken before the division of the town set apart what is now Madison, showed that Guilford had reached an all-time high record of 4,131 persons. In the year 1830, however, four years after the separation, Guilford's population consisted of only 2,344 persons living within the present town limits.
This material decline, due to the creation of Madison, naturally lowered the amount of business carried on in this section. It would be interesting now to know what the postmaster received in the way of compensation for his work. But there is no way of finding out. It is extremely doubtful if it reached as much as $300 a year for a very long period extending into the next century.
It seems appropriate at this point to give a detailed sketch of each Postmaster of Guilford who served, so far as I can learn, since 1792. In many cases it has been a task of considerable proportions to gather this knowl- edge, and in one case it was impossible to obtain any data of any sort or of any value regarding one of our
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
Postmasters. The preparation of the following sketches of those who have represented the Government as Post- master is the result of months of research, examining old records long since musty and forlorn, and of trips to various sources of information. The result is not entirely satisfactory to the author, but for the present, it will record all that is available concerning the subject. In future years new sources of information and extended research may open more extensive fields and fill apparent gaps in the present history. It has been a deeply interesting search, yet in some cases regret has occupied the place where success should have been re- corded. However, that which appears in these sketches represents the best possible results from present known sources. At any rate it is vastly more extensive than has ever been gathered before, and will furnish the present residents of the town of Guilford a more accu- rate knowledge of their Post Office and their Postmasters since 1792. The most that the present author can expect or hope for is that this work will possibly be, in the years that are to come, of substantial assistance for future writers of the everyday life and history of the men and the women who may live in Guilford half a century, for instance, from now. If this success becomes a reality the efforts contributed to this present-day history of Guilford's postal system and its Postmasters will not have been in vain.
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PART TWO SKETCHES OF GUILFORD'S POSTMASTERS FROM 1792 TO 1935
CHAPTER VI
Medad Stone Probably from 1792 to 1804, and from April, 1806, to March 1, 1815
Presidents during his term: George Washington, Va .; John Adams, Mass .; Thomas Jefferson, Va .; James Madison, Va. United States Postmaster Generals during his term: Samuel Osgood, Boston; Timothy Pickering, Mass .; Joseph Haber- sham, Ga .; Gideon Granger, Conn .; Return J. Meigs of Ohio.
Medad Stone, the first postmaster of Guilford, was, for a very long term of years, probably what might very properly be termed the leading citizen of Guilford. There would be but little debate about that matter. He was the son of Daniel Stone and Leah Norton, and the family was distinguished and substantial for a great many years. The first Postmaster was born May 12, 1754, and he died full of honor and a good amount of worldly goods, it is assumed, on February 17, 1815.
The late Henry P. Robinson, in his "Guilford Por- traits," pays his respects to Stone in describing his mon- umental tablet at his grave as "The very picture of romance," and later on tells of his activities in verse as follows :
"Here Medad reigned, in this his lordly mansion And to much enterprise he gave expansion.
Then, on the public square, his station kept As public post; till here he came and slept Beneath this monumental tablet that asserts His early grandeur and his late deserts."
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
That he was one of the so-called Minute Men of the Revolution is asserted by good authorities, who give him credit for nine days' service in the early months of the struggle with Great Britain. He probably marched with others to the relief of Boston and thereby gained his title as a Revolutionary soldier. When his father, Daniel Stone, died in 1783, probably possessed of large holdings of real estate in Guilford, the old stage house, so-called, at the northwest corner of Guilford, was given to Medad Stone. This hotel was set aside for the son at a nominal value of £110. This well-known property had been in the family for a long time and was later known as the Miner Bradley Tavern. Its destruction late in the last century has always been a source of the deepest regret to those citizens who long to preserve the old monuments of the past. This was one of the best of them.
In this noble old Public House reigned Medad Stone with apparent never-ending prosperity for many years. It was the tavern of the first order, in the French terms, and to it came the travelers from New York and from Boston. It was the meeting place of the town as well as the section. In its vicinity on Training Days the principal programs of the day were carried out. Those gay, but more or less serious, occasions have been described to the author by old men of the 1890's, and Medad Stone and his tavern always figured prominently in the proceedings in more ways than one. Surging about that tavern on Training Days were the patricians as well as the plebians of that era-the Titled Nobility of Guilford as well as the more humble Bourgeoise. But they were all happy and gay and what part the potent, high proof rum from far-away Barbadoes or Jamaica or St. Kitts played in that drama will never be told.
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MEDAD STONE
Medad Stone was a large land owner and any one who reviews the pages of the Guilford Land Records for the period from, say 1785 to 1815, will observe very tangible evidence of his vast and far-flung activities. His estate was inventoried and appraised by Joel Tuttle and Nathaniel Griffing, and amounted to $16,400. The homestead, known as Medad Stone's Tavern, was ap- praised at $3,500. He dealt heavily in real estate and was what was termed in 1800 a rich man. He was also one of the private owners of Faulkner's Island. The town records disclose that on May 19, in 1800, Noah Stone paid Medad Stone the sum of $158.34 for his interest in the island which was later sold to the United States for $325.
In 1812, three years before Medad Stone's death, he received a letter in the form of a long poem written by Abraham Bradley, born in 1731, and at one time an assistant Postmaster General of the United States, which is reproduced in Steiner's "History of Guilford." It recalls Bradley's, and probably Medad Stone's, remembrances of the "Crooked Lane," or later, State Street, and it is more distinguished for that than for its possible poetic value. The Washington official refers in his letter to Medad Stone's Stage and Post House and that was probably the name by which it was known for a quarter of a century or more.
Mr. Stone was appointed the first postmaster of Guil- ford probably late in the year 1792, or soon after Washington's first cabinet was organized.
It is evident that, as there had not been many prepa- rations made for the guide of Postmasters for the newly-formed republic, the "red tape" existing was
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A YANKEE POST OFFICE
deliberately scarce. However, the only tangible evidence of Stone's first years in office was that on July 1, 1793, he filed his first report of the Guilford business with the Post Office Department in Washington. It would be highly interesting now to see that report, but of course that is impossible. He served the first period from, probably, 1792 to 1804 when Roger Averill was ap- pointed. Averill, as will be shown later, reigned as Postmaster only a short time, less than two years, and then the President, who was no less a personage than Thomas Jefferson, reappointed Medad Stone for another term. This last term was to last until he died in 1815. If he had lived a good many more years it is probable that he would have continued in the office.
From all standpoints Medad Stone was an expansive figure in Guilford's life, and to his record of having served as Postmaster for more than a score of years may easily and quite correctly be added the assured fact that he was far and away the best known keeper of a Public House or Tavern between New Haven and New London.
In this building, with a two-story façade closely resembling and reminding one of Washington's Mount Vernon in Virginia, Guilford's business and Guilford's society mixed for a great many years. It was not only the town's Post Office for practically a quarter of a century, but for a much longer period it was Guilford's "War Headquarters"; and before its doors thundered in and out of Guilford the stage coaches from distant cities and towns. Nothing like it has ever taken its place in the life of the old town. Probably nothing ever will. Medad Stone and his tavern stood in a class all by themselves. They had no competitors then or at
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MEDAD STONE
any time thereafter. When Medad Stone died, on a wintry day in 1815, Rev. Aaron Dutton was the beloved pastor of the Congregational Church which stood almost opposite the famous tavern on the upper end of Guil- ford Green. The venerable church, then over a century old, and the old tavern had been close neighbors for many years. Almost across the street where Nelson Griswold now lives was the residence of Rev. David A. Baldwin, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, then standing on the lower end of the Green. Medad Stone had been a member of this church for some time past, and it is therefore natural to assume that Rev. Mr. Baldwin officiated at his funeral. It was in many respects a big day for Guilford. One of its most impor- tant citizens was leaving them forever. Many more were anxious to attend the funeral than could be accom- modated in the rather small church where the service was held. Later the body of the town's first Postmaster was placed in a grave on Guilford Green, but it was not long to remain there. Within a few years, probably soon after 1824, his remains were moved to the recently created Riverside Cemetery at the West Side, where the second burial was made, and where, in the years that have passed, he has been resting near the remains of his old friends and neighbors, Nathaniel Griffing and Joel Tuttle. His grave has the distinction of having the only "table monument" in that cemetery. The inscription is so corroded by time and weather that it was impossible to read what was carved there so many years ago. But, by and large, his fame was as great as anyone of his period, because "Mine Host" in any American or any English town of that period of a cen- tury and a quarter ago held a place not comparable to any existing to-day.
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CHAPTER VII
Roger Averill January 1, 1804, to April 25, 1806
President : Thomas Jefferson.
Postmaster General: Gideon Granger of Connecticut.
Roger Averill was the second Postmaster of Guilford and he also holds the title, so far as this author is con- cerned, with being as mystic and unknown a character as ever occupied a public office in Guilford. Where he was born, who he was, when he died, what he did, where he went to church, or any one of the many things any normal man is supposed to do-this man did none- so far as any tangible record is concerned. We know that he was the Postmaster for two years and that his name is on the roll at Washington. But his record is as black an enigma as though he lived a thousand years ago. Every effort has been made to uncover some facts about this man's life, other than his postal service, but to no avail. Washington has none; Guilford has none. The name is more suggestive of Branford than it is of Guilford. The author requested Town Clerk Charles A. Hoadley of Branford to investigate the vital statistic records of his town to ascertain if Averill ever lived there, but no trace of him was found. Church manuals, vital statistics and all available sources were tapped with the same result-zero. A zealous effort was made to bring to light something about this phantom man or Postmaster. In the absence of anything else the author
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