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              Papers from the Historical Seminary
                      of Brown University

  Edited by J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, Ph. D., Professor of History


                              II

               THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONIAL
                          POST-OFFICE


                              by
                        MARY E. WOOLLEY


            Reprinted from the Publications of the
               Rhode Island Historical Society


                       PROVIDENCE, R. I.
                             1894




EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONIAL POST OFFICE.


A letter written in 1652, by Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, to John
Winthrop, Jr., at Pequot, says: "I cannot say but its besides my
intentions that I write not more frequently unto you; I can onely plead
this for my excuse (soe farr as it will goe)... and the uncertainty
when and how to convey letters."[1]

[1] _Mass. Historical Collections_, 4th Series, Vol. VII., p. 128.

A glance at the correspondence of that period shows that Mr. Symonds was
not the only one inconvenienced by the "uncertainty when and how to
convey letters." With no domestic postal service the writers of that day
were dependent upon individual bearers and pressed neighbors, relatives,
merchants, sea captains, any and every one whom they could reach, into
the service. Indians were often used as messengers. Roger Williams
writing to John Winthrop, at some time in the '30's, speaks of word "by
this bearer Wequash whome (being a Pequt himselfe) I commended for a
guide in the Pequt expedition;" again, "I pray let your servant direct
the native with this letter;" and at still another time, "From your owne
hand (by Robin Causasenamont)."[2]

[2] _Mass. Historical Collections_, 4th Series, Vol. VI., pp. 242, 256,
276.

John Endicott writes to John Winthrop, April 13, 1638: "Your kinde lines
I receaued by Mascanomet;" and a letter from the Isle of Wight (near
Long Island), dated "Aprill 27, 1650," says, "I resavid yours by the
Indian."[3]

[3] _Mass. Historical Collections_, 4th Series, Vol. VII.

Until 1639 there is no trace of a postal system, but under the
_Massachusetts General Court Records_, of that year[4] (Nov. 5th), is
the following entry: "For preventing the miscarriage of letters,... It
is ordered that notice bee given, that Richard Fairbanks, his house in
Boston, is the place appointed for all letters, which are brought from
beyond the Seas, or are to be sent thither;... are to be brought unto
him and he is to take care, that they bee delivered, or sent according
to their directions and hee is alowed for every such letter 1d. and must
answer all miscarriages through his owne neglect in this kind; provided
that no man shall bee compelled to bring his letters thither except hee
please."

[4] _Mass. Colonial Records_, I., p. 281. _Mass. Historical
Collections_, 3d Series, Vol. VII., p. 48.

This action on the part of the Massachusetts General Court was, as far
as can be discovered, the first effort by the colonies to provide a post
office. Eighteen years later, June 12, 1657, an ordinance was passed[5]
by the director general and council of the New Netherlands, forbidding
the boarding of incoming vessels until visited by the governing officer
and the letters delivered, the penalty for evading the law being fixed
at thirty guilders.[6]

[5] Laws and Ordinances of New Netherlands.

[6] Laws and Ordinances of New Netherlands, pp. 379, 380.

Since private shippers were in the habit of taking letters from the New
Netherlands and Curacoa, without placing them in a sealed bag, the
directors of the West India Company, at the chamber in Amsterdam, in
1659 (October 30) adopted a resolution requiring captains of vessels to
enter into bond not to carry letters to Holland from New Netherlands or
Curacoa, unless received from persons authorized to collect them, under
penalty of one hundred Carolus guilders; and on the second of the
following June (1660) the director general and council of the colony
passed an ordinance warning citizens to observe this resolution. A box
was placed in New Amsterdam, in the office of the secretary of the
province, for the receipt of letters, and for all those capable of
registry, three stivers in wampum were to be paid. These movements on
the part of Massachusetts and New Netherlands concerned foreign letters
simply; until 1672 there were apparently no arrangements for the
transmission and delivery of domestic letters. In December of that year,
there was an effort to start a monthly post between New York and Boston,
a project originating with Francis Lovelace, governor of New York. In a
letter to John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, dated December 27,
1672, he says:[7] "I herewith present you with 2 rarities, a pacquett of
the latest intelligence I could meet withal, and a post... by the
latter you will meet with a monthly fresh supply; so that if it receive
but the same ardent inclinations as first it hath from myself, by our
monthly advisers all publique occurences may be transmitted between us,
together with severall other great conveniencys of publique importance,
consonant to the commands laid upon us by his sacred majestie, who
strictly enjoins all his American subjects to enter into a close
correspondency with each other... this person that has undertaken the
employment I conceaved most proper, being voted active, stout and
indefatigable.... I have affixt an annuall sallery on him, which,
together with the advantage of his letters and other small portable
packes, may afford him a handsome livelyhood.... The maile has divers
baggs, according to the towns the letters are designed to, which are all
sealed up 'till their arrivement, with the seal of the secretarie's
office, whose care it is on Saturday night to seale them up. Only
by-letters are in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes.... I shall only
beg of you your furtherance to so universall a good work; that is, to
afford him directions where, and to whom to make his application to upon
his arrival at Boston; as likewise to afford him what letters you can to
establish him in that employment there. It would be much advantageous to
our designe, if in the intervall you discoursed with some of the most
able woodmen, to make out the best and most facile way for a post, which
in processe of tyme would be the king's best highway; as likewise
passages and accommodation at rivers, fords, or other necessary places."

[7] Brodhead, _History of the State of New York_, Vol. II., pp. 196-98.

The first post messenger started from New York, January 22, 1672/3, with
sworn instructions to behave civilly, to inquire of Winthrop how to
form the best post road, and to mark the trees for the direction of
passengers.

To quote from the _Memorial History of New York_:[8] "It is recorded as
creating great excitement in the little village of Harlem, when that
first postman drew up at the tavern door to refresh himself, as he
undoubtedly did, with some good home-brewed Harlem beer--his 'port
mantles' (port manteaux) crammed with 'letters and small portable
goods,' the 'locked box' in the office of the colonial secretary
accumulating the next month's mail, and what he had brought, being
carried to the 'coffee house' to be 'well thumbed' until called for."
Notwithstanding this auspicious beginning, the project fell through,
probably because of the Dutch and other wars of the time, and was not
revived by this colony until 1684, when Thomas Dongan, governor of New
York, and Thomas Treat, governor of Connecticut, conferred concerning a
post between New York and the British colonies as far as Boston.[9]

[8] _Memorial History of N. Y._, Vol. I., pp. 355-56.

[9] Brodhead, _History of N. Y._, Vol. II., p. 413.

In the meantime Massachusetts had taken up the question again,[10] the
general court on January 6, 1673/4, ordering that post messengers, who
had previously received no stated allowance, should thereafter receive
3d. a mile in money and full satisfaction for the expenses of man and
beast.[11]

[10] _Mass. Historical Collections_, 3d Series, Vol. VII., p. 49.

[11] _Mass. Historical Collections_, 3d Series, Vol. VII., p. 48.

In 1677 (June 1), further action was taken, the general court, in
response to a petition of sundry merchants of Boston,[12] appointing
John Hayward, scrivener, to "take in and convey letters according to the
direction;" evidently there was more than one candidate, and one account
poetically says of the court's decision: "It Richard May suggested John
Hayward selected." The same year (October 8, 1674), the general court of
Connecticut, meeting at Hartford,[13] gave specific instructions
regarding the allowance for post riders; from Rye to Hartford, 12s. for
the expenses of the horse, and 20s. for those of the man, with the
addition of 8d. from the "midle of October to the last of Aprill," and
the special injunction that "hyred" horses should not be deprived of
their allowance. The number of routes mentioned, twenty-four, shows the
extent of the effort made at that time.

[12] _Mass. Records_, Vol. V., pp. 147, 148.

[13] _Colonial Records of Connecticut_, Vol. II., p. 242.

The next move came from New York, Gov. Dongan's proposition of 1684,[14]
to which reference has already been made, adding to Lovelace's scheme of
a post between New York and Boston, the suggestion that post houses be
established along the coast from Carolina to Nova Scotia