History of Linn County Iowa Part 15

Springville P. O.: Col. Isaac Butler, Horace N. Brown, Jos.

Butler, Ezekiel c.o.x, Esq., Wm. Brohard, Squire Rob, Geo.

Perkins, Jas. Butler, Geo. House, Harvey Stone, Wm. Evans, Edward Crow, John Johnson.

Ivanhoe P. O.: Robt. Smythe, Mr. Bunker, Dan'l Hahn, Henry Kepler, And. J. McKean, J. Briney, ---- Hoover, Hersia Moore, And. R. Sausman, A. I. Willits, C. C. Haskins, ---- Cook, Jos. Robeson, Dr. Jno. Evans, John Stewart, ---- Mason, Thos. McLelland.

St. Julian P. O.: And. Safely, Esq., (Co. Com.), ---- McShane, Jas. Scott, Preston Scott, Jno. Scott, Jos. Conway, Geo. Hunter, David McCall, John Emmons.

Hollenback P. O.: Edward Railsback, Jno. Cue, Doctor Williams, Dan'l Richards, Thomas Lewis, Geo. Slonecker, Lawrence Hollenback.

Cedar Rapids P. O.: Jos. Greene, Jno. L. Shearer, C. R.

Mulford, Jno. Hunter, Esq., Joel Leverich, ---- Klump, E. T.

Lewis, N. B. Brown, David W. King, Jason C. Bartholomew, Stephen L. Pollock, ---- Nelson, Dr. Ely, Jno. Weare, Sen., Jos. McKee, Thos. Railsback, Abel Eddy, Mr. Simms.

Post Office Department Appointment Office, Aug. 9, 1854.

Sir:

S. M. Brice, the Postmaster at Center Point, County of Linn, State of Iowa, is said not to have deserved the appointment.

The late P. M. recommends George Melton.

Before submitting this case to the Postmaster General, I have to request the favor of any information you may possess, or be able conveniently to obtain, respecting it.

I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, &c.

HORATIO KING,

First a.s.sistant Postmaster General.

HON. A. C. DODGE, U. S. Senator.

Endorsed: (Private)

Dear Friend:

Please enquire into the matter herein referred to & let me know the result & greatly oblige,

Truly your friend, A. C. DODGE.

S. W. Durham, Esq.

Dr. S. M. Brice was located in Center Point about 1840-41, going there from Cedar Rapids. He remained but a short time. Dr. Brice was a whig in politics, and Center Point had always been strongly democratic. He was the first postmaster of the village.

The objections set out in the letter must have been political for he was considered a wide-awake and estimable man in every particular.

Post Office Department, Appointment Office, July 22, 1854.

Sir:

A. P. Risley, the Postmaster at Springville, County of Linn, State of Iowa, with 58 citizens, recommends the change of site and name of the office to Lindon.

Before submitting this case to the Postmaster General, I have to request the favor of any information you may possess, or be able conveniently to obtain, respecting it.

I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, etc.,

HORATIO KING, First a.s.sistant Postmaster General.

HON. A. C. DODGE, U. S. Senator.

Endorsed, The same of this, etc., greatly oblige Yours truly, A. C. DODGE.

S. W. Durham, Esq.

In 1842 the first postoffice was established in the towns.h.i.+p known as Brown by Isaac Butler. It was the third postoffice in the county and was known as Springville. Mail was received on horseback weekly. A. P.

Risley opened a store in 1845 and became postmaster. He is the person referred to in the letter of Senator Dodge. Mr. Risley sold out and removed a mile east of the town, and with A. E. Sampson laid out a new town called Lindon. A postoffice was secured though not without a fight, and the town of New Lindon a.s.sumed the airs of city life. A hotel and blacksmith shop also kept the town alive for the time, but it died like other towns when the railroad was secured by Springville, and the booming town of Lindon has been for many years a good corn field and a rich pasture. Sterling became postmaster at Springville after Risley. He was succeeded by John Hoffman.

THE CEDAR RAPIDS POSTOFFICE

While Joseph Greene was postmaster he also acted as the first storekeeper of the town, and it is related of him that he carried his mail in his hat. The following, written by J. L. Enos, in the _Cedar Valley Times_, may give the reader an idea of the postoffice situation up to the close of the Civil war. He writes as follows:

"The postoffice was established in 1847 and Joseph Greene appointed postmaster. Mr. Greene was removed on a change of administration, and L. Daniels appointed to succeed him.

Homer Bishop was the third inc.u.mbent and held the office through a succession of years, giving very general satisfaction. At the commencement of Lincoln's administration Mr. Bishop was removed, and in accordance with a mistaken and dangerous policy which promotes men of a particular cla.s.s or profession in places of trust, without regard to their moral or any other qualifications--J. G.

Davenport, until then the editor of the _Cedar Valley Times_, was appointed.

"Those acquainted with Davenport did not suppose he would be able to present satisfactory bonds but after some little delay he succeeded in procuring them and in due course of time took possession of the office. (Though a republican in politics, Mr. Davenport had to appeal to democratic friends for these bonds. J. J. Snouffer was one of them and shared in the subsequent loss.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PROF. H. H. FREER Mt. Vernon]

[Ill.u.s.tration: REV. GEO. B. BOWMAN, D. D. Founder of Cornell College]

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOSEPH MEKOTA Cedar Rapids]

[Ill.u.s.tration: W. F. SEVERA Cedar Rapids]

"A large number of clerks (?) was found necessary and it became evident that the office was managed with great recklessness. Money was lost through the mail when sent to the nearest postoffice on the route, and money sent to persons in the city from adjacent offices never came to hand. Postage stamps were borrowed from neighboring offices and return payment obtained with great difficulty, and in some cases there was a refusal to pay--because as he (Davenport) said, he had already paid the amount borrowed.

He was at last removed, and on settling up the affairs of the office, there was found to be a shortage to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars. His bondsmen went to work and finally succeeded in effecting a credit on a part of the amount and had the satisfaction of paying about one thousand dollars, which had been stolen from the government by this arch swindler. After minor swindling operations he absconded, thus relieving the city of the most bare-faced falsifier and swindler that has infested the city since the time of Shepard & Co., in the early day.

"George M. Howlett, the present inc.u.mbent, was appointed his successor and makes an efficient officer. In the spring of 1865 Cedar Rapids was designated as a money order office, commencing operations as such on the 3d of July following.

This enlarges the responsibility of the office and great care is necessary to keep all things right--though the blanks furnished make the work simple in honest hands."

L. Daniels was another of the early postmasters. He, also, was a merchant, and so was Homer Bishop, his successor in office. It was not until J. G. Davenport became postmaster that the postoffice got into politics. In fact it was no plum worth having till about the time of the Civil war. A number of prominent men have since that time held the postoffice--such as Captain W. W. Smith, Charles Weare, Alex. Charles, Geo. A. Lincoln, W. R. Boyd, and W. G. Haskell, the present inc.u.mbent.

A. C. Taylor relates how, when he came to Cedar Rapids, he carried on his jewelry store in the postoffice building, his store being located on the alley, in the rear of where the Masonic Temple now stands. The postoffice at Cedar Rapids soon outgrew the first government building, erected in the '90s, and the second was completed in 1909 at a cost of $250,000.

If a person asked for his mail in the olden days more than once a month he was considered too important, and the postmaster would gently remind him that he had no legal right to bother a man more than once a month, at least, about such a small matter as a letter. The postoffice during the past sixty-three years has grown to enormous proportions, till it now takes the entire time of a score of people to expedite the handling of the mails.