The Postal System in the Wisconsin Territory: Early Milwaukee County; Waukesha County and the Sussex-Lisbon Area
by Mike Reilly, Editor, January 17, 2004, Revised 09/16/2007
also see Post Offices, Postmasters, Mail Carriers and Mail Delivery History for Sussex, Lisbon, Lake Five, Colgate, Templeton and Lannon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin and Postal Finder lists postmasters of other nearby communities
While still part of the Michigan Territory,the appointment of a postmaster and the opening of a real post office marked animportant epoch in Milwaukee, soon to be the Wisconsin Territory. At the time ofSolomon Juneau’s appointment as first postmaster in December 1834, operating outof his building on Wisconsin and East Water Streets, mail was received fromGreen Bay, or Chicago on a very irregular delivery schedule.
The first mail was brought from Green Bay bya half-breed names John Baptiste Lavigne, who on foot, carried sixty to seventypounds of mail, stopping in Milwaukee on his way to Chicago.
Postage for letters varied between six totwenty-five cents, depending on their size and distance traveled. There were noenvelopes or postage stamps in use at this early time. The postage wascollected, in cash, at the place where, and of the person to whom, the parcelwas delivered. Needless to say, often it wasn’t paid for, consequently notdelivered.
The mail arrived in Milwaukee once a month atfirst from Chicago (and other places). At first letters were kept in small, bluecolored boxes, but as the Milwaukee area population grew, their use soon becameimpractical. There weren’t any post offices west of Milwaukee until 1837 whenDavid Jackson was appointed postmaster of Prairieville (later Waukesha). Allmail matter for the large tract of Milwaukee County, west as far as the RockRiver was handled, assorted and distributed at Milwaukee.
Over the next ten years or so, mail wasreceived in Milwaukee in various manner: by foot, horseback, stage, boat, andrailroad. Private contractors, for pay or not, often carried the mail to make upfor the federal government’s lack of regular delivery. Not until 1846, whenMilwaukee was incorporated as a city, did the U. S. government provide maildelivery on a regular basis.
In Prairieville, postmaster David Jackson,received his appointment about January 1837. Jackson had come permanently toPrairieville in early 1836, after locating a claim in 1835. There was no postoffice at first; that is not even the usual blue box furnished by theGovernment had been provided for Mr. Jackson, and when the packages became sonumerous that he could not carry them in his pocket, or the crown of his hat,Mrs. Jackson, put them in a brightly scoured tin pan and hoisted the pan safelyto the top shelf. She also kept her husband’s pockets in excellent repair,putting a button on the one in which Mr. Jackson brought the mail fromMilwaukee. Sometimes he went on foot; sometimes on horseback, and sometimes hesent by the neighbors. The post office in those days was not a politicalmachine, and was not much of a machine anyway.
By 1843, the area, later called WaukeshaCounty (created on January 31, 1846), contained the following post offices;Delafield, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Mequanigou (now Mukwonago), New Berlin, St.Marie’s, Summit, and Vernon. Oconomowoc, which was the second largest communityin 1880, was not even large enough at this time to have a post office.
For the settlers in the Town of Lisbon, mailwas probably first picked up at the Milwaukee post office, then later retrievedfrom Prairieville. Even though Solomon Juneau’s early post office, andsubsequent Milwaukee postmasters had mail carriers, of sorts, they may have onlydelivered directly to Prairieville for further distribution to smaller area postoffices.
On January 1, 1851, Waukesha County containedthe post offices of : Big Bend, Brookfield, Bullion*, Delafield, Denoon*,Eagleville*, Genesee, Gold Lake, Hartland, Howards*, Lisbon, Mapleton, Marcy,Menomonee Falls, Merton, Monches, Monterey, Mukwonago, Muskego Center,Oconomowoc, Okauchee*, Ottawa, Pewaukee, Prospect Hill, South Genesee, Summit,Sussex, Vernon, Waterville, and Waukesha.
*Discontinued before 1880
By 1880, the county had thirty-seven postoffices, after starting with the one in 1837. Where Postmaster Jackson hadcarried or sent the mail to Milwaukee once each week, if there was any to send,and on his return brought back whatever mail there was directed to the onlyoffice in the county. Now (in 1880) the county (meaningthrough the Waukesha post office ?) sends and receives more than onehundred mail bags per day.
The next two articles indicate that at sometime, the mail for the Sussex post office was brought from the Pewaukee office,through the Waukesha office. When mail was received directly from Waukesha toSussex is unknown but may have begun as late as 1886.
Lisbon news – “Our worthy mail carrier,T. Lewis, is looking very downcast either over the dry weather, or because themail arrives at Sussex Station on the Wisconsin Central”. Source: WaukeshaFreeman, Sept. 2, 1886, page 8.
TheT. Lewis is the same Tommy Lewis talked of in the articles below in the early1880’s. The mail was then being delivered by way of the Wisconsin Centralrailway at what was first the East Sussex Depot, later to be named Templeton.
There was a Thomas Lewisliving in 1880 Town of Lisbon according to that year’s census, see below:
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father’s BP Mother’s BP Thomas N. LEWIS Self M Male W 33 NY Laborer ENG ENG Evelyn A. LEWIS Wife M Female W 26 NY Keeping House ENG NY William A. LEWIS Son S Male W 6 WI NY NY Oscar S. LEWIS Son S Male W 4 WI NY NY
Note: Clicking on the namesabove will take you the TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintswebsite for more information. An older JamesLEWIS, age 46, also born in NY worked on the Thomas Weaver farm as alaborer.
Sources: History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,Volume II, Chicago: The Western Historical Company, A. T. Andreas, Proprietor,1881; Chapter XXIX, Federal, County and Municipal Offices, The MilwaukeePostmaster, p. 1046 – 1051; The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin,Chicago, Western Historical Company, MDCCCLXXX, pages 640-641, 558;various excerpts used.
Rural Free Delivery inWaukesha County, and Memories of Postal Delivery in Sussex and Templeton
A MENTAL SLEIGHRIDE BACK TO ’81
by Mrs. Margaret Anderson
an excerpt from the abovestory
The Sussex postoffice in those days was kept in JimTempleton’s store and mail was brought from Pewaukee every other day by TommyLewis. The great drifts of snow interfered considerably with his task andfinally he had to go back and forth on horseback. However, the last two weeks ofthe storm Tommy made the trip on snowshoes, pulling a hand-? which the mail bagwas tied. The burden was generally light, for there had been no trains throughPewaukee for a week or ten days and mail delivery was more or less a matter offormality, as there was nothing to carry but local mail.
But, although no mail arrived at Sussex beyond a postal cardor two for nearly two weeks, Jerry Smith made (?) his way to Sussex in the old”jumper” drawn by his faithful old “Mink” as regularly asclockwork to get “wee drop” and incidentally (?) if there was anymail. Not that he expected any outside The Western Rural or The Waukesha Freemanor Democrat, but as he used to say, “There might be some accidentals,”and it was on one of those frequent trips that, when he got as far as the
gate which led up the lane to John Edwards’ home, about a half a mile west ofSussex, he could get no further. The men of the village were all out clearingthe roads and had the roads clear that far. Jerry was anxious to “get themail”, so he hitched Mink to the gatepost and continued on his way on foot,while the men, eager to play a joke on Jerry, filled the jumper to its utmostcapacity with snow, being careful to put the shovel that was in the sleigh boxat the bottom – for no one traveled without a shovel with him – and as long asJerry lived he blamed Don Campbell for the trick played upon him that day.
Note the story below isprobably also by Mrs. Anderson. Source: Waukesha Freeman, March 24, 1921
OLD SCHOOL DAYS
Being Some Interesting Reminiscences by a Student at the”Brown Brick”
Hall in Sussex
an excerpt”Waiting at the Postoffice”
Then too, I remember the times we used to wait at thepostoffice which was kept in the general store of James Templeton, and afterwhom the village of Templeton is named. the mail was supposed to be there at 4o’clock, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and also on Saturdays. nearly every one of thefamily would wait, and the way the children would crowd into that little storewas a caution. Every once in a while, if the mail was late, some one would runout and look down the south road to see if Tommy Lewis and his faithful whitefaced horse was coming with the little bag of mail from Pewaukee, and the numberof times these exploring expeditions would be made would be many, especially inthe winter when the roads would be blocked up, and when he finally would arrivewith “white face” steaming and puffing, a half dozen boys were readyto grab the mail bag and carry it into the store while as many more wouldblanket the faithful steed for whose arrival we had waited so patiently.
Of course there would not be a great deal of mail, as therewere few daily papers those days. The Milwaukee Weekly Sentinel came onThursdays, and on Thursdays several other papers came including the”Western Rural”, or the Western Ruler as one nice old lady called it,the “Christian Instructor”, the “Waukesha Freeman”, and the”Toledo Blade”, as well as a few letters occasionally, and as JerrySmith used to say, “There might be some accidentals.” Postage in thosedays was 3 cents per letter.
But there was generally a merry old time at the postofficeuntil the mail would come and be distributed.
Source: WaukeshaFreeman, April 9, 1914
“GOOD MAIL SERVICE GOES A’ GLIMMERING”
Editor Freeman –
We all have read the complaints of “our good mailservice” under the above caption in the last Freeman. Without a little explanationthese charges of July 22, and August 16 would seem unjust. Now all morning mailis dispatched by train No. 1, going north at 5:10 a.m. and No. 4, going south at6:11 a.m. at Rugby Junction. Train No. 8, Fox River Express, due at 8:02 a.m.now picks this mail for dispatch at Templeton. Previous to this change this mailwas dispatched direct at Templeton, was delivered to postoffice at about 6:30a.m.. However, rural route carrier never left the postoffice until 7 a.m. orbetween the hours of 7 and 8 a.m. At the present time he is leaving the officebetween the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. making a difference of one-half or one hour.Patrons of the rural route are making complaints in regard to this change.
Hundreds of places in the state of Wisconsin, three times thesize or more than that, have but one or two outgoing and incoming mails daily,also having three times the number of rural patrons. These people are wellsatisfied with what Uncle Sam is doing for them. Templeton has six incoming andthree outgoing mails daily. Why should we country patrons complain of theservice we now have?
All mail coming from rural patrons on route 20 is dispatchedat 2:57 p.m. daily, as before, providing sleep doe not overtake the carrier. Ifthis should be the case this mail would leave the office at 7:40 a.m. instead of8:40 a.m. as stated in last weeks’ issue. You will always find a few kickersalthough they are having the best time there is.
AN INTERESTED CITIZEN
TheWaukesha Freeman, Thursday, August 28, 1913, page 4, col. 3-4.
“GOOD MAIL SERVICE GOES A’ GLIMMERING”
Editor Freeman:
In the issue of Aug. 21 your correspondent sent in a fewfacts that were of public interest concerning changes in the mail service atTempleton, to which the editor gave the above heading. In the article there wasno mud thrown at anybody, there was no insinuation, even, that any person herewas in any manner unfaithful to his duty, nor in any way to blame for thementioned changes. But the shoes seem to have attracted on or two of ourvillagers who borrow The Freeman and they straightway put them on and the ire ofone rose so that he wrote a very beautifully descriptive letter to The Freemanof last week, and signed himself “An Interested Citizen”. Whether heis bashful or was ashamed to put his real name to the article, yourcorrespondent is unable to decide, but the alias is certainly very appropriate,for interested he is indeed. And while he slaps the rural carrier forcat-napping he is rejoicing in the fact that he gets one or two more hours eachmorning to spend sleeping, under the present schedule.
Again I say interested, indeed. This shining light, loyal,and patriotic citizen is more interested in himself than in a good mail service,the convenience of his fellow villagers, or the welfare of those on whom he isdaily dependent for his bread, meat and potatoes. our “InterestedCitizen” is very precise on the number of mails received and dispatcheddaily. It was not about the number of mails that your correspondent commentedupon, but about the time of arrival and the losing of the privilege ofdispatching on the early south bound morning train on the Soo line. Formerly wecould send a letter to Waukesha and get an answer by the noon train; many timesmedicine from Waukesha drug stores was ordered this way, and a great deal of importantbusiness was done in that same manner. All letters for out-of-the-state weredispatched on said train and in many cases gained a day’s time over the presentsystem. Patrons of the cheese factory got their morning mail while in town withtheir milk. Our business men got their morning mail before time to leave oneither of the local trains on the days they were out of town. Our working mencould get their morning mail before going to work. “The secretary of theSussex creamery got mail early enough to ship orders on the 9:22 Northwesterntrain. All rural patrons got their mail at or before the noon hour, and weresure of the dispatching of their out-going mail on the afternoon train.
These and many more conveniences are now things of the past.Yet our “Interested Citizen” seems to think that they are of littlevalue and not worth mentioning. Of course he seldom leaves town and neitherpatronizes the cheese factory nor the rural mail service. “An InterestedCitizen”, indeed. And he seems to think Templeton is so small andinsignificant that any old mail service for her is good enough; that the peopleon a rural route, where it is the only one from the postoffice, are not of asmuch account as if there were three or more or more rural
routes starting from the office. This sounds very much like a railroad man’sidea, for before our progressive days big shippers were rebated and smallshippers were robbed. Some knocker for his own town and community.
Your correspondent claims that Templeton is large enoughclean enough and up-to-date enough to be entitled to the best there is to be hadand that its patrons of the rural route, together with the village citizens andall living in the immediate vicinity are above the average in intelligence andenlightenment, and that every man, woman, and child who is a citizen of theUnited States, is as much entitled to every privilege and accommodation as arethose who are served by an office
“having three times the number of rural patrons.” Our “interestedCitizen” shows a heap of ignorance or is purposely deceptive when he statesthat the rural carrier is only one-half or one hour later than formerly. If hewere a patron of the rural mail service he would know that the former startingtime was 7:15 a.m. and now it is 9 a.m., a difference of one hour and forty-fiveminutes. Under the former schedule the carrier was allowed six and a quarterhours to make the trip; now he is supposed to make it in five hours flat, whichis less time than any carrier around here is allotted.
Your correspondent wishes to state that he has been accusedof saying that the Templeton postmaster holds mail in his office twenty-four and forty-eight hours before dispatching. I emphatically deny ever making such astatement. The fact that
I said “When the carrier failed to get back in time for dispatching themail he picks up it would be some times delayed twenty-four and sometimesforty-eight hours” is in every way true. Suppose a patron on route No. 20sends a letter to a rural patron of any reasonably near town or city; saidletter starts on Friday, reaches the postoffice in time to be dispatched ontrain No. 6, leaving at 2:57 p.m.; it will reach its destination the followingmorning. But should said letter fail to leave on said train it would have to beheld until the 7:40 on the St. Paul road the following Monday, making a delay offorty-eight hours. If it started any other day but Friday the delay, if delayedwould be twenty-four hours. this proves that the statement in The Freeman ofAugust 21 is absolutely correct.
I am your local correspondent
CHARLES J. TEMPERO
Source: Waukesha Freeman, September 4, 1913
Supt. of Rural MailDeliveries, Henry Casson, expects to have the first route in this stateestablished October 15, next. The route begins at Station B, Walnut street,Milwaukee, and extends in a northwesterly direction along Fond du Lac Avenue fora distance of ten miles to the county line. From this point it will run duenorth for a half mile and thence east to the Cedarburg road and back on thelatter and Twelfth street to the starting point.
“It will furnish a daily service to 200 families, “said Mr. Casson. “I shall recommend its establishment to the department,and if everything goes right we shall have a carrier on duty there by October15.”
The carrier will probably ride in one of the carts such asare used by collectors in the city and every farmhouse on the route will bevisited whenever there is any mail for it. The delivery will be the first to beestablished in the vicinity of Milwaukee, though they are already in operationin some other parts of the state.
Waukesha Freeman Sept. 21, 1899, p8.
North Lisbon news – Our postmaster at Colgate, Max Manthey,trying to get a rural mail route started to take in the county line road andquite a strip of Washington Co., we hope he will succeed. Colgate gets mail fourtimes a day at present.
The Waukesha Freeman, March 6, 1902
INSPECTOR WELTON BEGINS WORK FOR RURAL DELIVERY – WILLDRIVE ALL OVER COUNTY
About Forty Routes to beEstablished Starting From Largest Centers. Not all Post-Offices to beDiscontinued.
The work of inaugurating a complete rural delivery system forWaukesha
county is to begun at once. Inspector of Rural Routes C. B. Welton expected tobegin his work of investigation yesterday. He will make a very complete surveyof the county by driving all over it, in order to ascertain the routes that willbest accommodate the people. This investigation will take several weeks and itwill probably be as many months before the system is fully introduced.
In answer to a question whether all or most of the ruralpost-offices would be discontinued, Mr. Welton said that in villages and hamletshaving a few hundred inhabitants, postoffices would probably be retained. Theaim of the new system is to improve the postal service and where it does notimprove the service the present conditions will not be changed. Where the peoplesecure better service through the village post-office, than they would by thedelivery routes, they will continue to have a post-office.
Each rural route will be twenty-five miles long, and it willtake about 40 routes to cover the county. A considerable number of these routes,perhaps a dozen or more, will center in this city (Waukesha). The others willstart from Oconomowoc, Hartland, Pewaukee, Mukwonago and the other largervillages in the county.
The work of laying out the routes is to be done by Mr. Weltonassisted by Mr. Walker, who are the special government agents for the work. Mr.Welton says it requires a good deal of figuring to fix the routes so as toaccommodate all, that it is in fact something of a Chinese puzzle that he isexpected to solve. He has just been doing work of the same kind in Sheboygan county.
There are at present four rural delivery routes in this county,one starting from this city, one from Dousman, and two from Oconomowoc.
When the new system is fully established every resident ofthe county will have mail brought daily to his door, unless he resides in anarea where it is perfectly easy for him to go to the post-office. There are atpresent about forty post-offices in the county, several having alreadydiscontinued through the introduction of rural delivery routes.
Source: Waukesha Freeman, October 23, 1902, page 1, col. 1
Note: Mail routes can refer to the path mailtraveled between post offices or to the path taken by letter and rural carriersas they delivered mail from a post office to households and businesses.
Forty Positions – 140 Applicants
One hundred and forty young men from all partsof the county appeared at the G. A. R. hall Tuesday and took the examination forthe positions of carrier in the rural delivery service. The examination wasconducted by C. B. Welton, who has arranged the rural routes, and otherofficials in the postal service. Forty new routes are to be established in thecounty, so that a large number of the applicants will be disappointed in theirhope of appointment.
The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, February 26, 1903, page 3, col. 3.
The Waukesha Freeman, April 9, 1903 – HartlandNews. A rural route is to be established shortly between Hartland and LakeFive.
The Waukesha Freeman,Thursday, July 2, 1903, page 2, col. 2. (an excerpt)
The rural carriers will leave the post officein this city at seven o’clock in the morning, and return with their collectionsin time to dispatch mail after 2 p.m. After the establishment of this it isexpected that the star route from Waukesha to Waukesha via Gutherie, Prospectand New Berlin will be discontinued, also that the service of the mail messengerfrom Vernon to the Wisconsin Central R. R. will be discontinued.
Post Offices to be Closed
Under the new dispensation most of the starroute offices will be closed, and orders have already been received by postmasters to discontinue those at New Berlin, Gutherie and Prospect, as doubtlesshave postmasters at various other free delivery points.
Carriers Appointed
Templeton, regular, Charles E. Weaver;substitute, George Barber. (Editor’s note: No carriers were appointed for Sussexor Merton P. O.’s)
MORE FREE DELIVERY ROUTES (editor’s note:these Pewaukee routes are noted because they delivered to parts of LisbonTownship)
From Pewaukee
Three rural route are to be opened July 15th, starting atPewaukee. All three carriers start at 7 a.m. and return at 2 p.m. to Pewaukee asfollows:
Route No. 14
Hugh Stroud is regular carrier, in place of Wm. Andersonresigned. No substitute has yet been appointed.
Beginning at the post office, Pewaukee, the carrier will gothence to village limits 5/8 miles; thence se to school No. 4, 2 1/4 m; thencesw and nw to W. F. Gauthier corner, 2 3/4m; thence n and ne to F.
W. Steele, residence, 1 7/8m; thence sw to Cooper corner, 1/2m; thence southerlydirection to town line, 1 5/8m; thence s to Breeze corner, 3/4m; thence e 1/2mile and retrace to Breese corner, 1m; thence w to J. D. Roberts corner, 2 1/4m;thence on angling road to H. G. Antsey corner, 3/8m; thence e to Taylor corner,1 1/4m; thence s 1/2 mile and retrace to Taylor corner, 1m; thence e 1/4 mileand n to M. Larson, 1 1/8m; thence se to village limit, 2m; thence to postoffice, 7/8 mile.
Length of route 23 1/2 miles, area covered 12 square miles,number of houses served 105, Population served 525.
Route No. 15.
Charles While regular carrier in place of Frank Garretts,resigned. No substitute appointed yet.
Beginning at post office, Pewaukee, the carrier will go thence nw to villagelimits, 3/4m; thence n to Ryan corner, 1/2m; thence n to Billings corners, ne toMcKerrow corner, 1 1/4m; thence e to J. Tempero
corner 7/8m; thence n to Lemon corner 1/2m; thence w to J. Booth corner, 1m;thence 1/2 mile and retrace to Booth corner, 1m; thence to school house No.2,5/8m; thence nw 1 1/4m; thence se to E. Pearl corner 5/8m; thence w to J.Jungbluth corner 1 3/8m; thence n 3/8m; thence s to
Gillett corner 7/8m; thence e to school No. 2, 1 5/8m; thence se to McKerrowcorner 1m, thence sw 7/8m; thence w to A. L. Tenny corner, 3m; thence seHartland and Pewaukee road to village limits 3 1/2m; thence to post office,7/8m.
Length of route, 22 7/8 miles. Area covered 11 square miles;number of houses served 180; population served 400. Route 15 will connect withroute 21 from Hartland at A. L. Tenny corner.
Route 76. (Editor’s note: typo in newspaper article, should read Route
16.)
Albert Evert regular carrier. Beginning at post office thecarrier will go thence nw to village limits 1m; thence n to N. Nichols corner3/4m; thence e to Fiedler 3/4m; thence n 3/4m; thence w to J. Temperocorner 1/2m; thence n and ne to J. A. Rodgers 1 5/8m; thence e to Sussex5/8m; thence s to J. Weaver corner 1 1/2m, thence e to church, 3/4m;thence n 1/2 mile and retrace 1m; thence e and se to Tn line 1 3/8m; thence s toLingelbach corner 1/4m; thence w 3/8m; thence e to Shuriskey corner 7/8m;thence n to Schlieter corner 1/4m; thence se and e to Marcy P.O., 2 1/8m; thencew to Holden corner 1/2m; thence s to L. Voltz corner, 1m; thence sw to Sautercorner, and w to village limits 5
1/4m; thence w to post office, 7/8m.
Length of route 22 1/8miles; area covered 10 square miles;number of houses served 110; population served 550. Route 16 will connect withroute 13 from Brookfield at Marcy P.O.
Source: The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, July 16, 1903
Merton news – The rural delivery mail wagon beganJuly 15 to run through the village. As yet, we village people do not get ourmail in that way. Moreover we do not want to. We prefer the postoffice with out(our?) two mails daily.
Source: The Waukesha Freeman, July 23, 1903, page 5, col.6.
STAND COLD WELL
Rural Mail Carriers make Trips Regularly
SOME ROADS IN BAD SHAPE
Clad like Arctic explorers in the Polarregions, and adopting every possible method to protect themselves from the sharpnorthwest winds, the rural mail carriers throughout the country have for thepast few days been experiencing real winter weather – weather so severe as tocause complaint from many a man whose knowledge of the situation was obtainedonly by a walk of a few city blocks instead of a ride of thirty miles or more.This is the first winter on the road for many of the
carriers and it speaks well for their grit that there have been no complaintsfrom them.
In spite of the temperature, the snow has been in good shapefor sleighing though there has been some trouble with that bugaboo of ruralcarriers, the snowdrift. That the people who get their mail from the carriersare not ungrateful was evidenced at the holiday season, when all of the carrierswere made the recipients of numerous Christmas gifts.
But while the rural deliverer is at least allowed to wear asmany clothes as he wants to, the city carrier are strictly cautioned in theregulations of the postal department against wearing overcoats or otherwisehiding their uniforms and during the coldest mornings the carriers in the cityhave started out on their long tramp as during the summer months. The hands arethe principal sufferers as they must be kept exposed to the cold and as they arebeing used to pick out letters
and packages from the depths of the red leather bags, it would not do to havethem covered with too many heavy gloves.
The Waukesha Freeman, January 28, 1904, page 1, col. 4.
MAY LOSE RURAL DELIVERY
If Roads are not Kept in Good Condition
The post office department has ordered thateach carrier of rural mail must keep accurate account of the condition of theroads which he travels, and send in with his monthly report an exact account ofimpassable places in the roads, and how much attention the patrons along theroute give to keeping the roads in passable condition. It is the purpose of thedepartment to thus test the interest the patrons have in the service and willdecide its continuance or discontinuance according to the road conditions shownin the carrier’s reports. It will be well for those asking
for rural service, to learn how to make good roads, and then make them – Ex.
Source; The Waukesha Freeman, February 18, 1904, page 6, col.2.
CARRIERS IN SESSION
Men Who Deliver Mail in Country Organize
MET AT WAUKESHA ON MONDAY
Geo. Burmeister was Made President
Post Master James Addressed Meeting
Last Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock, a largeand successful meeting was held by Rural Mail Carriers at G. A. R. Hall in thiscity for the purpose of organizing. Besides carriers from Waukesha County, therewas a good sized delegation from Milwaukee County headed by President Kearney ofthe State Rural Letter Carriers’ Association.
`The local organization starts out in a substantial andsuccessful manner.
State president Kearney read the address of Post Master Owenof Milwaukee, which was delivered at the annual meeting of the State Associationat Milwaukee on Memorial Day, and it was listened to with much interest.
Post Master A. W. James was present and addressed the meetingand as secretary and treasurer of the State Post Masters’ Association, invitedthe carriers to attend the State meeting of that society in Milwaukee next week.
The following were chosen officers of the countyorganization:
President, Geo. Burmeister of Waukesha; vice-president,Daniel Clohisy, of Eagle; Secretary, Emery A. Turner, of Brookfield; Treasurer,A. C. Ferder, of Waukesha; sergeant -at-arms, Albert Evert, Pewaukee.
It is expected that other carriers who were not able to bepresent Monday will at once associate themselves with the society, as everyencouragement to the organization is given by Post Office Officials from the topdown.
The Waukesha Freeman, September 6, 1906, page 1, col. 6.
Civil Service Examination
An examination for the position of clerk (male and female)and carrier (male) will be held at the post office in this city (Waukesha) onNovember 17, 1906.
For application blanks, and for full information relative tothe examination, qualifications, duties, salaries, vacations, promotions, etc.,address Secretary, Board of Civil Service Examiners, Post Office,
City.
Source:Waukesha Freeman, Nov. 8, 1906
The Waukesha Freeman, Apr. 7, 1910 – J. B.Weaver, Pewaukee postmaster
WILL SUSSEX GO TOO?
Report That Postoffice Will Be Discontinued as Result of FreeDelivery
A rumor is current that the Sussex postofficeis about to be discontinued. When the free rural mail delivery was introducedinto the county a few months ago, statement was made threat the Sussex officewould not be interfered with but would still continue business at the old stand.However the free delivery has greatly cut into the receipts of the office and itis said that the postmaster, D. R. Campbell, does not care to have it continuedon the present basis. The Sussex office was established in 1851 and WilliamWeaver, Sr., was the first postmaster.
Source: Waukesha Freeman, April 28, 1910, page 4
MORNING MAIL, TEMPLETON – CHANGE?
Templeton, July 22. – There is a move on to have the morningmail at Templeton come in about 8:30 o’clock instead of the present time. Ifthis arrangement is effected the rural carrier will have to start two hourslater, and, as it takes him five hours on a an average to make the trip, he willarrive back at about 2:15 p.m., which will give patrons’ out-going mail but afew minutes to be prepared for the afternoon out-going mail.
On hot days, stormy days when roads are bad and under otherunfavorable circumstances, when it will take five and a half hours or more tomake the trip, the out-going mail will have to lie in the postoffice until thenext morning, which in many cases will delay letters twenty-four hours or more.For instance, a letter written on Friday evening by a patron on the rural routefor a patron of a rural route out of Waukesha, if it missed the out-goingSaturday mail, would not be delivered until Tuesday. At present mail collectedone day will be delivered the following morning.
There are several patrons on route No. 20 who do many dollarsworth of business through the mails and this proposed change is veryunsatisfactory to them.
(The proposed change has not yet been made at any rate as faras could be ascertained by The Freeman. Neither the Waukesha postmaster, H. E.Blair, nor the office at the Soo line station knew anything about it. -Editor Freeman.)
Source: Waukesha Freeman
Raymond J. “Mass City Ray” Hein
August 08, 2007
Raymond J. “Mass City Ray” Hein, 79, of Mass City, MI, passed peacefully into eternal life on Wednesday, August 1, 2007, at home from cancer. He was born on October 9, 1927, in Milwaukee, son of the late Andrew Hein and Clara M. Fischer (formerly of Ontonagon, MI).
Ray graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in 1945 and was drafted into the U.S. Army on January 3, 1946, and served in Whittier, Alaska. He was employed by the U.S. Postal Service within the Railway Post Office on August 12, 1948, a job he enjoyed immensely.
Ray was married on May 9, 1960, in Milwaukee to Suzanne Schmidt. In 1967, when the RPOs were being discontinued, he worked from the Sussex Post Office as a mail carrier and retired as a rural mail carrier in 1983.
They made their home in Menomonee Falls and later moved to Mass City in 1983.
Ray was a member of the Wainola Lutheran Church, Treasurer of the Ontonagon County Veterans Association, a DAV Van driver and a former member of the Mountain Lions Club. He enjoyed singing in church, gardening, baseball, and being on time.
Survivors include his wife, Suzanne; two sons, Ronald (Carol) of Hartland, WI, and Roger (Kimberly) of Arlington, TX; five grandchildren, Andrew, David, Sara, Lindsey and Gregory; a sister, Dorothy Jones of Milwaukee; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by a brother, William; a brother-in-law, David Jones; and a sister-in-law, Doris Hein.
Funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 4, 2007, at Wainola Lutheran Church with the Rev. John West officiating. Friends called at the church on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until the service. Military Honors were conducted by the Ontonagon County Veterans Association. Memorials in Ray’s name may be made to Ontonagon County Cancer Association or the Portage Hospital Chemotherapy Unit in Hancock. The Wandersee Funeral Home in Bruce Crossing, MI, is assisting the family. ©Sussex Sun 2007