Sunday, February 28, 2021

Borderline Benefits - Postal History Sunday

Welcome once again to Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!  Take a moment and throw those worries into the kitchen scraps bucket and take them out to the chickens.  Chickens don't seem to have many worries, so maybe they can handle them a bit better than we can.

Now that the chickens have something to peck at, let's take a look at some things I enjoy and like to share with others.  Maybe you can also enjoy some of what I learn when I work with these things and you could learn something new too.  Sounds like a good deal to me!

Internal Letter Mail vs Foreign Letter Mail

I thought I would start with a basic letter from one town in Belgium to another town in Belgium.  As a postal historian I refer to this as either "internal letter mail" or "domestic letter mail."  This folded letter was mailed in November of 1855 from Anvers (Antwerp) to a small town near Liege.  The price for mailing this item was 20 centimes.

Internal letter mail rates in Belgium at that time were based on both weight and distance, but I don't want to distract from the point I am trying to make here, so I'm not going to talk about the distance factor.  The cost of a letter weighing no more than 10 grams was 20 centimes for this distance.

Foreign letter mail, on the other hand, required the interaction of two postal services in order to get a letter to its destination.  Each postal service was concerned that they receive compensation for their services and the postal agreements in the 1800s (until 1875) were often quite complex.  In fact, there were several countries that failed to have postal agreements with some of their neighbors.

When there was an agreement, you would typically get something like this:

This is a another folded letter that started out in Anvers (Antwerp) in October of 1859.   If you would like to learn more about this particular letter and the addressee M. Evrard, you can take this link.

You might notice the Anvers postal marking at the top right for Oct 14, which was applied by the post office in that city.  There are two markings in the top center.  One is the P.D. marking we talked about in this October 2020 Postal History Sunday entry.  We learned there that the box with the "P.D." tells us that this item was "payée à destiné," which translates to "paid to destination."  

The other marking reads "Belg. Amb. Calais E" around the outer ring of the circle.    This is an "exchange marking" that shows where the letter left the custody of the Belgian mail service and entered the purview of the French mail service.  In this case, the transfer occurred on a mail car on the train that went from Calais to Paris in France.

To be perfectly clear, it is possible that the mailbag left the custody of the Belgian mail service and was in French hands before this point.  But, the marking shows when and where the mailbag was opened and processed by the French.  It is at this point that the item officially entered their ledgers (so to speak).

The cost of this letter was 40 centimes for every 10 grams in letter weight.  The December 1857 postal agreement between these two countries dictated that distance would NOT play a role in the cost of a letter - with one important distinction.

Neighbors in Different Countries

Could you imagine living just a couple of kilometers from the border between France and Belgium.  You have friends who live just down the road, but that is officially in another country.  You do business with people in the next town over, but they too live in another country.  How would you feel if you had to pay 20 centimes for a letter destined to someone 5 kilometers to the North and then pay 40 centimes for a similar letter to someone 1 kilometer to your South just because they were on the other side of the border?

There were plenty of business interests in southern Belgium and northeastern France and there was likely plenty of pressure to recognize this issue.  The postal agreement provided for a discounted rate if a piece of letter mail crosses the border and distance is 30 km or less from origin post office to destination post office.  The distance for the letter above from Courtrai (Belgium) to Lille (France) is right around 30 kilometers, so this letter qualified for the reduced rate.

Actually, the agreement made it even easier for postal clerks to be able to determine what destinations qualified for this reduced rate.  The postal convention listed the locations of post offices that qualified (you can click to see a larger version of the picture).  This excerpt shows the French post offices.

As a result of this agreement, neighbors who wanted to mail things to someone in another country wound up paying the same rate as the first letter that was internal mail and half the amount the second piece of foreign letter mail required.

The Dutch and the Belgians

The Netherlands and Belgium had similar arrangements for border settlements.  Shown above is an 1868 letter from Bruxelles (Brussels) in Belgium to Vlaardingen in the Netherlands.  The rate for mail from Belgium to the Netherlands was 20 centimes for every 10 grams in weight.  There was no distance component to the mail rate between these two countries at this time other than the special border rate.

If the origin and the destination were close by, this rate was cut in half!  The 1869 folded letter shown above only has a 10 centime stamps for an item mailed from Liege, Belgium (yep, that marking is hard to read!) to Maestricht in Holland.  You will notice that, even though these letters traveled a short distance, they still have a PD marking to indicate that the postage was paid for a letter between nations.  This may have qualified for a reduced rate, but it still had to be processed as a piece of foreign letter mail.

An interesting thing that I have noticed as I look for items like this is that these reduced rate items are far less common than the regular rates between these countries.  And, because they are less common, it is more difficult to find examples that are nicer looking.  

But, why would these be less common?  It's a simple matter of mathematics.  Without doing actual calculations, it would be safe to say that less than 5% of the population for each country lives inside of the area that could qualify for the reduced rate.  On top of that, not all of the mail leaving those areas would go TO a destination that also qualified for the reduced rate.  I think it would be safe to estimate that no more than 1% of all of the letter mail that was sent between Beligium and France or 2-3% for Belgium and the Netherlands would have qualified for these rates.

Huh.  I think that explains it!

But, sometimes you are lucky enough to find things that others don't.  Here is an example of a border letter rate from the Netherlands to Belgium in 1867.  Each Dutch cent was equal to two Belgian centimes.  So, it cost 5 Dutch cents for a border letter.  You might notice that stamp has a marking that reads "Franco," which happens to be Holland's preferred marking to indicate a letter was paid.

Know A Good Thing When You See It

It isn't hard to understand how the idea of border rate reductions, once it showed usefulness in one agreement, would start popping up in other agreements.  The root of these special rates probably comes from the fact that most postal services included distance as an element for determining postal rates.  The further something had to travel, the more expensive it became.  That certainly makes sense if transportation is your biggest expense.

If anything, the idea that the rate would stay the same for all distances EXCEPT border mail was the innovation that was a response to improved transportation via the railways. 

Here is a folded letter mailed in 1862 from Switzerland to France.  The normal rate to mail an item was 40 rappen for every 7.5 grams, regardless of distance.  You will notice the exchange marking in red shows that control of the letter was transferred at Pontarlier (France).  France and Switzerland both used the PD markings to show the receiving nation that the letter was fully paid.

And here is an 1860 letter that shows a PD marking and a red exchange marking at Fernex (France).  The letter was mailed in Geneva, which was just across the border from Fernex (Ferney).  Clearly, this is a situation where a border rate should apply, and it does.  Only 20 rappen (1/2 the normal rate) was required.

If Ferney sounds familiar to some of you, you might recognize it better as "Ferney-Voltaire."  The philosopher, Voltaire, purchased the land around the small hamlet of Ferney in 1759.  Once travel is restored, you could go visit his chateau and the community that is part of Voltaire's legacy.  

So, How Do You See It?

That brings me to the last point.  How does a person, such as myself, notice that a letter could qualify for the borderline letter rate - no matter what pair of countries and regardless of the time in history?

The first thing is that I need to know what a normal piece of internal letter mail for the time period looks like.

This internal letter in Switzerland was mailed in Romoos.  It cost 10 rappen (or 10 centimes) to mail and the markings on the cover simply show its travels inside the country.

Most internal letter mail in Switzerland during this time period will have a 10 centime/rappen stamp.  So, if I were to see a letter with that stamp, my first assumption is that it is a piece of domestic letter mail.

And here is an 1867 letter from Horgan, Switzerland, to Genoa, Italy.  The rate between nations was 30 centimes/rappen per 10 grams and a PD marking was put on the letter by the Swiss to let the Italians know that they did collect the proper amount of postage.  All in all, this is a pretty normal looking letter between these two countries for that time period.

So, I bring you this one:


This one was mailed in Splugen in 1865 and has a Swiss 10 centime/rappen stamp applied on it to pay the postage.  The person who offered this item for sale listed it as a piece of "domestic letter mail" because that is what most 10 centime blue stamps in Switzerland were used for.  

What told me to look closer?

You can see it too - it's the PD marking on the cover.  Most post offices during that time did not use a PD marking unless it was a piece of foreign mail.  That is not always true.  The Netherlands used the "Franco" marking on internal mail as well as foreign mail.  But, it was enough to make me look closer at this item.

Splugen is both a settlement and a mountain pass in the Alps near the Swiss/Italian border.  The hard part was trying to figure out the destination.  The address panel on the front maybe reads "Clafau" or "Clafen," but I couldn't be sure.
 

The reverse shows a receiver postmark for Chiavenna, which is located just South of the border, which clearly makes it a piece of border mail.  After some searching, it turns out Chiavenna is also known as Claven, Kleven and Clavenna depending on the language.  It is just another case where the spelling of a location could be different depending on the person's background writing the address.  We could talk about that more, but I think that could be a Postal History Sunday all its own.

Thank you for joining me this week.  Next week's Postal History Sunday will be titled Turn, Turn, Turn.  I believe that's called a "teaser" to increase interest for what's coming next.   I wonder what it could be that I'll be showing you next time?

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful remainder of the weekend and a positive and fulfilling week to come.  Maybe you had a chance to relax for a few moments today and you learned something new.  If you have questions for this or past blogs or suggestions for future PHS blog posts, feel free to send them my way.  

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Further reading if you have interest:

Here is a post that I constructed regarding the mails between Switzerland and Italy.  It needs another edit to update my knowledge there.  But, it is fairly accurate.
 
 
Each of these posts on the GFF Postal History Blog were created as a place for me to work on my own understanding of how these mails worked.  As I continue to learn, I try to take time to edit each so that they are as accurate as I can make them.  

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Different World - Postal History Sunday

 Welcome again to Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and cross-posted here on the GFF Postal History blog!  

This is the place and time where I remind you that you should pack your troubles into a tight, little ball and then throw them as far away from your person as you are humanly able to do.  And, if you are not much for throwing things, call your young nephew over and tell him there is "no throwing in the house" and hand him that ball.  I suspect there will be plenty of distance, but it might add, rather than detract, from your list of troubles.

This week I thought I would reflect a little bit on how postal history helps me to understand how the alignment of nations and the borders they keep evolve over time.  It is always tempting to try to fit history and events we did not live into our own understanding rather than trying to learn how things were at that point in time. But enough philosophy!  Let's get down to some interesting postal history and maybe... just maybe... learn something new!

The Tuscan Lion Still Roared

One of the things I tell myself to remember as I explore a postal history item is that the people who carried mail and implemented the systems to handle that mail were NOT worried about my desire as a collector to find order amidst the artifacts I collect.  In fact, it is frequently the case that what I uncover is a tangled web that may not have a perfectly easy and simple explanation.

One such case study would be the postal history that surrounds the Italian States prior to their unification as the Kingdom of Italy in the 1860s.  Prior to 1859, Italy was not a single political unit.  The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was a semi-autonomous state under the direction of Austria.  Sardinia, in the northwest (and the island) was a kingdom that had a fairly close relationship with France.  Tuscany, Modena and Parma were their own entities, but each were influenced to varying extents by Austria.  The Papal States controlled all of central Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Neapolitan & Sicilian territories) covered the south.  

And - of course - I have over-simplified the whole thing.  Don't quibble with details here.  I'm just trying to point out that Italy was a bit more complex at the time if you want to figure out the postal history.  What we have here is enough of a picture that we can identify the stamp issuing postal services in Italy during this period.

When it comes to postal history in the 1850s and 1860s for this area, it is very important that you learn as much of the basics as you can about the history of the various states and how they interacted with each other.  All of these entities had their own postal systems, they had different currencies and usually had different rules for handling the post.  Sometimes they even had different weight and distance metrics.  If that isn't enough for a little confusion on my part, then I don't know what is!

For points of interest for the cover I show above - note the yellow (Tuscany) and the three shades of pink (Papal States) on the map. 

So - let's get back to that Tuscan Lion, shall we?  

The Marzocco, the heraldic lion of Florence (Firenze), is depicted on the first postage stamps issued by the Tuscan postal services in 1851.  As a point of interest, the most well-known sculpture of the Marzocco was created by Donatello in the 15th century.  

The Tuscans used a monetary system based on the Tuscan Lire that could be divided into 12 crazie or 20 soldi.  The stamp shown above indicated payment of 6 crazie.  If you were wondering, "crazie" is plural and "crazia" would be the singular form of this word - one crazia, two crazie.  The weight of a letter was determined in denari (denaro singular) with a standard domestic letter weighing no more than 6 denari (7.1 grams). 

The letter above was sent from Firenze (Florence), Tuscany to Rome in the Papal States.  The cost of that letter was determined to be 6 crazie because the distance was over 20 Austrian leghe (leagues - with 1 lega equal to 7.5 km).  A single letter was anything weighing up to 17.5 grams (about 15 denari).

So, what's with the Austrian leghe....  and why rate letters for every 15 denari when the internal rates were figured for each 6 denari?

I am glad you asked!

It just so happens that Austria promoted a "postal league" where participating postal services agreed to standardized rates for mail.  Austria, Lombardy and Venetia, Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the Papal States had all entered the agreement.  In order to make it work, rough equivalents in weights and currencies had to be determined.  You can certainly see how Austria felt this could be to their benefit as they were looking to solidify their influence in the region!  Easier communication lines might promote political cooperation.

When Baden was a Grand Duchy and Bavaria a Kingdom

Germany was also undergoing a transformation in the 1850s and 1860s that led to the eventual unification of the various states under the leadership of Prussia.  The folded letter shown below was mailed in 1853 from Mannheim to Sinsheim - both of which were inside the borders of the German state of Baden.  Baden had its own postal service and issued its own postage stamps, just as Tuscany issued its Tuscan lion stamps and managed their own postal services.

The monetary units in Baden at the time were based on the gulden where 1 gulden = 60 kruezer.  The units of weight measure were the pound and the loth where 1 pound = 30 loth and a single loth was roughly equivalent to ½ ounce.  The meilen, or postal mile, was similar to the Austrian leghe (7.5 km = 1 postal mile).

It just so happens that many of the German states and Austria had come to an agreement to implement a "postal league" in the early 1850s.  This agreement is known as the German-Austrian Postal Union (GAPU) to English-speaking philatelists or Deutsch-Österreichische Postverein (DOPV) to those who speak German.  In fact, this would be the model for the agreement Austria would have with the Italian states mentioned for the first letter in this blog post.  

Postage for a letter was calculated by a combination of the weight of the letter and the distance the letter was required to travel to get to the destination.  This specific letter cost 3 kruezer for an item weighing no more than 1 loth and traveling no more than 10 meilen.

The map above gives you some ideas as to all of the political boundaries and some of their movement over time during this period for the German states.  You will notice that Baden is in purple towards the lower left of the map (just north of Switzerland).  By the time we get to 1875, Germany will be unified, including Alsace/Lorraine (French prior to 1870 and French in the present day).  

If you look more carefully, you might notice that Baden, Wurrtemberg, southern Hesse and Bavaria were not part of the North German Confederation established after the Seven Weeks War in 1866.  These southern German states maintained autonomy over their postal services longer than most.  Baden ceased using their own stamps by the beginning of 1872, when they began using the postal service maintained by the newly minted German Reich.  Bavaria, on the other hand, continued to issue its own postage stamps until 1918 as an autonomous kingdom within the German empire.

Shown above is a folded business letter with 3 kruezer paid by a Bavarian postage stamp in 1864.  The rate is the same as the letter in Baden.  The German-Austrian Postal Union was still in force and this letter must have weighed no more than 1 loth nor did it travel more than 10 meilen in the postal services.

But, there is something strange going on here!  The black marking at the left reads Aschaffenburg - which was in Bavaria.  The blue marking at lower left is a business hand stamp for C. Marzell in Frankfurt - which was NOT in Bavaria.  Frankfurt was in Hessian territory and would not have used Bavarian postage.  In fact, Frankfurt was more than 10 meilen from the destination, so this postage would not have been enough in any case.

Sometimes it pays to have a relative with a business or a branch of the business in another city.  Franz Marzell was in Aschaffenburg, according to the marking on the back.  

One of a two things happened (other possibilities exist but are unlikely).  

  1. Someone who worked with the Marzells just carried the letter from one office to the other so it could be mailed from the Aschaffenburg office.
  2. A packet of letters/business correspondence was mailed from Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg.  Franz Marzell then took charge of posting each item in the Bavarian post.

And Ceylon Coffee was a Thing


The contents of this letter mailed in Bavaria included an invoice for Ceylon coffee (‘caffee’) and reflects the popularity of coffee from that region in the mid-1860's.  In 1866 alone, Ceylon exported over 897 million pounds.*  In fact, the development of coffee plantations in Ceylon occurred in a way that could be likened to a gold rush, with primarily English speculators clear cutting the natural forests in favor of a monocrop system.  

*according to Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, etc by H.J. Suckling


 Above is an illustrated plate from an unidentified magazine circa-1880.  Offered as an ebay lot and not further attributed.

The soil in much of Ceylon was such that farmers would need to supplement the soil to maintain production, but few speculators were aware of this and lost a great deal of money in the 1840s.  After a peak of 1.6 billion pounds of export in 1868, production declined rapidly with the appearance of Coffee Leaf Rust over the next several years.  The spread of this fungus can be largely attributed to poor agricultural practices and the ridiculous dedication to a single crop with no regard for environmental balance.

And you wonder how I can link postal history to our farming blog?  It was a bit of a long road to get there, but I did it!

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And there you have it!  A blog that starts in Florence, Italy, and winds up in Ceylon and a brief discussion about Coffee Leaf Rust (among other things).  

If I were to summarize for you the take-away form this blog post it would be that postal history often has a direct link to the historical context in which it resides.  If you take some time to learn the basic history and look at a few maps from that period, you can more easily understand how a letter traveled and gain some insight as to why the post offices worked as they did.

But even if you do not learn the basic history so you can understand the postal history of an old letter, you may find yourself drawn into the history anyway.  After all, these letters have stories to tell, you just have to take the time to read them.

Have a great remainder of the weekend and a great week to come!

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Foolish Desire - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to the February 14th edition of Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and cross posted on the this, the GFF Postal History Blog!

This is the place where I take a few moments to share some of the aspects of the postal history hobby that keep me interested and encourage me to keep exploring.  I put these blog posts out here each Sunday and invite you to join me in the time and location travels that are created when we look at some of these items.  Take a few moments and see what we have to offer this week and stuff those worries into your filing cabinet (should you still have one) under "N" for "Not Now Please."  Let's see what new things we can learn this time around!

This week I wanted to feature this small letter that was mailed from New Haven, Connecticut on December 15, 1863 to London England (arriving Dec 26).  The letter was written by Harriet Silliman Shepard DeForest to her cousin Erastus Lyman DeForest - and most of the letter came along with the envelope when I acquired it several years ago.

Postal History Stuff

This letter is similar to several other items we have featured in our Postal History Sundays in that it shows a 24 cent stamp paying the 24 cent rate for the first 1/2 ounce in weight for a letter going form the United States to the United Kingdom.  The letter was mailed in New Haven, where it then traveled to New York City.  The foreign mail office there marked the letter for a December 16th departure on the Cunard Line's Scotia, which was reported to arrive at Queenstown (Ireland) on December 24.  It was taken out of the mailbag in London on December 26.

The letter was sent to Baring Brothers & Company, a financial institution that provided travelers with lines of credit and mail holding (or forwarding) services.  There are no markings on this envelope that seem to imply that Baring Brothers sent this to Mr. Erastus DeForest, so it is likely that it sat in their offices until he picked it up along with the rest of his mail from whichever side-trip he was on.  The alternative is that several letters were bundled together and forwarded to his current location.

The other interesting postal history aspect is the artistic design used for the device that canceled the stamp.

Postal administrations used canceling devices to recognize the stamps that paid for the service by marking or defacing them.  The primary motive was to avoid the loss of revenue that would come from people trying to re-use postage stamps without buying new ones.  Some postmasters took the time to carve cork handstamps into various designs that they could use to cancel the stamps and the New Haven postmaster was evidently one such person.

As you might guess, these carved handstamps wore down quickly, so the period of use for a particular design is often quite short.  There are many who appreciate these cancels and enjoy researching their background.

Social History Stuff

This particular item has some short-comings.  The envelope has fallen into two pieces (a front and a back) and the letter itself is incomplete, with a closing page apparently missing.  If I wanted an item that showed off the postal history aspects (other than the neat star cancel), I would probably select something in better condition.  But, that's not the biggest reason why this particular letter from 1863 is interesting to me.

In this case - it is primarily about the letter - and the people referenced in the letter.  I'll start by sharing my best effort at transcribing the contents. 

 A cousin (Harriet Silliman Shephard De Forest writes to Erastus Lyman DeForest while he travels in Europe:

New Haven Dec 11th
Dear Erastus,
I have so much I will tell you.  I shall write very closely & as small a hand as I am capable of.  You know how I can fill up a letter with my sprawly writing & tell precious little news.  Well, mon ami, as things have turned out I wish I had remained in Paris. That is if you are going to be there this Winter. New Haven is of course very dull & now you and Charlie are away I am more solitary than ever -
As to my husband obtaining a furlough it is all nonsense to talk of the thing.  Gen Banks has positively forbidden the application even for leave of absence unless in the case of disability leave.  Mr. De Forest continues perfectly well & has no excuse except the foolish desire.  I see his wife & soldiers are supposed to have no feelings or just suggest the government ignores such weak mindedness - but seriously, it is  ???, the prospect of not seeing my lord & master until his time is up next October. 
Sometimes I am ?? & mentally ?? ?? ?? & ?? put up with it.  But what is the use?  I am helpless these ?? grass we know are to be pitied and the war drags on at snail's pace.  I do not think it nears the end in spite of the predictions of those who pretend to be wise.  Mr. Curtis (I should say Curtis, he is not (?) distinguished to have a handle to his name) called last evening after his lecture ? Lee ? and we talked war, abolition & politics for ? hours.  For comfort he promises me the war nice and over before eighteen months!  I presume he knows about as much as you and I do about the prospects of peace.  We have had another  ? to Richmond and are safely back again.  Charleston we begin to believe we do not want - ??? - I am getting fearful unpatriotic & impatient .  Maybe when Mr. De Forest gets home I shall be for a vigorous prosecution of the war.
Here I am in ?? pretty much as of old.  I can hardly realize I have been over the waters & with you in Paris so recently.  I wish you were here. I mean for my own sake, for your good & pleasure.  I wish it as it is?  My porter? is very pleasant (???) I have Julie ? piano and plenty of music in the evenings.  ???  Mary was getting too great an influence over the boy (*presumably her son Louis*) ...??sentence???
Mrs. Beers  says so and of course it must be so.  By the way, aprapos of Mrs Beers  ... at my door ?? Mrs B " Oh,  Mrs. De Forest - have you heard the news?  Your cousin Erastus went to a bull fight in Spain on Sunday." 
"Who says so, I asked without showing any signs of surprise." 
"Mr Thomeson wrote to some one here in town that he & Erastus had just returned form a bull fight on Sunday.  Do you believe it Mrs De Forest?" 
"You say it is so, why do you ask me anything about it?"
"Oh I suppose you know more than I do about it.  Erastus has written and told you all about it!" 
She was mistaken this time.  Mrs B left, disappointed as she shut the door remarking "You d'not seem to be surprised, I suppose you d'not think it is very dreadful"  No reply from me.  So you see that your sins have gone before you to ??? No doubt you are tried & condemned by Mrs. B & some of her ?? friends & put down as a hopeless sinner, past praying for.  But d'not let Mr Thomason write such items home about you, it is best to keep in with the witches (?).
? of my old friends, Mr. Stine (?) the artist (you may remember him) has been here for the past six weeks.  He has a studio on this floor, he has been painting Geo Baldwin, J?? Ingersoll & seven or eight other portraits he ??? return to New York this coming week.  I hope his work will hold out longer.  Julia & I will miss him very much.  He is very agreeable company. 
Be sure you write and tell me all about your trip to Spain.  I envy you the prospect of being in Italy this Winter.  I shall depend on long and many letters.  D'not disappoint me.  If you knew how glad I always am to hear from you, you would write often. 
Your aunt was here looking at ?? the other day.  She is still undecided what to do.  I meet (?) her in the eatry (?) with Mrs. B and was introduced.  She told me she received a letter from you on Thanksgiving day.  I was glad to hear of you.  I am in the middle of a dress-making campaign.  I have another love of an alpaca (black) ??  I thought I must tell you as you are such an admirer of alpaca.  If is ever prettier than the ? I got in Paris. 
I am a perpetual wonder to myself.  I am in such splendid health ?? I am shamed to ? 145 pounds.  I have not had a sick day.  I can't remember when!  I walk for hours and sometimes more every day.  This is when it is pleasant.  Dr ? came to make a friendly visit last week.  "I never saw you looking so well, what does it mean?  You must have friends  ??? in Paris of ???"  So you see, I have no........

And then, I find I have no more of the letter!  Well, sometimes you just have to appreciate what you have.

And now we'll take a look at the people who are referenced, one way or another, in this letter.  Well, at least the people I could identify!

Who was Erastus?

Cousin Erastus sure does sound like he is an interesting fellow, doesn't he?  Trotting off to Spain to see bull-fighting - much to the chagrin of Mrs. Beers and those in society who saw this as a scandalous activity!  

Erastus Lyman De Forest was, it turns out, quite the scholar in mathematics, he completed the Bachelor's degree in engineering at Yale by the age of 20 and completed an advanced degree by the time he was 22. 

After completing the advanced degree, Erastus was scheduled to travel with his aunt, but disappeared, leaving his luggage behind.  The family searched for some time, even putting notices in the New York Times looking for him.  Eventually, they assumed he had been murdered.

After a couple of years, it was discovered that he had gone to California and Australia and was teaching there.  He returned in 1861, only to travel again for a few years in Europe (1863-1865).  If you want more of a biography, this link provides an excellent overview.  The photo is from that site and is also found on wiki commons.

Upon his return, he dedicated his study to mathematics and is credited with making improvements to the mortality tables used by the Knickerbocker Life Insurance Company owned by an uncle.  His work was not initially recognized by mathematical scholars, but have since been given more attention.  He is even given credit for the initial discovery of the chi-square distribution (for those who know some statistics).  Four of his papers (published from 1866 to 1871) are listed in this Catalog of Scientific Papers compiled by the Royal Society of London 1877 (vol VII). 

One wonders if some of those mortality tables referenced the likelihood of a bull-fighter living past of the age of 25?

Who were Mrs. De Forest and the referenced Mr. De Forest?

This is where the detective work must begin.  It was not hard to figure out Erastus, because his name is on the envelope and he happens to be well enough known for me to find information about him.  But, there are many, MANY noteworthy De Forests in Connecticut and New York and actually MORE than one who was an officer under the referenced General Banks.  

The keys for locating the proper Mr. De Forest were to recognize that he had to be an officer under General Banks in December of 1863 and that it is likely he had strong ties to New Haven, Connecticut.  After a number of dead ends, I have concluded that our Mr. De Forest from the letter is none other than John William De Forest, a realistic fiction writer, who was a captain in the Union army, forming Company I from New Haven, the 12th Connecticut Volunteers.  

Another clue in the letter that lines up is the mention of Charleston (South Carolina), where the DeForests lived prior to the barrage on Fort Sumter.  They were on the last boat to leave Charleston, returning to New Haven.

At the time of this letter, John William De Forest had just been assigned to be the inspector general of the first division, 19th Corps.  He was finally mustered out of service and could return home on Dec 2, 1864, when his health could not longer allow him to continue his work in the Louisiana campaign.

Mrs. De Forest (nee Harriet Silliman Shepard) was apparently known to be quite intelligent and an 'exceptional classical scholar' according to this Master's thesis by Elizabeth Maxwell Bright focused on John William's writing.  She was the daughter of Charles Upham Shepard who was a professor of chemistry and somewhat prolific author of papers on mineralogy.  He taught at the medical school in Charleston during the colder months and returned to New Haven in the Spring.  This further confirms the connections to New Haven and makes it fairly certain I have found the correct people!

It is a bit of a shame that Harriet, and most women of her time, are not featured prominently in histories as she seems like she could have been a most interesting person.  At least, with this letter, she has a voice - and we have the opportunity to hear it.

Apparently, many of the De Forest family papers are held in the archives at Yale and could be accessed for further research if someone desired to dig through them.

But Wait, There's More!

This week, you hit the jackpot, because we're going to take this just a little bit further by bringing us back around to another connection that a postal historian enjoys.  The General Banks, in question is Nathaniel Prentice Banks, an individual who might fit the prototypical "American story" of a person who started with modest means and went on to "greater things."  He worked as a 'bobbin boy' at a textile mill his father managed and went on to publish newspapers, serve in the state legislature (Massachusetts) and then as a congressman in the House of Representatives (first as a Democrat and then as a Republican).  He was then elected governor of Massachusetts in 1858 and ran to be the presidential nominee for the Republicans, losing to Lincoln.  Lincoln appointed him to the position of Major General (as a political appointee) in May of 1861.

In December of 1862 he was transferred to New Orleans, which is where he and John William De Forest were at the time this letter was sent.

While General Banks is not a household name, nor does he feature prominently in most history books for his roles in the Civil War, he is fairly well known to postal historians that study this period in the United States.  In 1861, Banks decided that his division would have superior mail services and apparently used his connections to do just that.  Banks secured a special agent of the Post Office Department to work out of Banks' headquarters. 

This arrangement resulted in the use of multiple hand stamps, such as the one on the envelope shown above, that indicated the origin of the letter as being from the Banks Division.  This letter was postmarked on August 1, 1862 when I believe the division headquarters was located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).  An excellent article by Richard Graham can be found here outlining more details about the Banks Division postal services.   

Bull Fighting to End of War Predictions

Harriet mentions a prediction that the war would end in 18 months and greeted it with some skepticism.  After all, she was worried about her husband.  As she said, "Maybe when Mr. De Forest gets home I shall be for a vigorous prosecution of the war."  It's a normal sentiment, of course.  I'm all for our troops taking the victory, but I would rather they do it without my husband in harms way.  

Amazingly, the war did end in approximately 18 months, but Mr. De Forest would depart the forces prior to its end, having only received a small wound - but still suffering from other maladies that ended his service time.  Apparently in December of 1864 he had more than the foolish desire as an excuse to go home again.

Each of these stories are far more complex than what I have written here.  If you desire to read more details about any of these individuals, feel free to take the links I provide in the text and read to your heart's content.  Or, you can decide you have had enough of this silliness.  The good news is - you have a choice!

===========================

Thank you so much for joining me in this longer than usual journey into the real of postal history and the social history attached to it!    I hope you enjoyed it. 

Have a great remainder of the weekend and a good week to follow.

Do you want to learn more?

A couple of references to some of the printed materials that are now also on the web:

Richard B. Graham, G.B.D. and Banks' Division Markings, US Philatelic Classics Society, Volume: 20 Number: 3, 1968 - the Chronicle is one of the best US journals for early postal history and much of the earlier publications are searchable online.

Elizabeth Maxwell Bright, An analysis of the methods used by John William De Forest in An analysis of the methods used by John William De Forest in translating his personal war experiences into realistic fiction as translating his personal war experiences into realistic fiction as shown in Miss Ravenel's conversion. shown in Miss Ravenel's conversion.  University of Louisville, 1949.  - this is the Master's thesis referenced in the text.  There are many interesting tidbits in the biography section.  

But, if you want to appreciate the rest of the thesis you should consider reading:

J.W. De Forest, Mrs Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty, New York, Harper & Bros, 1867.

Friday, February 12, 2021

French Internal Letter - Republic - 1853

Today's postal history item is a folded letter sent by Foret pere & fils, bankers in Yssingeaux, France to an individual in Bas, France.  The letter was mailed on Mar 30, 1853 and has a marked arrival on March 31 at Monistrol, which is near Bas.  All locations are in the Haute Loire department of France.

What it cost to mail

The 1850 rate increments lasted for about four years, but the postage stamps that were used to carry the mail underwent yet another change.  This item was heavier than 7.5 grams and weighed no more than 15 grams (2nd rate level), therefore it required 50 centimes in postage.

This rate was effective from July 1, 1850 to June 30, 1854 and followed this rate progression:

For a broader look at the French Internal postage rates from 1849 until 1875, that post has been built and will be updated in the near future. 

The coup d'etat in December of 1851 allowed President Louis Napoleon III to continue as president and paved the road for a later proclamation that France was to become an empire under his leadership as emperor.  In 1852, it was mandated that French postage stamps should depict Napoleon III and the Ceres stamps were removed from circulation.  The heading at the top of the stamp still proclaimed that France was a republic (Repub Franc) the pair of stamps on this cover show "Repub."  In 1853, the stamps would be modified yet again, changing the "Repub" to "Empire."

How did it get there?

This is a case where the origin and destination are in the same department (Haute Loire), so the distances are not great.  You might notice that a road runs from Yssingeaux to Monistrol, which identifies the most likely route for the mail to travel.

Also of interest for this item is the fact that there is no receiving postmark for Bas, instead, there is a postmark for Monistrol.  This is a pretty good indicator that Bas did not have its own post office and was serviced by the Monistrol office - making them both a part of the same 'arondissement' or postal district.  To further clarify, if a person in Monistrol wanted to send a letter to someone in Bas (or vice versa), it would qualify for the local postage rate.  But, this item started in Yssingeaux, which was outside of that postal department, so it required the normal internal letter mail rate.

 

What was in that letter?

At present, this folded letter is only one sheet of paper, clearly not enough to require the second rate level that was paid for by postage stamps.  This suggests that there were other enclosures that are no longer with the item.  It could have been individual receipts, money, promotional material or reports.  Or perhaps a separate sheet of outgoing moneys.  If you notice some notations in a different hand, it is possible that the information on another sheet was transferred here on receipt.  I will never know for sure what caused the letter to be heavier than 7.5 grams - but it can be interesting to consider the possibilities.

Like so many surviving pieces of postal history in Europe at this time, this is essentially another 'banking' account ledger.  It certainly makes sense that this is the type of mail that might have a higher 'survivability rate' simply because these documents were kept as part of the bookkeeping for individuals and businesses.  Of course, these businesses (or those who inherited the documents once the business is terminated) would have to allow disbursement of the documents to become part of postal history collections.


Foret pere & fils (father and son) focused on "recouvrements," or the collection of money, on behalf of their clients.  The list in this ledger shows debts collected, including from whom, the location and the amount.  Or perhaps they show amounts to be collected.  I have to admit that I am not an expert on the accounting forms of the 1850s.  It is also noted at the top right that Foret pere & fils also dealt in "escompte," which I presume would be the provision of a payment service as opposed to a collection service on behalf of the client.

As a postal historian, I can say I am grateful for this system.  Without it, there would be much less people like myself could explore and enjoy as a part of the hobby.

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About the "Cover A Day - ish" Series:   These posts are my attempt to keep track of research on individual items in my collection.  They will show up when I have the time to make them show up and they are likely to come in 'batches' of similar items that reflect some of my recent efforts.  

I am always interested in learning more and appreciate additions/corrections.  Eventually, I may re-arrange Cover A Day-ish posts so similar material will reside in a particular order on this site.  Until that time, enjoy as you see fit.

Thursday, February 11, 2021

French Internal Letter - Ceres 1852

Today we get to look at a folded letter sent by V Pailhas jeune, a banker in Libourne, France to a Mr Leurtault et fils in Coutras, France.  The letter was mailed on March 6, 1852 and arrived at Coutras, only 20 km away, on the next day (March 7)

What it cost to mail

The reduction in postage rates introduced in 1849 just might have been a bit too aggressive and France backtracked a bit with the new rates just a year and a half later.  The first rate was raised by 5 centimes and the second by 10 centimes.  Heavier letters remained the same.

This letter required 25 centimes in postage for the 1st Rate Level as it weighed no more than 7.5 grams.

This rate was effective from July 1, 1850 to June 30, 1854 and followed this rate progression:

The rate boundaries were inclusive - meaning the first rate would apply to items that weighed 7.5 grams and less.  For a broader look at the French Internal postage rates from 1849 until 1875, that post has been built and will be updated in the near future. At this time, there were different rates for local letters, but the price of prepaid and unpaid letters remained the same.

A new 25 centime blue Ceres stamp was issued in conjunction with the new rates and was released on the same day the new rates were placed into effect, replacing the black 20 centime value.  This stamp also featured Ceres, the Roman goddess of prosperity - a subject that may well have been chosen as a nod towards the agrarian economy and avoided making any particular political comment. 

How did it get there?

Libourne and Coutras are only 20 km apart and are located to the northeast of Bordeaux, in the department of Gironde.  With that distance, it is possible that this letter could have qualified for the local letter rate for mail within the arrondissement.  However, both settlements were separated by a river, which marked the boundary between two arrondissements - thus requiring the normal internal rate structure to be used.

The local rate would have been half the cost (10 centimes) if the letter would have qualified.

Coutras is bounded by the Isle River to the South and the Dronne on the West.  The Isle flows into the Dordogne at Libourne.  The portion of the map shown below is dated 1865.  The rail lines depicted were not active in 1852, but many rail lines followed the the primary carriage roads in the area.  There is a road noted from Libourne to S. Denis on this map.  It is likley a road ran from S. Denis to Coutras to cross the Isle River.

As a historical aside - the Battle of Coutras in 1587, a part of the religious wars fought in response to King Henry III's edict essentially giving precedence to the Catholics and prohibiting Protestantism in France.  This battle was won by the Protestants - led by Henry of Navarre.

What was in that letter?

The sender, V Pailhas jeune - Recouvrements in Libourne was a banker who could provide the service to buy bonds for various enterprises.  Or, apparently more standard banking services as was apparently the case with Monsieur Leurtault & Fils (Leurtault & Son).

Of interest to me is the use of "jeune" after the name, which translates to "young."  I have seen this a few times in period literature and letters and I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that this would be the equivalent to how we use "junior" to indicate the younger individual in a father/son lineage where each has the same given name.

As I was digging for Monsieur Pailhas, I found a few other possibilities that did not match the 1852 date.  Is it possible that his son was a brewer/maltster in 1877 - or did he move on to another job?  And is this his ancestor, getting into trouble in Libourne in 1793 during the first French revolution?  Or this his father or grandfather in 1811, selling drapes and canvasses in 1811?  Given the consistent location in the Libourne area, it is not at all unlikely that there is some relationship between these persons.  Maybe someday I'll figure it out.  Or, I'll just leave at this and someone else can solve the puzzle.

Once again, we have a standard ledger format that illustrated withdrawals and acknowledgement of the receipt of money for the account.  I wonder how many people could figure out accounts in this fashion without the help of computers in the present day?

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About the "Cover A Day - ish" Series:   These posts are my attempt to keep track of research on individual items in my collection.  They will show up when I have the time to make them show up and they are likely to come in 'batches' of similar items that reflect some of my recent efforts.  

I am always interested in learning more and appreciate additions/corrections.  Eventually, I may re-arrange Cover A Day-ish posts so similar material will reside in a particular order on this site.  Until that time, enjoy as you see fit.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

French Internal Letter - Ceres - 1849

This postal history item is a folded letter sent by Carcenac & Roy in Mulhouse, France to an individual in Bordeaux, France.  The letter was mailed on March 27, 1849 and arrived at its destination on March 31 after going through Lyon on the 28th.

 

What it cost to mail

This letter is similar to the item in this post that was mailed in 1850.  Like that letter, the distance traveled in France was significant, somewhere in the range of 830km, which would have required 1 franc in postage just a few months earlier.  The new rates reduced the cost to only 20 centimes.

This letter weighed no more than 7.5 grams and qualified for the 20 centime 1st Rate Level.

This rate was effective from January 1, 1849 to June 30, 1850 and followed this rate progression:

The rate boundaries were inclusive - meaning the first rate would apply to items that weighed 7.5 grams and less.  For a broader look at the French Internal postage rates from 1849 until 1875, that post has been built and will be updated in the near future. 

The 20 centime black on yellowish paper stamp portrays an image of Ceres, the Greek goddess of agriculture and motherly love.  This stamp was issued in 1849 in conjunction with the new rates and the establishment of the Second Republic after the 1848 revolution.  This stamp issue and a 1 franc value were the first stamps released for use to prepay postage by the French post office.  Other values would follow in 1850 including 10 c (Sep 12), 15 c (Jul 29), 25 c (Jul 1) and 40 c (Feb 3) values in 1850.  The lower values would be used for local rates and non-letter mail.  The 25 centime stamp's issuance coincided with a new letter rate that increased the first step for letters weighing up to 7.5 grams to 25 centimes. 

How did it get there?

The back of the folded letter includes a couple of transit markings that help us understand how it got from Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin department)  in the East by Basel, Switzerland to Bordeaux (Gironde department) on the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.

If you look at the map above, you will see that some of the earliest rail developments occurred in Paris (of course), Mulhouse and St Etienne/Lyon.  By the time we get to 1849, work to add rail to Bordeaux might have been planned, but were not in progress.  Priorities at the time were to connect Paris to Marseille, Le Havre and Calais to promote access to shipping for the areas that had more commerce (thus more demand for the rail traffic).  The agricultural focus of the West and South of France would have to wait a bit longer.

The markings for Lyon and Bordeaux are not the clearest I have seen, but they are sufficient for me to figure them and the appropriate dates.  The existence of rail lines between Mulhouse and Lyon accounts for the quick (1 day) transit time.  It took three more days to travel by a combination of a small section of rail followed by a longer period by coach to get to Bordeaux.


 This portion of an 1856 map of Bordeaux created by Charles Cocks gives me a little bit of an idea, when combined with current maps of Bordeaux, as to where Mr. Pointet, the recipient of this letter, was located.  The street address on the letter reads "4 rue devise St Pierre," which would place his location somewhere in the red circle, just to the left (South) of the Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux.

The Saint Pierre Catholic Church would easily be in view from the narrow Rue de la Devise and Mr. Pointet's office.  The church is mentioned (but not the current building) as far back as the 1100s AD.  The current structure was initially built in the 1300s and "restructured" in the 1880s. 

The existence of a street address on this letter implies that a carrier delivered the letter to this address.  No additional markings confirm that this is the case, but there were carriers in Bordeaux at this time.

What was in that letter?


According to Histoire documentaire de l'industrie de Mulhouse... Vol 2 by Société industrielle de Mulhouse (France), Carcenac & Roy were an active concern for yarns and fabrics from 1847 to 1862 (or so).  

I did take a shot at translating this letter.  However, there is just enough of an issue with handwriting, inside references and probably some colloquialisms that I am not entirely certain about much of it.  However, the overall gist is that Mr. Pointet seems to be a person who sells on commission and he believes commission rates should increase and Carcenac and Roy aren't all that sure of it.

Of most interest is the reference to the 1848 revolution that led to the creation of the 2nd French Republic.  It would soon fall to an internal coup when President Napoleon declares himself the emperor.

Monsieur Pointet in Bordeaux.

We are in possession of your two letters <dated etc>. We look forward to the communications they give us, observing that the prices established by Mr Deleros from Toulouse are extremely strong. You do not perceive that at this moment we could no longer afford the same prices as we obtained in the first years of our disastrous revolution.

<trouble reading the next section> ?? .... if the political horizon does not come to put something in the wheels.

We have noticed with pleasure your reconnection with Mr Guinon as we think that it is said to be a long time with you apart. <uncertain about this>
We will add for your guidance that the merchandise could not be more rare and that the little that there is on the spot is only growing, we could almost say that we are tearing it up, we therefore urge you to be firm. Commissions, for a new increase is no longer certain, take care therefore, my dear sir, your measures have consequences.

In the hope of receiving your next letter soon.


The letter includes some docketing by Mr. Pointet indicating the source of the letter and date as well as a record of his reply.

The reverse appears to provide a price list for Pointet's use.  The short-hand references aren't going to be clear to us, but it must have been to them.

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About the "Cover A Day - ish" Series:   These posts are my attempt to keep track of research on individual items in my collection.  They will show up when I have the time to make them show up and they are likely to come in 'batches' of similar items that reflect some of my recent efforts.  

I am always interested in learning more and appreciate additions/corrections.  Eventually, I may re-arrange Cover A Day-ish posts so similar material will reside in a particular order on this site.  Until that time, enjoy as you see fit.