Our Country's Growth

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 14, 1883

Our Country's Growth.

To ANY one who is acquainted with Chicago and the surrounding country, the following description of the Chicago post-office fifty years ago cannot fail to be of interest. The postmaster of 1832 is still living, and gave the following facts to an Inter-Ocean reporter:—

“In 1832 the post-office was situated in an upper room of a log building which stood on Lake Street. The building was partly occupied by an Indian trader, and in the other part, the smallest corner, was the post-office. Jonathan V. Bailey was the postmaster, and I was his deputy. There was not much for either of us to do, but while we kept the office I bought hides and traded with the Indians. When the Black Hawk War broke out in 1832, Bailey’s wife, who was delicate, became so frightened that he had to take her away, and I was left in charge of the office. Bailey never returned, and as deputy postmaster I kept the office for three years. At first there was not more than 1½ pounds in the whole collection of letters and papers that came to the place; but before the end of my term it increased until it weighed about 100 pounds. A good part of the time I kept the office in a candle box. When any one called for a letter I took down the box and looked over the whole collection. I knew very well whether there were any letters or not, but I liked to be accommodating to the people, and would let them see for themselves that none of the letters in the box belonged to them. A Frenchman came once a week from Niles, Mich., and in a pair of saddle-bags thrown over his horse carried all the mail that came to Chicago. This was the office for all the northern counties in this State and about half of Wisconsin. The people of Cook, DuPage, Will, McHenry, and La Salle Counties, and all the territory between here and the Mississippi River, came into Chicago for their mail. They did not come very often—once in two or three weeks—and then one man would come in from a county and inquire for all his neighbors. There were little settlements scattered about, a few families in a place. Up where Milwaukee now is there was one man living, but at Green Bay there was a settlement, and an Indian came down for the mail. I was paid off for my services in having the honor of serving the Government. Gen. Jackson was President and W. T. Barry was Postmaster-General. I remember both of them—that is, in my official relations.”