The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo | Page 5

Savannah, in Georgia." Dr. Franklin was
then unanimously chosen Postmaster-General. The ledger in which he
kept the accounts of his office is now in the Post-office Department. It
is a half-bound book of rather more than foolscap size, and about
three-fourths of an inch thick, and many of the entries are in Dr.

Franklin's own handwriting. Richard Bache succeeded Dr. Franklin
November 7, 1776, and Mr. Bache was succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard.
The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1778, gave to the United
States, in Congress assembled, "the sole and extensive right and power
of establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to another";
but the increase of mail service was comparatively trifling until after
the organization of the Post-office Department by the first Congress
which assembled under the Constitution of the United States. This gave
it efficiency and value, and provided for the early extension of its
benefits to the inhabitants of the several States.
The National Congress, organized under the Constitution, commenced
its first session on the 4th of March, 1789, but it was not until
September 22, 1790, that an Act was passed for establishing, or rather
continuing, the postal service. The Act then passed provided that a
Postmaster-General should be appointed, and that the regulations of the
Post-office should be the same as they last were under the resolutions
and ordinances of the Congress of the Confederation.
In 1790 there were but seventy-five post-offices and 1,875 miles of
post-roads in the United States, and the whole amount of postages
received for that year was $37,935. The population of the United States,
as shown by the census of that year, was only 3,929,827; and the whole
mail service was performed upon our seaboard line, passing through the
principal towns from Wiscassett in Maine, to Savannah in Georgia, and
upon a few cross or intersecting lines, on many portions of which the
mail was carried only once a fortnight.
On the 3d of March, 1791, the Postmaster-General was authorized to
extend the carrying of the mail from Albany to Bennington, Vermont.
It is probable that the post-office at Albany was a special office until
late in that year, as in an official list of post-offices, with their receipts
for the year ending October 5, 1791, New York is the only office in this
State; and by an official statement dated April 24, 1790, it appears that
the contractor from Albany to New York received the postages for
carrying the mail, and that that was the only mail service in this State
north or west of New York City.

It is stated in a "History of Oneida County" that the first mail to Utica
was brought by Simeon Post in 1793, under an arrangement with the
Post-office Department authorizing its transportation from Canajoharie
to Whitestown at the expense of the inhabitants on the route; and that in
1793 or 1794, the remarkable fact that the Great Western Mail, on one
arrival at Fort Schuyler (Utica), contained six letters for that place, was
heralded from one end of the settlement to the other. It is added that
some were incredulous, but the solemn and repeated assurances of the
veracious Dutch postmaster at last obtained general credence.
On the 8th of May, 1794, sundry post-routes were established, among
which is one "from Albany by Schenectady, Johnstown, Canajoharie
and Whitestown, to Canandaigua"; and in July, 1794, four-horse
"stages" were run from Albany to Schenectady daily. The passenger
fare by these stages was only three cents per mile.
On the 31st of July, 1794, the Postmaster-General, Timothy Pickering,
advertised in the Albany Gazette for proposals for carrying the mails in
this State, as follows: (1.) "From New York by Peekskill, Fishkill,
Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, Redhook, Clermont, Hudson and
Kinderhook to Albany," to leave New York every Monday and
Thursday at 4 p. m., and arrive at Albany on Wednesday and Saturday
by 7 in the evening. (2.) "From Albany by Schenectady, Johnstown and
Canajoharie to Whitestown," to leave Albany every Thursday at 10 a.
m., and arrive at Whitestown on Saturday by 6 p. m. (3.) "From
Canajoharie through Cherry Valley to the Court House in
Cooperstown," to leave every Friday at 4 p. m., and arrive on Saturday
by 1 p. m. (4.) "From Whitestown to Canandaigua once in two weeks";
to leave Whitestown every other Monday at 8 a. m., and arrive at
Canandaigua the next Thursday by 2 p. m. This advertisement bears
date July 8, 1794. It does not state the mode of conveyance required.
On the 3d of March, 1797, Congress established a post-road "from
Kanandaigua in the State of New York, to Niagara." This route was run
through Avon and LeRoy, and probably through Batavia, and thence on
the north side of the Tonawanda Creek, and through the present town