Tidbits of Lindley/Presho Post Offices
Interesting Tidbits
about the Postal System in
Steuben County, Lindley
and Presho, New York
Steuben County
1836- Steuben County had 37 Post
Offices and 9 post villages (a community,
settlement or hamlet that has a Post Office. (A rural neighborhood.) *12
1837- Mail was being transported by
Railroads. *13
1840- 41 –The local post office was
moved from Centerville (Riverside) to Corning where a bridge across the Tioga
River had been built and stage coach drivers with mail were encouraged to use
this route.* 6
1851 – List of 74 post offices in
Steuben County* 11
1860 –Prior to Civil War, Post
office was the largest organization in the United States.*12
1891 –Mail was still being delivered
by Stage Coaches.
1910 –Present Corning Post Office
opened.*12
1930’s – Works Progress
Administration (WPA) under FDR, financed the painting of murals in Post Offices. The one in the
Painted Post- Post Office is labeled Recording the Victory and shows a
Native American adding marks on a post.*( Internet)
2000 – About this time, several new
post offices were built. Included are The Corning Northside and Addison,N.Y.
buildings. *12
Bath,N.Y.
was unique in that bicycles that could carry 70 pounds were used to deliver the
mail.
Lindley-Presho, New York
Lindley
(The
following information was found in various local reference materials. The Post
Office Archives may have a more complete file)
1812 -The Postmaster
history of these 2 hamlets begins with Judge Eleazer Lindsley, Jr. (son of Col.
Lindsley) being listed in the Steuben County histories as the first
postmaster.* 3/4 (In the Lindley
town files is a letter written during the War of 1812 to Eleazer,Jr. and
is addressed to Postmaster-Lindleytown ,N.Y.)
1829-30 –
A.C. Morgan is listed as Postmaster. (In Lyon –Morgan store) *3/4
1851–Postmaster
is William Moore * 11
Lindleytown
1868-69
-William Moore*5
Lindleytown
1876-(?)-
Hiram Middlebrook
1891- Edward
Leggett *4 Lindley
1893-Marcus
Stowell*10 Lindley
3/2/1914 –
George Riffle is appointed as a Lindley mail
carrier* (In his 2010 Memoirs,*9
George’s son, Richard (Dick ) wrote that his father took
the Civil Service Exam for mail carrier in 1914-the beginning of WWI and
passed. When questioned why he choose the Post Office position over one in a
factory which would pay more, his reply was that after wars there are
Depressions and that he saw a better future with the Post Office job. On a
postal evaluation form,*2 he was still listed as a carrier in
5/28/1941 (-the year WWII began…) at 64 years of age. His route at this time
was by automobile for 25.3 miles with 94 families and 89 boxes. (Dick has some
interesting stories about his Father’s experiences a mail carrier and since he
has given me permission to use his Memoirs on the HS blog- watch for some of
these stories in the near future.)
1923/11/6 –
Miss M.J. Losey is appointed Acting Postmaster*2
1/1/1933-
1954 (?) Murial Cobb*2 Was
this Miss Losey? (Kitty)
May 26, 1954
- Joyce Holmes signs a carrier evaluation as Acting Postmaster*2
1988 –Earl
Wheeler resigns as Postmaster with 30 years credit which included military
credit*7
1988-present-Kerry
Rice*7
Postal Clerk’s names found were Kathryn Loughridge
and Darla Bakeman Pierson Neal. Records of other Postal Clerks have not been
located at this time. *7
Carriers Names found were *2
George Riffle - 3/2/1914- 1941 (?) Rt 2
Harrison
Toby - 2/1/1926 -1954 Rt.1
Lawrence
Toby - 1954-1979
Bill Wales 1979- (?)*7
Substitute Mail Carriers:*2
Giles Baker
Soules- Veteran 1946
Luke
Wood Rt. 2 8/2/1920
Earnest Harrison
6/22/1920
Hugh
Orcutt 11/5/1925
Leon
Terwilliger 2/28/ 1926
Lawrence
Toby - with his Father Harrison Toby*7
Erwin Centre-Presho Postmasters:
1851 –Samuel
Mersereau *11 Erwin
Centre
1868 –Henry
Bull*4 Erwin Centre
1/9/ 1888
Name was changed to Presho to honor Thomas Presho *4
1884-1891 –
Thomas Presho*4
Historical facts of interest :
Records show
that floods of 1927, 1937, 1946 and 1972 have disrupted mail delivery for short
periods of time. *2
1946, Post Office
records were lost. The flood occurred on May 27thand by the 29th,
mail delivery was back to normal.
Except---- The Presho Bridge was destroyed which necessitated the
carriers retracing the route from Lindley to Presho on the River Road for some
time until the bridge could be replaced. *2
1972 -Since the current Town Hall was
nearing completion, the contents of the Post Office were relocated to the new
building away from the river. Some of
contents are still in use.*7
One of my
memories of the 1972 flood was on Saturday morning after the flood and finding
Lawrence Toby standing outside the old Post Office in his boots --sorting mail. Since my parents were his
neighbors, I asked if he knew anything about them. His reply was” No-but
there’s my car -go see.” They were doing
okay, but the experience of driving a mail carrier’s car with a block on the
gas pedal (to allow him to reach the mail boxes) is something that I never
forgot nor his kindness.
In reading stories about mail carriers, there are many
stories about not only their dedication to delivering the mail, but, also,
their many acts of kindness and of being a good friend and neighbor to their
customers. They practiced the Postal System motto.
It does not
appear to be true in Lindley, but often the postmaster was changed with the
election of a new U.S. President.
Mail that
was delivered by train discontinued in Lindley in 1935. In the old files, are
copies of permission to change the location of the Post Office with RR routes
numbers listed. A guess would be that this was to change the location of the
mail drop. Old RR photos show the mechanism used to exchange the mail while the
train was moving. See photo on - Mail Catchers on Internet)
There are
several evaluations of the mail carriers in the old files. These give the times
the carrier was to leave and return. (Interesting to note that the times in
1923 list are by horse and automobile…).
According to the motto, mail must be delivered in all kinds of weather
and in the winter this often meant that roads were not plowed. These were times
when the Carrier’s sons were put to work… The sons would accompany their
Fathers on the mail routes (horse and sleigh or even automobiles). When
necessary, the sons would deliver the mail on foot to the customers snowed in.
(Some good stories were told by Lawrence Toby, Dick Riffle and Francis Toby has
a couple with his Dad –Harrison.
The old
evaluation of 1954 showed a total of 54 miles of mail routes. RFD (Rural Free Delivery)- Routes #1 and #2
had been combined by then.) Kerry Rice
says the 2 mail carriers now have 114 miles to cover all Lindley mail under the
14858 Zip Code.
I apologize
for not having a list of names of the current Carriers, Postal Clerks and
Kerry’s date of appointment. (This has become a larger report than I had
originally expected to do)-(A huge thank you to Kerry Rice who found and
donated some old post office records to the town files- This started the entire search for more information.
Kitty
Kitty
Sources:
1. World book Encyclopedia 1968 8. Burr History of
Lindley 1951
2. Old Records -Lindley Post Office 1923- 9. Memoirs of Dick Riffle 2010
3. History of Steuben County-
Clayton 10. History of
Steuben County Hakes 1891
4. A History of Steuben County –Roberts 11.1851 Post Offices Steuben County
5. 7 County History -1885
Star/Gazette 12.
Leader.com 2012
6. Corning/Vicinity History Mulford 1920 13. History of U.S. Postal System
7. History of Lindley 1990 14.
Grit Magazine Nov./Dec.201
The WPA, Star Routes and Rural Free Delivery were researched on the Internet
Lindley Post Office just Before Veteran's Monument Was Dedicated
October 2007
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