A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter Henry A
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A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter Henry A. Meyer* Stamp collectors, two generations ago considered “queer” or “childish” by those who did not feel an interest in their activities, have of late years taken on a new dignity by rea- son of their having turned their attention to that phase of philately known as “postal history.” To pursue this line of study, it is necessary to collect, not used or unused single stamps in an album provided with spaces, but those objects known to collectors as “covers.” A “cover,” to a philatelist, is the envelope or other enclosure of a letter, bearing an address, sometimes a stamp, and a postmark or other visible evidence of its having passed through the mail, The first national issue of United States postage stamps appeared in 1847, and the use of stamps was made compulsory in 1856; therefore, previous to 1847, and very largely also during the period from 1847 to 1856, the covers collected by philatelists are those known as “stampless covers.” More and more col- lectors are realizing that these stampless covers, sometimes called “pre-stamp covers,” are equally as interesting as stamps, and in many cases even more so. There are many philatelists who limit their collecting to stampless covers, and they are among the most ardent postal history students. The use of envelopes to contain letters did not become widespread in the United States until the early 1850’s, and it did not become universal in this country until well after the Civil War. Previous to the use of envelopes, the letter was written on pages 1, 2, and 3 of a large double sheet, leaving page 4, or at least most of it, blank. The letter was then folded in such a manner that page 4 became the outside. The two sides were folded inward; the top and bottom were then folded over the middle portion, and one fold was tucked into the other, thus reducing the whole to a neat rectangle, usually about 3 x 5 inches or somewhat larger in size. The top and bottom flaps, one of which had been inserted in the other, were sealed, either with sealing wax, or with a pre- pared “wafer” which could be had at the general store. This wafer was a small circular device, red in color, which was laid between the folds to be sealed, and a hot iron was set - +Henry A. Meyer is a teacher of mathematics at Central High School, Evansville, Indiana, and an amateur student of early Evansville and Indiana history as well as the history of transportation on the Ohio. He is an active worker in the History Sketchers, the early Indiana study group of the Evansville Public Museum. 210 Indiana Magazine of History upon it for a few seconds. If care was taken in opening the letter, very little damage resulted from the manner of seal- ing; but if the seal was torn hastily, it often made a very unsightly hole in the letter. Letters thus folded, self-con- tained and sent without an envelope, are called by collectors “folded letters.” “Stampless covers” are in a majority of cases also “folded letters” and vice versa, though not uni- versally so. “Folded letters” have proved to be a very rich source of original historical material, not only for the postal history student, but also for the student of national, state, and local history. A century ago, when letters were sent and received only rarely, families and business firms saved their entire correspondence, filing it meticulously, either in some sort of homemade filing cabinets, or in large chests in the attic. There it reposed for several generations, until the descen- dank of the original receivers of the letters found them and did one of three things; destroyed them, as did the priest in the Illinois town ; saved them as family heirlooms, which was better than destroying them, but only rarely do letters thus saved become available as historical source material, because those who save them attach to them only a family interest, not a general historical interest; or sold them in bulk to stamp dealers, who retailed them to collectors, who, becoming con- scious of their historical value, have either gone into his- torical research themselves, or have made them available to research students. It was through the discarding of old files of correspond- ence that Professor John C. Andressohn of Indiana Univer- sity was able to acquire some forty letters of the Rappites relating to their business dealings. It was as a philatelist that the present writer acquired further letters relating to the doings of the Rappites which he made available to Pro- fessor Andressohn, who has reported them in supplementary articles.’ It was also as a philatelist that the present wrfter bought a letter described by the dealer as “a very early In- diana stampless cover” and which turned out to possess con- siderably more historical than philatelic value. This letter forms the subject of the present article. It is indeed a “very early Indiana letter.” Letters of the territorial period dated from 1807 onwards are offered OC- casionally by dealers, but are quite scarce. But the letter 1 “Three Additional Ra ite Letters,” Indiana Magazine of History (Bloominglnn, 1905- ), YLV (1949), 184-188. A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter 211 here discussed is dated 1801-less than a year and a half after the territory was created. It does not bear an Indiana postmark; if it did, the dealer’s price would no doubt have been prohibitive. As was a very common custom in the early 1800’s, it was carried privately, by a traveler going that way, as near to its destination as possible, for postage rates at that time were computed by distance.2 As was also a pre- vailing custom at that time, it was not prepaid, but was sent unpaid, the postage being collected of the addressee. Stamp- less cover collectors rate the scarcity of prepaid letters to letters sent collect as at least ten to one. Therefore as a courtesy to the addressee, it was sent by messenger as far as possible, so that the rate as figured by distance would be reasonable. The letter is addressed to Hudson, New York, and bears a red “shell” postmark of New York City. If there chance to be any philatelists among the readers of this article, they know that the “New York shell” is a post- mark highly prized by collectors, especially when applied in red ink. But the feature which makes this letter of great interest to students of Indiana history is the fact that it was written from the Harrison house in Vincennes by a near relative of the Harrison family, and that it relates to the doings of the family and to events well known to students of the history of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. The following is a description of the address side of the “folded letter,” as nearly as it can be reproduced: (New York shell postmark) 3 12~4 Mar 26 Mrs. Bell, City of Hudson State of New York- To the care of Brockholst Livingston, Esq.5 Broadway 37. New York- Honored by Mr. Gratiot-6 The directive, “To the care of . .” indicates that the writer intended to send the letter by mail; but that line and the following one are very neatly crossed out by numerous diagonal strokes, and the phrase “Honored by Mr. Gratiot” is added in the extreme bottom corner as an afterthought. 2 Rates from 1799 to 1814: not over 40 miles, 8 cents; 40 to 90 miles, 10 cents; 90 to 150 miles, 12% cents; 150 to 300 miles, 17 cents; 300 to 600 miles, 20 cents; over 500, 25 cents. s, 4,s) 6 (See next page.) 212 Indiana Magazine of History The writer of the letter, “S. Symmes,” was Susanna, the third wife of John Cleves Symmes and the stepmother of Mrs. William Henry Harrison. She was evidently living *The date of the letter being stated as Oct. 15, 1801, and the date ;f the ostmark (the “New York shell”) being Mar. 26, it took the SpanisE Gentleman from St. Louis” a little over five months to make the journey. That is entirely possible, if he paused occasionally to at- tend to his many business matters. ‘The postage rate from New York City to Hudson, 12% cents, to be collected of Mrs. Bell. 5 Brockholst Livingston, in whose care the letter was originally addressed, had been an officer in the Revolution. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1807 until his death in 1823. He wrote political pamphlets of the Whig persuasion under the penname of “Decius.” He was the son of William Livingston, and therefore the brother of Mrs. Susanna Symmes. Their other sister, Sarah, became Mrs. John Jay. The great-grandfather of Brockholst, Susanna, and Sarah Livingston was Robert Livingston, a Scotchman who received grants of land on the Hudson, beginning in 1686, which became known as Livingston Manor and. which comprised the greater part of the present Dutchess and Columbia counties. “The Manor” referred to by Mrs. Symmes was their ancestral estate, Livingston Manor. Mrs. Bell, the addressee, was probably their neighbor and friend in Hudson. John A. Krout, “William Livingston,” in Dictinnwy of American Biography (20 vols., New York, 1943), XI, 325-327; Robert E. Cushman, “Henry Brockholst Livingston,” in ibid., 312-313. 6 The directive, “Honored by Mr. Gratiot,” should be explained. The cytomary hrase found on old stampless covers is “Politeness of -.” In care 08, does not seem to have found favor with letter writers of those days.