Journal Kept by Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America, During His Survey of the Post Offices
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IGibrary InitifrBttg of ^tttfifaurglj Darlington Memorial Library SiJok ^S\ "^^ ,^vv mw- mm '^ 'A Journal kept by Hugh Finlay. 25 Copies No. /^. f.Uo.-t,U»-?V. 1 « 11 It a I kept by Hugh Fiiilay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America, Surbeg of the post ^ffircs between Falmouth and Casco Bay in the Province of Massachusetts, and Savannah in Georgia; begun the 13th Septr. 1773 ^"d ended 26th June 1774. 1S67. Entered accordii INTRODUCTION. " Fixlay's Joubnal," a JIs. of 84 pp., written in a small, exceedingly neat, and per- fectly legible hand, bound in official vellum, and illustrated with two pen-and-ink maps, and a small vignette drawing, came into my possession in this wise. One John Hawkins, an Englishman, and a professor of the Swedenborgian faith, was sent out to this country about the year 1854, by that sect, as is supposed with a design to propagate the belief in the United States. He does not seem to have met with distinguished success, either in religious or secular matters, for while there is no record of his having made converts on the one part, it is cer- tain that having entered into business, he failed dismally on the other, and his belongings were sold at auction. Among various documents, correspondence and other writings that fell into the posses- sion of the auctioneer, was this manuscript, which was brought to me early in October last by his son, and from whom I at once purchased it, perceiving, as I thought, that it must possess some intrinsic value. A careful n-adiu;; ot'il.und couvcr.satiim with various gentlemen upon whose judgment in such matters I could rely, confirmed nic in my opinion, and induced me to print a small edition of the work by subscription. In printing this edition I have adhered riiiidly to the original, so that the book is a true copy of the Ms. of Hugh Finlay, vcrbutim ct Ulcmtim, ct puiictuatiin. While I did not bind myself in my announcement to add anything of luy own to the book, I yet had it in view to give some slight sketch appropriate to the subject, and to make This intention I propose to carry out in the present introduction, not with any view of completeness, or even of historical accuracy, because my sources of information are meagre a the ques- and impossible to verify ; but simply with design to throw some light on whole tion as an important one in the history of the formation of our body politic. The following quotation will give a good idea of the condition of postal communication in the colonies, prior to the establishment of an organized ]pc>st office. s " In the American Colonies,* the postal sor : Letters arriving fro yond the sea were usually delivered on board the hands of the ]iersi on board for the purpi whom they were addressed ; every family send receiving letters. Letters not called for were t antain to a coffee-house the wharf, where they lay spread out on a tabic, sons coming from adjacent settlements called at their own letters, but all the letters belonging either delivered in person, or deposited at thr In relative of tin- individiuil to wlinm tlir htfc -r \\:i> Mros.sed. ship coffee-house, letters written in the town and destimd ! a |il:irr in tlic interior, as w 1 as letters brought from the country and directed to an mlial.itant of tlic town. As the .• tlements grew in number and magnitude the it became usual to li I directed to one of them at the inn most frequented by inhabitants of tliai s. "Thus, several re there was a post-office or a post-rider in the colonies, a rude, slow, unsafe, h Iv svstem of letter delivery had sprung up; and long after the establishment of r.' this neighborly method continued to be the main depend- ence of the people fo tiortation of letters for short distances." Massachusetts seems to have been forcu shment of a legal pos system, since in the year 1639, the General C'l issued the following i • It is Ordered, that that Richard Fairhank.s, his house in Boston, is ' to be sent the place appointed for .all 1 brought from beyond the seas, or are thither, to be left with hiiu ke care that they are to be delivered or sent ac- : ; il must cording to the directions ; for every letter a penny, and he all miscarriages tliroiij;li liis this kind." York, lS6+. I Life of Franklir In Virginia the colonial law of 1G5T, required every planter to proviJe a messenger to convey the despatches as they arrived, to the next plantation and so on, on pain of forfeiting a hogshead of tobacco for default. In 1672, the government of Xew York established a monthly mail to Boston, advertis- ing, " Those that be disposed to send letters, to bring them to the Secretary's Office, where in a locked box they shall be preserved till the messenger calls for them ; all persons pay- ing the post before the bagg be sealed up."* Thirty years later this monthly post had became a fortnightly one, as we see by the following paragraph in the Boston News Litter. " By order of the Postmaster General of North America. These arc to give notice, that on Monday night the (jth of December, the Western Post between Boston and New York sets out once a fortnight, the three winter months of December, January and February, and to go alternately from Boston to Saybrook and Hartford to exchange the mail of letters with the New York Kyder the first turn for Saybrook, to meet the New York Kyder on Sa- tnrdiiy ni^lit, the 11th currant ; an(^ the second turn he sets out at Boston on Monday night the -Jmh currant, to meet the New York Ryder at Hartford, on Saturday night the 25th cur- rant, to exchange mails ; and all persons who send letters from Boston to Connecticut from and after the 13th instant, are hereVjy notified first to pay the postage on the same."t 674. roNNErTirrT. ' •. \i:.,..,r (:,„...,' r, „ /A . M7(] " i li.. : > This Court bciu;; iiKiilr >rii,-ilil.' nl n i my accrue to the publique •. by a liberty or boldnc» wliirh -iiiH, |„ 1 Ives (when employed by order of authority for the c"uvc\uncc of kiui.-, i»..~i, ,unl oiliti important occasions of this colony) by profuse and extravagant spending at the ordinaries and other places on the road upon the countryes acct, and allso by great delayes on journeyes, very prejudiciall to the co- lony, which willing to prevent, doe therefore order that the allowance for those persons (who shall be employed on such service) for their wages and expences of themselves and horses, shall be as followeth, from the first of May to the middle of October : [here follows a long list of prices at various places, too extensive to copy.] "And from the middle of October to the last of Aprill, to be eight pence more than the above, for every night they lye out, for oates to the horses, wherein great care is to be had by the ordinary keepers, that hyred horses are not deprived of their allowance. Allso, the differences in the abovesayed sums is to be the stated wages from towne to towne, if they goe not to Hartford ; and the like proportion by the mile to those whoe shall be employed in this Colony where their wages is not stated. " It is further ordered, that all posts their ferridge shall be on the country account, and that the ordinary keepers in the respective plantations shall provide suitable accomodations for men and horse, whose allowance for the man by the meale shall be sixpence, and for the horse at grass, fewer pence a night, and for oates, fower pence the halfe peck, and for hay I allso ovdi shall unnecessarily stop or de- tayne his journey 1 rd or detayued by authority or other just occasion [K'nalty or receive reconipence extraordinarily as t ^ht to be abated or augmented in his wages."* MASSACIirSETTS. Unde date Janv. Gtli, 1G7 The rt of Ma cport The Coil it the time. " Whereas the publick occasions of the country doe frequently require that messengers be sent post, and as yet, no stated allowance settled in such cases, it is ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that from henceforth every person so sent upon the pub- licke service of the .nuiiii y sh:ill be all. .wed by t\w TivaMiivr after the rate of three pence \\ iii'iiir\ a mile to the place tn hirlj lie i> .^mt. in , :i> lull ^.iii-faction for the expence of horse ad man ; and no iiiliold.i- >liall uiki- .if any mi. li n).--.!.;;. i- ..r others travayling upon pub- licke ser .1 f..jwer pene for ha niglit.f In the year 1G77, in an.swer to the reque,.<t .if scvo-al nuTchants of ]{..stnu, dec that ' thev have heard iiiaiiv .'.miplaiuts iiia.lc bv ii.i-r.-liaiits and ..tiiers that hav.^ binn ble of thc'l..ss,. ,.r h.tt.Ts. whereby merchanis with tli.'ir tn.'n.ls an.l iin|.l.iv,.r> in f„r parts are <;r.:iil\ .l.'niiiiln.l {.sic,) many times the l.'ltci-^ ai.' iin|inii'.| ami tln.iwni' up \. i exchange, that li.. will may take them up ; n.i |Hi--i.n wit liniii »..m.' -m i-l;n am beii ling to tnml.l.' th.n la.iis..s therewith; theretnr.' hnmlily il.>ii.>.