Vol. 46 No. 1 Whole Number 209 February 2018 Post Office
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NJPH The Journal of the NEW JERSEY POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY ISSN: 1078-1625 Vol. 46 No. 1 Whole Number 209 February 2018 Post Office Department Draft A draft authorized by the Post Office Department to C.J. Gray, the postmaster in Newark, NJ for payments in regard to the transportation of the mails. See page 3. ~ CONTENTS ~ President’s Message ................................................................................ Robert G. Rose ................ 2 Post Office Payments for Transportation of the Mails............................. Don Bowe ........................ 3 A 1796 Rate and Distance Chart .............................................................. Ed & Jean Siskin ............ 7 The Steamer Baltic and Brown Shipley Forwarding Agents ................... Joseph J. Geraci..............11 The Alaska–Class: US Navy’s Only Large Cruisers All Built in New Jersey .............................................. ............................................................................................... Lawrence B. Brennan, US Navy (Ret.) ..... 16 Southard Free Frank: Signing for the War Department................................. Jean R. Walton.................. 31 New Jersey’s Railway Post Offices................................................................ Robert G. Rose ................. 33 Mail Sent Abroad from Morris County ~ Odds & Ends: A Mystery Cover & Madison to India in 1875.................................... Donald A. Chafetz.......... 38 Camden Misdirected ................................................................................. Ed & Jean Siskin ............ 45 A Fraudulently Postmarked NJ Patriotic Cover ....................................... Robert G. Rose ............... 47 Member News: Member Changes, Thanks to Donors, NOJEX 2018.......... ........................................... 50 Philatelic Shorts. A Dead Letter Office Cover to Roseville..................... Jean R. Walton ............... 53 Member Ads ............................................................................................ ........................................ 55 Literature Available .................................................................................. ........................................ 57 NEW JERSEY POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY, INC. APS Affiliate #95 - PHS Affiliate #1A - NJFSC Chapter #44S ISSN: 1078-1625 Annual Membership Subscriptions $15.00 *** Website: www.NJPostalHistory.org/ OFFICERS President: Robert G. Rose, 18 Balbrook Drive, Mendham, NJ 07945 [email protected] VP & Ed. Emeritus: E. E. Fricks, 25 Murray Way, Blackwood, NJ 08012 [email protected] Treasurer: Andrew Kupersmit, 143 Woodbridge Ave., Metuchen, NJ 08840 [email protected] Secretary: Jean R. Walton, 125 Turtleback Rd., Califon, NJ 07830 [email protected] Webmaster: Warren Plank, 625 Singley Ave, Runnemede, NJ 08078 [email protected] Co-Editors /NJPH: Robert G. Rose, [email protected] & Jean R. Walton, [email protected] ****************************************************************************** DUES STILL OUTSTANDING! A few members’ dues remain outstanding. If your dues have not yet been paid, you will find an enclosed reminder for dues payment for 2018. Dues are still $15 a year, and again this year you have the option of paying your dues online by Paypal (no extra fee), by going to our web site [www.NJPostalHistory.org] where you will find a link for membership renewal on the home page. You can also donate to the Society at the same time, if you would like. We are happy to accept your dues and donations in whatever form you like! ****************************************************************************** PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Collectors of modern postal history are enjoying the challenge of building collections of the popular Prexies, the Prominent American Series and much more. However, the use of postage stamps on our mails, the source of all collectible covers, is rapidly facing extinction in the 21st century as the practice of letter writing has virtually disappeared. Indeed, the advent of email, Twitter and other forms of social media threatens the very existence of a collectible body of contemporary postal history for collectors of the future. Instead, the scene at right is illustrative of what has become the everyday means of communications on a worldwide basis. So, save what you can of those few non-philatelic covers posted with contemporary stamps which come your way. They may become the scarce collectibles of the future. And, having raised this concern for the future, I return to the past. This issue of NJPH covers a broad range of topics touching upon this State’s postal history. The authors write on such diverse subjects as a forwarding agency marking on mail carried on a steamer, postal rates established in 1796, misdirected mail, dead letter mail, Railway Post Office postmarks, payment for the transporation of mail by rail, Morris County foreign mail and a mystery cover to India, a fradulent Civil War patritoic cover,a Southard free frank, and another in the series of New Jersey built ships that particpated in World War II. I wish to thank the many Society members who made donations over the last year. Those donations enable the continued publication of this journal in the face of rising costs year over year. For those of you who have forgotten to send in your dues for 2018, a gentle reminder accompanies this issue. We need you! Finally, for those of you who plan well ahead, the Society will hold its annual meeting this year at what will be a combined NOJEX & ASDA Show, to be held at the Meadowlands Hilton Hotel in East Rutherford, NJ on October 19-21, 2018. It is shaping up to be a great show! ROBERT G. ROSE Vol. 46/No. 1 2 NJPH Whole No. 208 Feb 2018 Don Bowe ~ PAYMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS POST OFFICE PAYMENTS FOR TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS By Don Bowe Three interesting items in my collection are checks which were used for payment of transportation of the mails and associated expenses. They are from three different dates, May 26, 1856, Sept. 17, 1859, and February 25, 1861. It is an opportunity to see the differences. All are checks written on the Post Office Department, and all say “Transportation of the Mails” at left. Presumably they drew on funds in the Post Office’s own vaults – note no banking firm is mentioned. The first, from 1856, has a picture of George Washington at top center, and is signed by the Auditor for the Post Office Department and the Postmaster General (James Campbell). It is dated May 26, 1856, and authorized C.T. Gray, Postmaster at Newark, N.J.,1 to pay to Isaac Van Wagonen, Treasurer of the Morris & Essex R.R. Co., the amount of eight hundred and sixty-nine dollars and 70 cents. Fig. 1: Post Office Department draft issued to the Newark postmaster to pay to the Treasurer of the Morris & Essex Railroad Company, Isaac Van Wagonen, for transportation of the mails. Endorsed on back by Van Wagonen. The cancel at bottom center in red is illegible, and even with digital enhancement, the image nets little except what may be a Jun 1 date hub and PAID at bottom of the cds. Fig. 2: Printed by Hufty & Danforth, Philadelphia and New York. Note the transportation at either end picturing a steamboat and a train. Vol. 46/No. 1 3 NJPH Whole No. 209 Feb 2018 PAYMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS ~Don Bowe The second, in 1859, includes an unidentified portrait of Aaron V. Brown, PMG. The cancel on this one is clearer, making it possible to assume that the 1856 draft cancel was similar. Fig. 2: Post Office Department draft dated Sept. 17, 1859, and issued to the Newark postmaster to pay to Fanny P. Hazen & Winfield Hazen, administrators of the estate of Moses Hazen, late postmaster at Allamuchy, NJ,2 with “transportation of the mails” crossed out, as this seems to have been for a part of his estate settlement upon his death. It is for $166.52 and is endorsed on back by Winfield Hazen. The cancel at bottom center reads Newark, NJ/PAID, with an Oct. 4 date. Printed by Bald, Consland, Philadelphia and New York. Note eagle vignette at center pictures a steamboat and a sailboat, but no train. Cancel at bottom on draft. The Postmaster General signature no longer appears on the draft, which is now signed by the Auditor and the 3rd Asst. Postmaster General, A. Zevely. NJPH 4 Vol. 46/No. 1 Feb 2018 Whole No. 209 Don Bowe ~ PAYMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS The third draft, dated February 25, 1861, is very similar to the second, having the same eagle vignette at top, and the portrait of the Postmaster General at lower left. Fig. 3: Post Office Department draft dated Feby 25, 1861, and issued to the Newark postmaster C.J. Gray to pay T.P. Barkalow. “Transportation of the mails” is not crossed out but it is unclear what connection Barkalow had with the transportation of mail. He owned the Union Hotel in Freehold which backed on the RR line, and that part of the property had barns and sheds3, perhaps leased to the railroad. Endorsed on back by Barkalow, and signed by him to O.L. Baldwin. The cancel at bottom center reads Newark, NJ with a March 20 date. The cancel no longer contains a Paid marking. It has been added separately as a handstamp which appears to be doubled or overprinted on a second strike. The unidentified vignette at lower left is a picture of the Postmaster General Aaron Brown. Printed by the American Bank Note Company, using the same eagle vignette as above. Vol. 46/No. 1 5 NJPH Whole No. 209