Early Postal Service: 1600-1700s (Pt 1)

Before her death, former archivist Barbara Luksanen Gill and I had a series of phone conversations on what would be interesting to the public that could be presented through our new website.  Barbara suggested “Sandwich a hundred years ago,” and that became my research focus.

She also suggested the idea of explaining how many homes acted as post offices, and that the woman of the house played the role of "post mistress." Barbara’s mother, Mabel, played such a role in East Sandwich.

 ​As the post office research took off, information going back to before the Revolutionary War turned up that was just too interesting to leave out of this report. So, this begins part one of a short series on the history of the mail and post offices in Sandwich from the period of early settlement.

The earliest known postal services to and from Cape Cod began in 1677. Mr. John Hayward was appointed by the Boston courts to be the postmaster at the time.[1]  The men who were chosen to handle the mail --it was all men at the time--had to be of the highest character and carry the respect of their associates.

The importance of protecting the mail was recognized from the earliest days and this was further exacerbated by the tensions leading up to the Revolutionary war.

Pre-Revolutionary War mail arrived from Cambridge on Wednesday evening.The horseback postman first went to Plymouth and then Falmouth and finally to Sandwich. On Saturday night a rider would reverse the route and finally return to Cambridge with a Saddle bag of mail from Cape Cod. [2]

In his book Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, Russell A Lovell, Jr. reports that the need for mail service began in earnest with the Committee of Correspondence and their writings on the Revolutionary War from 1773 on. 

As stated above, there was only one weekly horseback rider a week, even as late as 1775. Mail was dropped at the residence of Joseph Nye,

Mail was dropped at the residence of Joseph Nye, which much later was known as the Moody House, 110 Tupper Road.

Nye's house was originally the home of Seth Pope. Pope built this home in 1699 for his son, John, who married Elizabeth Bourne. Around 1725 it was purchased by a Nye family member, and it continued in the Nye family for many years. Much later it became known as the Moody House at 110 Tupper Road (formerly called Franklin Street).

Joseph Nye ( 1740-1796), known as Squire Nye, was a key figure in pre-Revolutionary wartime Sandwich. He married Catherine Sturgis, and he served on various town committees throughout his life, constantly holding town office. [3]  He was one of the founders of “Revolutionary War preparation.” He called for a meeting “of serious moment” which then set forth a “List of Grievances” noting the Stamp Act and undue taxation. From this committee, Nye was charged with the job of purchasing a chest of arms, four barrels of gunpowder, lead, and flints in proportion. A tasty tidbit which may be long forgotten is that these men hid this gunpowder in the Old Town Burial Ground!

It was important that reliable, trustworthy people handle the mail. People petitioned for the job, among them lawyers, ministers, and court representatives. Packet captains, who would help to move the mail to Barnstable Village and other places, were also held in high esteem.

Eventually, stagecoach services improved the movement of the mail; thus, the term “post roads” developed. Finally, a federal postal service running in and out of Boston reached Barnstable in 1793 and Falmouth in 1795.

Once the Federal system was established, the earliest stop in Sandwich was at the home of selectman Nathan Nye, at the corner of Main Street and what is now Dale Terrace.

By 1794, some people received newspapers through the mail. Benjamin Percival's 1794 diary mentions this. People actually shared a newspaper, which included the cost of the subscription and postage. Percival shared a paper with Col. Abraham Williams--it was Williams who formerly owned the slave Titus Winchester, who gave us the black-faced clock on the top of the Unitarian Church in Williams’ memory. In this case, Williams paid for the subscription and Percival paid the postage. By May of 1799, Percival shared a paper with Sam Fessenden, and by October 1799 he was sharing a paper with Nathanial Freeman!

Our next segment will begin with mail in the 1800s. Wait until you read about the post offices sprouting up all over Sandwich! There were 11 at one point, and most were in homes or businesses still standing today! You will enjoy a whole set of photos and be very surprised to see familiar houses still standing that were once post offices.

[1] The Barnstable Patriot. July 26, 1887. P. 4

[2] The Barnstable Patriot. Jack Sheedy. August 4, 2017

[3] Sandwich Town Archives

Note: The post office series was written for Facebook in lieu of The Sandwich Enterprise.

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Kaethe Maguire is a member of the Friends of the Sandwich Town Archives, a dedicated, all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to supporting and promoting the archives’ collections and the rich, diverse history of the town of Sandwich.