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Papers from the Historical Seminary
of Brown University
Edited by J. Franklin Jameson, Ph. D., Professor of History
II
by
Mary E. Woolley
Reprinted from the Publications of the
Rhode Island Historical Society
PROVIDENCE, R. I.
1894
A letter written in 1652, by Samuel Symonds of Ipswich,to John Winthrop, Jr., at Pequot, says: “I cannot say but itsbesides my intentions that I write not more frequently untoyou; I can onely plead this for my excuse (soe farr as it willgoe) ... and the uncertainty when and how toconvey letters.”[1]
A glance at the correspondence of that period shows thatMr. Symonds was not the only one inconvenienced by the “uncertaintywhen and how to convey letters.” With no domesticpostal service the writers of that day were dependent uponindividual bearers and pressed neighbors, relatives, merchants,sea captains, any and every one whom they couldreach, into the service. Indians were often used as messengers.Roger Williams writing to John Winthrop, at sometime in the ’30’s, speaks of word “by this bearer Wequashwhome (being a Pequt himselfe) I commended for a guide inthe Pequt expedition;” again, “I pray let your servant directthe native with this letter;” and at still another time,“From your owne hand (by Robin Causasenamont).”[2]
John Endicott writes to John Winthrop, April 13, 1638:“Your kinde lines I receaued by Mascanomet;” and a letterfrom the Isle of Wight (near Long Island), dated “Aprill 27,1650,” says, “I resavid yours by the Indian.”[3]
- 4 -Until 1639 there is no trace of a postal system, but underthe Massachusetts General Court Records, of that year[4] (Nov.5th), is the following entry: “For preventing the miscarriageof letters, ... It is ordered that notice bee given, that RichardFairbanks, his house in Boston, is the place appointed forall letters, which are brought from beyond the Seas, or are tobe sent thither; ... are to be brought unto him and he isto take care, that they bee delivered, or sent according to theirdirections and hee is alowed for every such letter 1d. andmust answer all miscarriages through his owne neglect inthis kind; provided that no man shall bee compelled to bringhis letters thither except hee please.”
This action on the part of the Massachusetts General Courtwas, as far as can be discovered, the first effort by the coloniesto provide a post office. Eighteen years later, June12, 1657, an ordinance was passed[5] by the director generaland council of the New Netherlands, forbidding the boardingof incoming vessels until visited by the governing of