[Genealib] Post village vs post office

[Drew Smith]

>From the OED:

"post village n. chiefly N. Amer. (now hist.) a village where there is
a post-stage or a post office.
1673 J. RAY Observ. Journey Low-countries 342 We travelled to
Radicofani.., passing through Lucignano a *post-village. 1847 H. HOWE
Hist. Coll. Ohio 264 Allensville, Middleton, Oak Hill and Charleston
are small post villages. 1952 J. R. SWANTON Indian Tribes of North
Amer. 17 The Penobscot have given their name to a bay, a river,..a
post village in Hancock County, and a branch post office in Detroit.
1999 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 7 Mar. 36 In 1879 the
watermen's village of Crittenden became a post village, its first
postmaster being James H. Crittenden."

Drew Smith

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 3:00 PM, Susan Scouras
<Susan.Scouras at wvculture.org> wrote:
> Does anyone know the definition of a "post village" as opposed to a "post
> office," as used in the early 19th century?  I have tried dictionaries and
> Googling with no luck.  I checked four different postal histories, plus a
> couple of historical journal articles. A post road is a road over which mail
> was carried.  A post office is an established building or site (someone's
> store, usually), run by a postmaster, where stamps and other services can be
> purchased.  Statistics give the miles of post road designated and number of
> post offices, etc., but no mention of postal villages.  I can find hundreds
> of towns identified as "post villages," a far higher number than the total
> number of post offices at any given time, but no explanation of what a post
> village is.  Much later, around 1911-12, a postal village was one that had
> mail carriers that delivered to one's door, but that was not the case prior
> to this date.  The term appears to have been used in England as well
>
> I am guessing it is essentially a mail drop along a post road without a full
> service post office, since other towns in the same sources are designated as
> having a post office and are not called postal villages.  Post offices and
> postmasters were classified, with those offering the fewest services and
> handling the least mail designated as "fourth class," but again, this does
> not seem to correlate with post villages.  Contemporary works assume the
> reader knows what the designations mean.
>
> Susan Scouras
> Librarian
> WV Archives and History Library
> The Cultural Center
> 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
> Charleston, WV  25305-0300
> (304) 558-0230, Ext. 742
>
>
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