A Tale of Two Covers
Frank R. Scheer
It was the most circuitous route of the times.
Figure 1 – Gaylord, Virginia, to Lewistown, Maryland – 1901, Front.
Figure 2 – Gaylord, Virginia, to Lewistown, Maryland – 1901, Back.
It was the shortest travel distance of the times.
Figure 3- Boyce, Virginia, to Charles Town, West Virginia, 1903.
I rarely purchase covers but these two are of particular interest. The post office unit from the Gaylord store is in Railway Mail Service (RMS) Library collection. The former Gaylord post office was in a store which still stands and is approximately eight miles north of Boyce, Virginia. The Norfolk & Western Railway’s Hagerstown District was within sight of the post office and mail dispatches from the town to the HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RAILWAY POST OFFICE (RPO) were facilitated by a trackside mail crane.
Figure 4 – Gaylord store and post office, 1880 until 1956.
The Garvin grain mill at Boyce was across the Winchester and Berry’s Ferry Turnpike –now East Main Street—from the site of the 1879 Shenandoah Valley Railroad depot and the 1913 station building which is the home of the RMS Library.
Figure 5 – Garvin grain mill building as it appeared during 2005 which remains in similar condition during 2023. A railroad spur alongside the building has been removed, leaving only the main line track through Boyce, visible in the aerial photograph.
The two covers were mailed two years apart. It was not until after acquiring the envelopes that I realized that the sender of the letter Gaylord in 1901 was the recipient of the 1903 from Boyce. William Eddy Reed was born on November 25, 1845, and died on April 5, 1924, in Clarke County. Son Edward Benjamin Reed was born in Clarke County on June 8, 1884, and died in Jefferson County, West Virginia, on April 14, 1965. W. E. Reed was a grain wholesaler according to the 1900 Census.
The backstamps appearing in Figure 2 prompted further research. As was true for most letters during the 1870s through 1940s, even if there are no RPO markings the transportation and distribution of mail was performed in RPOs. There is enough information from the Gaylord postmark and three back-stamps at Baltimore, Thurmont, and Lewistown, to reconstruct the likely routing.
The HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO northbound train 4 was the evening mail train for both Boyce and Gaylord. Although the excerpt from a 1909 Virginia General Scheme for Clarke County was almost ten years after these letters were mailed, the dispatches to the HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO remained the same.
Figure 6 – 1909 Virginia General Scheme, page 48.
Northbound train 4 operated on a timetable to that depicted in the 1898 Third Division RMS Schedule of Mail Trains.
Figure 7 – Schedule 322, 1898, Page 21.
RMS schedules do not show times at all locations along a route so that the timetable is compact. Only junctions with other routes or major cities are shown. Train 4 stopped at Boyce at 8:20 PM and passed Gaylord at 8:40 PM. There is no back-stamp on the Garvin cover in Figure 3, but it was dispatched to the Charles Town post office at 8:56 PM which was 36 minutes in the RPO and assured a next-morning delivery to Mr. Reed.
Lewistown, Maryland, is in Frederick Country, northeast of Hagerstown. The natural question is why did the letter travel via Baltimore? This distribution table for HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO train 4 appeared on page 22 of the aforementioned schedule and provides the answer.
Figure 8 – HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO train 4 distribution list, page 22.
The RPO route to reach Thurmont, Maryland, was the BALTIMORE & CHERRYRUN. Although that RPO had a stop at Hagerstown, it is not cited as a connection because its eastbound train departed Hagerstown before HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO Train 4 arrived. Consequently, the letter was dispatched to the NEW YORK & GRAFTON RPO at Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia.
Figure 9 – NEW YORK & GRAFTON RPO schedule excerpt, Eastbound.
The letter to Lewistown was pouched to NEW YORK & GRAFTON RPO Train 4 since train 46 arrived at nearly the same time as HAGERSTOWN & ROANOKE RPO Train 4 was scheduled. A 7:50 AM arrival at Baltimore, Maryland, agrees with an 11:30 AM received marking shown in Figure 2. The Baltimore post office dispatched the letter to the BALTIMORE & CHERRYRUN RPO train.
Figure 10 – Dispatch by the Baltimore Post Office to train 23, departing at 4:08 PM. The train arrived at Thurmont about two hours and 47 minutes later.
Figure 11 – Edited schedule for Western Maryland train 23 from a Traveler's Official Guide, August 1895, page 284.
The 6:47 PM arrival at Thurmont station concurs with the 7 PM received back-stamp. Maps for the Western Maryland Railway and a portion of a Maryland Post Route map facilitate schedule reading.
Figure 12 – Western Maryland Railway map, Traveler's Official Guide, August 1895, page 285.
Figure 13 Maryland Post Route Map portion, 1925.
The letter stayed overnight at the Thurmont post office until a morning dispatch to the THURMONT JUNCTION & FREDERICK RR. “RR” meant “closed pouch” whereby the mail was handled on the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway in the custody of a baggage master.
Figure 14 – Third Division RMS Schedule of Mail Trains #395, 1915, page 77.
The Lewiston, Maryland, back-stamp appearing in Figure 2 does not have a time but shows a June 28th date for receipt. This is consistent with the 6:28 AM train 102 arrival. A 1901 schedule is not available but the train time is believed to be approximately the same as shown in 1915.
Although an elapsed time of nearly 36 hours between mailing and delivery may not be impressive, this cover is a good example of how the shortest-distance routing may not have been feasible. The guideline within the RMS was whatever set of connections yielded the quickest delivery was the correct routing.
The Railway Mail Service Library has primary source documents and publications which focus upon railway mail transportation and postal history between 1864 and 1967. Frank Scheer has been its curator since 1980. Long-term preservation of the collection is supported by the Railway Mail Service Library Foundation. Annual membership dues are $10. Research inquiries or other information requests are invited to fscheer@railwaymailservicelibrary.org .
