Sussex-Lisbon Area

 Historical Society, Inc.

Search this site and our local communities. Wisconsin History Search Only

Local History Index - Postal

The Postal System in the Wisconsin Territory: Early Milwaukee County; Waukesha County and the Sussex-Lisbon Area

by Mike Reilly, Editor, January 17, 2004, Revised 09/16/2007

also see Post Offices, Postmasters, Mail Carriers and Mail Delivery History for Sussex, Lisbon, Lake Five, Colgate, Templeton and Lannon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin and Postal Finder lists postmasters of other nearby communities

    While still part of the Michigan Territory, the appointment of a postmaster and the opening of a real post office marked an important epoch in Milwaukee, soon to be the Wisconsin Territory. At the time of Solomon Juneau's appointment as first postmaster in December 1834, operating out of his building on Wisconsin and East Water Streets, mail was received from Green Bay,  or Chicago on a very irregular delivery schedule.

    The first mail was brought from Green Bay by a half-breed names John Baptiste Lavigne, who on foot, carried sixty to seventy pounds of mail, stopping in Milwaukee on his way to Chicago.

    Postage for letters varied between six to twenty-five cents, depending on their size and distance traveled. There were no envelopes or postage stamps in use at this early time. The postage was collected, in cash, at the place where, and of the person to whom, the parcel was delivered. Needless to say, often it wasn't paid for, consequently not delivered.

    The mail arrived in Milwaukee once a month at first from Chicago (and other places). At first letters were kept in small, blue colored boxes, but as the Milwaukee area population grew, their use soon became impractical. There weren't any post offices west of Milwaukee until 1837 when David Jackson was appointed postmaster of Prairieville (later Waukesha). All mail matter for the large tract of Milwaukee County, west as far as the Rock River was handled, assorted and distributed at Milwaukee.

    Over the next ten years or so, mail was received in Milwaukee in various manner: by foot, horseback, stage, boat, and railroad. Private contractors, for pay or not, often carried the mail to make up for the federal government's lack of regular delivery. Not until 1846, when Milwaukee was incorporated as a city, did the U. S. government provide mail delivery on a regular basis.

    In Prairieville, postmaster David Jackson, received his appointment about January 1837. Jackson had come permanently to Prairieville in early 1836, after locating a claim in 1835. There was no post office at first; that is not even  the usual blue box furnished by the Government had been provided for Mr. Jackson, and when the packages became so numerous that he could not carry them in his pocket, or the crown of his hat, Mrs. Jackson, put them in a brightly scoured tin pan and hoisted the pan safely to the top shelf. She also kept her husband's pockets in excellent repair, putting a button on the one in which Mr. Jackson brought the mail from Milwaukee. Sometimes he went on foot; sometimes on horseback, and sometimes he sent by the neighbors. The post office in those days was not a political machine, and was not much of a machine anyway.

    By 1843, the area, later called Waukesha County (created on January 31, 1846), contained the following post offices; Delafield, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Mequanigou (now Mukwonago), New Berlin, St. Marie's, Summit, and Vernon. Oconomowoc, which was the second largest community in 1880, was not even large enough at this time to have a post office. 

    For the settlers in the Town of Lisbon, mail was probably first picked up at the Milwaukee post office, then later retrieved from Prairieville. Even though Solomon Juneau's early post office, and subsequent Milwaukee postmasters had mail carriers, of sorts, they may have only delivered directly to Prairieville for further distribution to smaller area post offices.

    On January 1, 1851, Waukesha County contained the post offices of : Big Bend, Brookfield, Bullion*, Delafield, Denoon*, Eagleville*, Genesee, Gold Lake, Hartland, Howards*, Lisbon, Mapleton, Marcy, Menomonee Falls, Merton, Monches, Monterey, Mukwonago, Muskego Center, Oconomowoc, Okauchee*, Ottawa, Pewaukee, Prospect Hill, South Genesee, Summit, Sussex, Vernon, Waterville, and Waukesha.

    *Discontinued before 1880

    By 1880, the county had thirty-seven post offices, after starting with the one in 1837. Where Postmaster Jackson had carried or sent the mail to Milwaukee once each week, if there was any to send, and on his return brought back whatever mail there was directed to the only office in the county. Now (in 1880) the county (meaning through the Waukesha post office ?) sends and receives more than one hundred mail bags per day.

    The next two articles indicate that at some time, the mail for the Sussex post office was brought from the Pewaukee office, through the Waukesha office. When mail was received directly from Waukesha to Sussex is unknown but may have begun as late as 1886. 

Lisbon news - "Our worthy mail carrier, T. Lewis, is looking very downcast either over the dry weather, or because the mail arrives at Sussex Station on the Wisconsin Central". Source: Waukesha Freeman, Sept. 2, 1886, page 8.

    The T. Lewis is the same Tommy Lewis talked of in the articles below in the early 1880's. The mail was then being delivered by way of the Wisconsin Central railway at what was first the East Sussex Depot, later to be named Templeton.

    There was a Thomas Lewis living in 1880 Town of Lisbon according to that year's census, see below:

    Note: Clicking on the names above will take you the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website for more information. An older James LEWIS, age 46, also born in NY worked on the Thomas Weaver farm as a laborer.

Sources: History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Volume II, Chicago: The Western Historical Company, A. T. Andreas, Proprietor, 1881; Chapter XXIX, Federal, County and Municipal Offices, The Milwaukee Postmaster, p. 1046 - 1051; The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, Chicago, Western Historical Company, MDCCCLXXX,  pages 640-641, 558; various excerpts used.

Rural Free Delivery in Waukesha County, and Memories of Postal Delivery in Sussex and Templeton

A MENTAL SLEIGHRIDE BACK TO '81
by Mrs. Margaret Anderson

    an excerpt from the above story
    The Sussex postoffice in those days was kept in Jim Templeton's store and mail was brought from Pewaukee every other day by Tommy Lewis. The great drifts of snow interfered considerably with his task and finally he had to go back and forth on horseback. However, the last two weeks of the storm Tommy made the trip on snowshoes, pulling a hand-? which the mail bag was tied. The burden was generally light, for there had been no trains through Pewaukee for a week or ten days and mail delivery was more or less a matter of formality, as there was nothing to carry but local mail.
    But, although no mail arrived at Sussex beyond a postal card or two for nearly two weeks, Jerry Smith made (?) his way to Sussex in the old "jumper" drawn by his faithful old "Mink" as regularly as clockwork to get "wee drop" and incidentally (?) if there was any mail. Not that he expected any outside The Western Rural or The Waukesha Freeman or Democrat, but as he used to say, "There might be some accidentals," and it was on one of those frequent trips that, when he got as far as the
gate which led up the lane to John Edwards' home, about a half a mile west of Sussex, he could get no further. The men of the village were all out clearing the roads and had the roads clear that far. Jerry was anxious to "get the mail", so he hitched Mink to the gatepost and continued on his way on foot, while the men, eager to play a joke on Jerry, filled the jumper to its utmost capacity with snow, being careful to put the shovel that was in the sleigh box at the bottom - for no one traveled without a shovel with him - and as long as Jerry lived he blamed Don Campbell for the trick played upon him that day.

    Note the story below is probably also by Mrs. Anderson. Source: Waukesha Freeman, March 24, 1921

OLD SCHOOL DAYS
Being Some Interesting Reminiscences by a Student at the "Brown Brick"
Hall in Sussex
            an excerpt "Waiting at the Postoffice"
    Then too, I remember the times we used to wait at the postoffice which was kept in the general store of James Templeton, and after whom the village of Templeton is named. the mail was supposed to be there at 4 o'clock, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and also on Saturdays. nearly every one of the family would wait, and the way the children would crowd into that little store was a caution. Every once in a while, if the mail was late, some one would run out and look down the south road to see if Tommy Lewis and his faithful white faced horse was coming with the little bag of mail from Pewaukee, and the number of times these exploring expeditions would be made would be many, especially in the winter when the roads would be blocked up, and when he finally would arrive with "white face" steaming and puffing, a half dozen boys were ready to grab the mail bag and carry it into the store while as many more would blanket the faithful steed for whose arrival we had waited so patiently.
    Of course there would not be a great deal of mail, as there were few daily papers those days. The Milwaukee Weekly Sentinel came on Thursdays, and on Thursdays several other papers came including the "Western Rural", or the Western Ruler as one nice old lady called it, the "Christian Instructor", the "Waukesha Freeman", and the "Toledo Blade", as well as a few letters occasionally, and as Jerry Smith used to say, "There might be some accidentals." Postage in those days was 3 cents per letter.
    But there was generally a merry old time at the postoffice until the mail would come and be distributed.
    Source: Waukesha Freeman, April 9, 1914

"GOOD MAIL SERVICE GOES A' GLIMMERING"

Editor Freeman -

    We all have read the complaints of "our good mail service" under the above caption in the last Freeman. Without a little explanation these charges of July 22, and August 16 would seem unjust. Now all morning mail is dispatched by train No. 1, going north at 5:10 a.m. and No. 4, going south at 6:11 a.m. at Rugby Junction. Train No. 8, Fox River Express, due at 8:02 a.m. now picks this mail for dispatch at Templeton. Previous to this change this mail was dispatched direct at Templeton, was delivered to postoffice at about 6:30 a.m.. However, rural route carrier never left the postoffice until 7 a.m. or between the hours of 7 and 8 a.m. At the present time he is leaving the office between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. making a difference of one-half or one hour. Patrons of the rural route are making complaints in regard to this change.

    Hundreds of places in the state of Wisconsin, three times the size or more than that, have but one or two outgoing and incoming mails daily, also having three times the number of rural patrons. These people are well satisfied with what Uncle Sam is doing for them. Templeton has six incoming and three outgoing mails daily. Why should we country patrons complain of the service we now have?

    All mail coming from rural patrons on route 20 is dispatched at 2:57 p.m. daily, as before, providing sleep doe not overtake the carrier. If this should be the case this mail would leave the office at 7:40 a.m. instead of 8:40 a.m. as stated in last weeks' issue. You will always find a few kickers although they are having the best time there is.

AN INTERESTED CITIZEN

        The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, August 28, 1913, page 4, col. 3-4.

"GOOD MAIL SERVICE GOES A' GLIMMERING"

Editor Freeman:
    In the issue of Aug. 21 your correspondent sent in a few facts that were of public interest concerning changes in the mail service at Templeton, to which the editor gave the above heading. In the article there was no mud thrown at anybody, there was no insinuation, even, that any person here was in any manner unfaithful to his duty, nor in any way to blame for the mentioned changes. But the shoes seem to have attracted on or two of our villagers who borrow The Freeman and they straightway put them on and the ire of one rose so that he wrote a very beautifully descriptive letter to The Freeman of last week, and signed himself "An Interested Citizen". Whether he is bashful or was ashamed to put his real name to the article, your correspondent is unable to decide, but the alias is certainly very appropriate, for interested he is indeed. And while he slaps the rural carrier for cat-napping he is rejoicing in the fact that he gets one or two more hours each morning to spend sleeping, under the present schedule.

    Again I say interested, indeed. This shining light, loyal, and patriotic citizen is more interested in himself than in a good mail service, the convenience of his fellow villagers, or the welfare of those on whom he is daily dependent for his bread, meat and potatoes. our "Interested Citizen" is very precise on the number of mails received and dispatched daily. It was not about the number of mails that your correspondent commented upon, but about the time of arrival and the losing of the privilege of dispatching on the early south bound morning train on the Soo line. Formerly we could send a letter to Waukesha and get an answer by the noon train; many times medicine from Waukesha drug stores was ordered this way, and a great deal of important business was done in that same manner. All letters for out-of-the-state were dispatched on said train and in many cases gained a day's time over the present system. Patrons of the cheese factory got their morning mail while in town with their milk. Our business men got their morning mail before time to leave on either of the local trains on the days they were out of town. Our working men could get their morning mail before going to work. "The secretary of the Sussex creamery got mail early enough to ship orders on the 9:22 Northwestern train. All rural patrons got their mail at or before the noon hour, and were sure of the dispatching of their out-going mail on the afternoon train.
    These and many more conveniences are now things of the past. Yet our "Interested Citizen" seems to think that they are of little value and not worth mentioning. Of course he seldom leaves town and neither patronizes the cheese factory nor the rural mail service. "An Interested Citizen", indeed. And he seems to think Templeton is so small and insignificant that any old mail service for her is good enough; that the people on a rural route, where it is the only one from the postoffice, are not of as much account as if there were three or more or more rural
routes starting from the office. This sounds very much like a railroad man's idea, for before our progressive days big shippers were rebated and small shippers were robbed. Some knocker for his own town and community.
    Your correspondent claims that Templeton is large enough clean enough and up-to-date enough to be entitled to the best there is to be had and that its patrons of the rural route, together with the village citizens and all living in the immediate vicinity are above the average in intelligence and enlightenment, and that every man, woman, and child who is a citizen of the United States, is as much entitled to every privilege and accommodation as are those who are served by an office
"having three times the number of rural patrons." Our "interested Citizen" shows a heap of ignorance or is purposely deceptive when he states that the rural carrier is only one-half or one hour later than formerly. If he were a patron of the rural mail service he would know that the former starting time was 7:15 a.m. and now it is 9 a.m., a difference of one hour and forty-five minutes. Under the former schedule the carrier was allowed six and a quarter hours to make the trip; now he is supposed to make it in five hours flat, which is less time than any carrier around here is allotted.
    Your correspondent wishes to state that he has been accused of saying that the Templeton postmaster holds mail in his office twenty-four and  forty-eight hours before dispatching. I emphatically deny ever making such a statement. The fact that
I said "When the carrier failed to get back in time for dispatching the mail he picks up it would be some times delayed twenty-four and sometimes forty-eight hours" is in every way true. Suppose a patron on route No. 20 sends a letter to a rural patron of any reasonably near town or city; said letter starts on Friday, reaches the postoffice in time to be dispatched on train No. 6, leaving at 2:57 p.m.; it will reach its destination the following morning. But should said letter fail to leave on said train it would have to be held until the 7:40 on the St. Paul road the following Monday, making a delay of forty-eight hours. If it started any other day but Friday the delay, if delayed would be twenty-four hours. this proves that the statement in The Freeman of August 21 is absolutely correct.
        I am your local correspondent
                        CHARLES J. TEMPERO

            Source: Waukesha Freeman, September 4, 1913

    Supt. of Rural Mail Deliveries, Henry Casson, expects to have the first route in this state established October 15, next. The route begins at Station B, Walnut street, Milwaukee, and extends in a northwesterly direction along Fond du Lac Avenue for a distance of ten miles to the county line. From this point it will run due north for a half mile and thence east to the Cedarburg road and back on the latter and Twelfth street to the starting point.

    "It will furnish a daily service to 200 families, " said Mr. Casson. "I shall recommend its establishment to the department, and if everything goes right we shall have a carrier on duty there by October 15."

    The carrier will probably ride in one of the carts such as are used by collectors in the city and every farmhouse on the route will be visited whenever there is any mail for it. The delivery will be the first to be established in the vicinity of Milwaukee, though they are already in operation in some other parts of the state.

                    Waukesha Freeman Sept. 21, 1899, p8.

North Lisbon news - Our postmaster at Colgate, Max Manthey, trying to get a rural mail route started to take in the county line road and quite a strip of Washington Co., we hope he will succeed. Colgate gets mail four times a day at present.

                The Waukesha Freeman, March 6, 1902

INSPECTOR WELTON BEGINS WORK FOR RURAL DELIVERY - WILL DRIVE ALL OVER COUNTY

    About Forty Routes to be Established Starting From Largest Centers. Not all Post-Offices to be Discontinued.

    The work of inaugurating a complete rural delivery system for Waukesha
county is to begun at once. Inspector of Rural Routes C. B. Welton expected to begin his work of investigation yesterday. He will make a very complete survey of the county by driving all over it, in order to ascertain the routes that will best accommodate the people. This investigation will take several weeks and it will probably be as many months before the system is fully introduced.

    In answer to a question whether all or most of the rural post-offices would be discontinued, Mr. Welton said that in villages and hamlets having a few hundred inhabitants, postoffices would probably be retained. The aim of the new system is to improve the postal service and where it does not improve the service the present conditions will not be changed. Where the people secure better service through the village post-office, than they would by the delivery routes, they will continue to have a post-office.

    Each rural route will be twenty-five miles long, and it will take about 40 routes to cover the county. A considerable number of these routes, perhaps a dozen or more, will center in this city (Waukesha). The others will start from Oconomowoc, Hartland, Pewaukee, Mukwonago and the other larger villages in the county.

    The work of laying out the routes is to be done by Mr. Welton assisted by Mr. Walker, who are the special government agents for the work. Mr. Welton says it requires a good deal of figuring to fix the routes so as to accommodate all, that it is in fact something of a Chinese puzzle that he is expected to solve. He has just been doing work of the same kind in  Sheboygan county.

    There are at present four rural delivery routes in this county, one starting from this city, one from Dousman, and two from Oconomowoc.

    When the new system is fully established every resident of the county will have mail brought daily to his door, unless he resides in an area where it is perfectly easy for him to go to the post-office. There are at present about forty post-offices in the county, several having already discontinued through the introduction of rural delivery routes.

Source: Waukesha Freeman, October 23, 1902, page 1, col. 1

Note: Mail routes can refer to the path mail traveled between post offices or to the path taken by letter and rural carriers as they delivered mail from a post office to households and businesses.

Forty Positions - 140 Applicants

    One hundred and forty young men from all parts of the county appeared at the G. A. R. hall Tuesday and took the examination for the positions of carrier in the rural delivery service. The examination was conducted by C. B. Welton, who has arranged the rural routes, and other officials in the postal service. Forty new routes are to be established in the county, so that a large number of the applicants will be disappointed in their hope of appointment.

                The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, February 26, 1903, page 3, col. 3.

The Waukesha Freeman, April 9, 1903 - Hartland News. A rural route is to be established shortly between Hartland and Lake Five.

    The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, July 2, 1903, page 2, col. 2. (an excerpt)

    The rural carriers will leave the post office in this city at seven o'clock in the morning, and return with their collections in time to dispatch mail after 2 p.m. After the establishment of this it is expected that the star route from Waukesha to Waukesha via Gutherie, Prospect and New Berlin will be discontinued, also that the service of the mail messenger from Vernon to the Wisconsin Central R. R. will be discontinued.

Post Offices to be Closed

    Under the new dispensation most of the star route offices will be closed, and orders have already been received by post masters to discontinue those at New Berlin, Gutherie and Prospect, as doubtless have postmasters at various other free delivery points.

Carriers Appointed

    Templeton, regular, Charles E. Weaver; substitute, George Barber. (Editor's note: No carriers were appointed for Sussex or Merton P. O.'s)

MORE FREE DELIVERY ROUTES (editor's note: these Pewaukee routes are noted because they delivered to parts of Lisbon Township)

From Pewaukee
    Three rural route are to be opened July 15th, starting at Pewaukee. All three carriers start at 7 a.m. and return at 2 p.m. to Pewaukee as follows:

Route No. 14
    Hugh Stroud is regular carrier, in place of Wm. Anderson resigned. No substitute has yet been appointed.
    Beginning at the post office, Pewaukee, the carrier will go thence to village limits 5/8 miles; thence se to school No. 4, 2 1/4 m; thence sw and nw to W. F. Gauthier corner, 2 3/4m; thence n and ne to F.
W. Steele, residence, 1 7/8m; thence sw to Cooper corner, 1/2m; thence southerly direction to town line, 1 5/8m; thence s to Breeze corner, 3/4m; thence e 1/2 mile and retrace to Breese corner, 1m; thence w to J. D. Roberts corner, 2 1/4m; thence on angling road to H. G. Antsey corner, 3/8m; thence e to Taylor corner, 1 1/4m; thence s 1/2 mile and retrace to Taylor corner, 1m; thence e 1/4 mile and n to M. Larson, 1 1/8m; thence se to village limit, 2m; thence to post office, 7/8 mile.
    Length of route 23 1/2 miles, area covered 12 square miles, number of houses served 105, Population served 525.

Route No. 15.
    Charles While regular carrier in place of Frank Garretts, resigned. No substitute appointed yet.
Beginning at post office, Pewaukee, the carrier will go thence nw to village limits, 3/4m; thence n to Ryan corner, 1/2m; thence n to Billings corners, ne to McKerrow corner, 1 1/4m; thence e to J. Tempero
corner 7/8m; thence n to Lemon corner 1/2m; thence w to J. Booth corner, 1m; thence 1/2 mile and retrace to Booth corner, 1m; thence to school house No.2, 5/8m; thence nw 1 1/4m; thence se to E. Pearl corner 5/8m; thence w to J. Jungbluth corner 1 3/8m; thence n 3/8m; thence s to
Gillett corner 7/8m; thence e to school No. 2, 1 5/8m; thence se to McKerrow corner 1m, thence sw 7/8m; thence w to A. L. Tenny corner, 3m; thence se Hartland and Pewaukee road to village limits 3 1/2m; thence to post office, 7/8m.
    Length of route, 22 7/8 miles. Area covered 11 square miles; number of houses served 180; population served 400. Route 15 will connect with route 21 from Hartland at A. L. Tenny corner.

Route 76. (Editor's note: typo in newspaper article, should read Route
16.)

    Albert Evert regular carrier. Beginning at post office the carrier will go thence nw to village limits 1m; thence n to N. Nichols corner 3/4m; thence e to Fiedler 3/4m; thence n 3/4m; thence w to J. Tempero corner 1/2m; thence n and ne to J. A. Rodgers 1 5/8m; thence e to Sussex 5/8m; thence s to J. Weaver corner 1 1/2m, thence e to church, 3/4m; thence n 1/2 mile and retrace 1m; thence e and se to Tn line 1 3/8m; thence s to Lingelbach corner 1/4m; thence w 3/8m; thence e to Shuriskey corner 7/8m; thence n to Schlieter corner 1/4m; thence se and e to Marcy P.O., 2 1/8m; thence w to Holden corner 1/2m; thence s to L. Voltz corner, 1m; thence sw to Sauter corner, and w to village limits 5
1/4m; thence w to post office, 7/8m.
    Length of route 22 1/8miles; area covered 10 square miles; number of houses served 110; population served 550. Route 16 will connect with route 13 from Brookfield at Marcy P.O.


                Source: The Waukesha Freeman, Thursday, July 16, 1903

Merton news - The rural delivery mail wagon began July 15 to run through the village. As yet, we village people do not get our mail in that way. Moreover we do not want to. We prefer the postoffice with out (our?) two mails daily.

                Source: The Waukesha Freeman, July 23, 1903, page 5, col.6.

STAND COLD WELL
 Rural Mail Carriers make Trips Regularly
SOME ROADS IN BAD SHAPE

    Clad like Arctic explorers in the Polar regions, and adopting every possible method to protect themselves from the sharp northwest winds, the rural mail carriers throughout the country have for the past few days been experiencing real winter weather - weather so severe as to cause complaint from many a man whose knowledge of the situation was obtained only by a walk of a few city blocks instead of a ride of thirty miles or more. This is the first winter on the road for many of the
carriers and it speaks well for their grit that there have been no complaints from them.

    In spite of the temperature, the snow has been in good shape for sleighing though there has been some trouble with that bugaboo of rural carriers, the snowdrift. That the people who get their mail from the carriers are not ungrateful was evidenced at the holiday season, when all of the carriers were made the recipients of numerous Christmas gifts.

    But while the rural deliverer is at least allowed to wear as many clothes as he wants to, the city carrier are strictly cautioned in the regulations of the postal department against wearing overcoats or otherwise hiding their uniforms and during the coldest mornings the carriers in the city have started out on their long tramp as during the summer months. The hands are the principal sufferers as they must be kept exposed to the cold and as they are being used to pick out letters
and packages from the depths of the red leather bags, it would not do to have them covered with too many heavy gloves.

                    The Waukesha Freeman, January 28, 1904, page 1, col. 4.

MAY LOSE RURAL DELIVERY
If Roads are not Kept in Good Condition

    The post office department has ordered that each carrier of rural mail must keep accurate account of the condition of the roads which he travels, and send in with his monthly report an exact account of impassable places in the roads, and how much attention the patrons along the route give to keeping the roads in passable condition. It is the purpose of the department to thus test the interest the patrons have in the service and will decide its continuance or discontinuance according to the road conditions shown in the carrier's reports. It will be well for those asking
for rural service, to learn how to make good roads, and then make them - Ex.

                Source; The Waukesha Freeman, February 18, 1904, page 6, col. 2.

CARRIERS IN SESSION
Men Who Deliver Mail in Country Organize
MET AT WAUKESHA ON MONDAY
Geo. Burmeister was Made President
Post Master James Addressed Meeting

    Last Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock, a large and successful meeting was held by Rural Mail Carriers at G. A. R. Hall in this city for the purpose of organizing. Besides carriers from Waukesha County, there was a good sized delegation from Milwaukee County headed by President Kearney of the State Rural Letter Carriers' Association.

    `The local organization starts out in a substantial and successful manner.

    State president Kearney read the address of Post Master Owen of Milwaukee, which was delivered at the annual meeting of the State Association at Milwaukee on Memorial Day, and it was listened to with much interest.

    Post Master A. W. James was present and addressed the meeting and as secretary and treasurer of the State Post Masters' Association, invited the carriers to attend the State meeting of that society in Milwaukee next week.

    The following were chosen officers of the county organization:

    President, Geo. Burmeister of Waukesha; vice-president, Daniel Clohisy, of Eagle; Secretary, Emery A. Turner, of Brookfield; Treasurer, A. C. Ferder, of Waukesha; sergeant -at-arms, Albert Evert, Pewaukee.

    It is expected that other carriers who were not able to be present Monday will at once associate themselves with the society, as every encouragement to the organization is given by Post Office Officials from the top down.

            The Waukesha Freeman, September 6, 1906, page 1, col. 6.
 

Civil Service Examination

    An examination for the position of clerk (male and female) and carrier (male) will be held at the post office in this city (Waukesha) on November 17, 1906.

    For application blanks, and for full information relative to the examination, qualifications, duties, salaries, vacations, promotions, etc., address Secretary, Board of Civil Service Examiners, Post Office,
City.

            Source: Waukesha Freeman, Nov. 8, 1906

The Waukesha Freeman, Apr. 7, 1910 - J. B. Weaver, Pewaukee postmaster

WILL SUSSEX GO TOO?
Report That Postoffice Will Be Discontinued as Result of Free Delivery

    A rumor is current that the Sussex postoffice is about to be discontinued. When the free rural mail delivery was introduced into the county a few months ago, statement was made threat the Sussex office would not be interfered with but would still continue business at the old stand. However the free delivery has greatly cut into the receipts of the office and it is said that the postmaster, D. R. Campbell, does not care to have it continued on the present basis. The Sussex office was established in 1851 and William Weaver, Sr., was the first postmaster.

                     Source: Waukesha Freeman, April 28, 1910, page 4

MORNING MAIL, TEMPLETON - CHANGE?
    Templeton, July 22. - There is a move on to have the morning mail at Templeton come in about 8:30 o'clock instead of the present time. If this arrangement is effected the rural carrier will have to start two hours later, and, as it takes him five hours on a an average to make the trip, he will arrive back at about 2:15 p.m., which will give patrons' out-going mail but a few minutes to be prepared for the afternoon out-going mail.
    On hot days, stormy days when roads are bad and under other unfavorable circumstances, when it will take five and a half hours or more to make the trip, the out-going mail will have to lie in the postoffice until the next morning, which in many cases will delay letters twenty-four hours or more. For instance, a letter written on Friday evening by a patron on the rural route for a patron of a rural route out of Waukesha, if it missed the out-going Saturday mail, would not be delivered until Tuesday. At present mail collected one day will be delivered the following morning.
    There are several patrons on route No. 20 who do many dollars worth of business through the mails and this proposed change is very unsatisfactory to them.
    (The proposed change has not yet been made at any rate as far as could be ascertained by The Freeman. Neither the Waukesha postmaster, H. E. Blair, nor the office at the Soo line station knew anything about it.  - Editor Freeman.)

            Source: Waukesha Freeman

Raymond J. "Mass City Ray" Hein, 79, of Mass City, MI, passed peacefully into eternal life on Wednesday, August 1, 2007, at home from cancer. He was born on October 9, 1927, in Milwaukee, son of the late Andrew Hein and Clara M. Fischer (formerly of Ontonagon, MI).