Post office and mail service
| A few lines more about driving the mail and postal service. In the early days, there was no roads on the Gaspé Peninsula, only a trail through the forest and along the seashore, and the journey from place to place was tiresome as I have heard the old folks relate. I have been told the first post office was in Carleton in 1796. The mail used to come once a year from Fredericton, N.B., and in 1805, somewhere in the Bay of Chaleur was a post office kept by a man whose name was J.B. Mann. Next, came the Gaspé service and the post office was in charge of Henry Johnson in 1819. He was living in Douglastown and in 1829, matters got better and the mail for Bay of Chaleur and Gaspé came three times during the letters only were sent by vessels or schooners going from Québec to Gaspé and Chaleur Bay. But this service was not satisfactory and John Le Boutillier applied for a regular post service between Gaspé and the Bay of Chaleur. Archibald Kerr was the first mail contractor on the Gaspé Peninsula; he and his sons used to take the mail from Port-Daniel to Dalhousie. At Port-Daniel, the courier from Gaspé met the one from the west, like others, on snowshoes. The usual trip per day was from Port-Daniel to Percé, 50 miles difference. Going up the St. Lawrence River, out on that shore via river from Gaspé to Québec. The mail was carried on snowshoes. One of the earliest couriers was Edward Synnett - he made on journey through the winter 104 years ago. Once he made a journey in one day, 54 miles from Magdalen River to Griffon Cove, he and an Indian. The Indian gave out, but the white man stuggled on alone. The couriers had to often take shelter in camps and shacks. Their wages in them days were paid by the merchants from Gaspé to Port-Daniel. |  |
Nicholas Mullen, one of the old mail carriers, took a month in winter to go from Gaspé to Port-Daniel. In 1939, Benjamin Patterson contracted to carry the mail from Gaspé to Port-Daniel, making the journey in eight days. Most of the way, the only path was along the sea shore when the Indian trail was through the woods, it was no more than 3 feet wide and no bridges over the rivers. There was no stamps or envelopes, the price was stamped on the letter which was folded and sealed secure. When you received a letter, you had to pay the price stamped which varied from 30 ¢ to 60 ¢ for old country letters. The mail contract from Gaspé to Peré from 1851 to 1872 was carried by Abraham Patterson, who usually put up over night at the home of my granddad, Isaac Kennedy; the property now owned by Austin Kennedy. Patterson was succeeded by Tapp and Leggo. The driving of the mail has had many changes. Finally in 1911, it was taken over by the railway, and one daily mail, now of 15 or 20 sacks is heavier than the twice monthly mail of the older days. The couriers in them days suffered varied experiences; cold and many hardships, when we remember the condition of the roads then and now, but mail contractors usually were hardy and strong and always owned the best horses, an animal that will always remain man's best friend.
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Post masters of Douglastown from 1819 to 1938 : Henry
Johnson Charles Veit, |
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