IS THAT A POSTMASTER IN YOUR FAMILY TREE?
by George Morgan

Does the title of this week's column evoke an image of a letter carrier having been chased by a vicious dog up a tree? Well, think again. In "Along Those Lines ..." this week we're going to discuss some special records at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Yes, this week we're going postal!

I learned a few years ago that my great-grandfather, Green Berry HOLDER, had once been the postmaster of the small town of Lindale, GA. It wasn't until I visited that small post office in July 1997, that I learned that he was, in fact, its first postmaster -- appointed 14 July 1886 until about 15 January 1889.

You're probably aware of all the microfilm that NARA has on the censuses of 1790 through 1920 census (minus 1890), the SOUNDEX, ships passenger lists and others. But did you know about the Post Office Records? I didn't until I began a search for any record of my great-grandfather's tenure as postmaster at Lindale, GA.

There are four series of microfilm at the National Archives relating to post office records. Perhaps you're looking for information about an ancestor who was a postmaster. Or are you looking for the location of a post office that no longer exists? These records can be invaluable to the genealogist. Let's look at each group of microfilm that constitute the NARA "Records of the Post Office Department - Record Group (RG 48)".

M1126 - Post Office Department Reports of Site Locations, 1837-1950 (683 rolls)
These records contain a variety of information. Specifically, there are reports on the location of post offices. Early reports tend to be scanty; later reports contain more information. In many cases there are maps of the location of the post office. Some of these are crude but others are well-drawn and contain intensive, detailed information. These can provide some additional information for you if you're interested in your ancestor's community.

M1131 - Record of Appointment of Postmasters, Oct. 1789-1832 (4 rolls)
These early records provide some limited details about postmaster appointments and post office locations. They are arranged alphabetically by name of post office, the state in which it was located, dates of establishment and discontinuance of the post offices, the names of postmasters, and the dates of postmasters' appointments. They're arranged as follows:

Roll 1 1789-1818
Roll 2 1814-1823 (overlaps roll 1)
Roll 3 1824-1828
Roll 4 1828-1832

M841 - Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-Sept. 30, 1971 (145 rolls)
Picking up where M1131 leaves off, these microfilm rolls are arranged alphabetically by state, then by county within the state, and then by name of post office. The content is similar to the pre-1832 records. For small rural post offices, many of which were situated in a family store, you may find a series of family members who acted as postmasters. Post offices were found in taverns, hotels, stores and mills -- wherever the need existed and someone was willing to take responsibility (and a little pay). You'll also find that women were often appointed as postmasters of smaller rural post offices.

M601 - Letters Sent by the Postmaster General, 1789-1836 (50 rolls)
These microfilm are of interest if you're studying the establishment of the postal network between 1789 when our formal United States government was being organized and 1836 when tremendous expansion westward was taking place.

What a terrific resource for maps, geographic descriptions, locations of defunct post offices, and to corroborate information about postmasters' appointments!

And what else did I get from my research? I found that the assistant postmaster designated at the time of my great-grandfather's appointment is very probably his wife's sister's husband. More to research!

In the meantime, I came across a tremendous Web site recently. American Slave Narratives: An Anthology (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/wpa/wpahome.html) is a collection of interviews done in 1936-1938 during which time over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. The material at this Web site includes interview text, photographs and, in one case, a sound recording of portions of the interview. This site gets an A+ on my list!