Postal Money Orders from the Plymouth Post Office 1869 – 1872

BY DR. DON S. BALKA TRUSTEE, MARSHALL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Marshall County Museum is the repository for a journal containing postal money orders purchased at and processed by the Plymouth Post Office from Jan. 1, 1869 to July 20,1872. The pages of the journal list the payer, residence of the payer, payee, residence of the payee, post office for the payee, amount of the money order, and the fee charged. In these early years, the safest way to pay bills at distant places was by money orders. Sending cash through the mail was not a good idea. Bank checks were not prevalent at the time. Often one bank would not cash a check drawn on another bank.

During this period, 5,265 money orders were processed at the Plymouth post office. For money orders less than $10, the fee was 10¢; for orders greater than or equal to $10 and less than or equal to $30, the fee was 15¢; and for orders greater than $30, the fee was 25¢. They were limited to amounts less than $1,000.

Payers

Throughout the pages of the journal, many payers, both Plymouth individuals and Marshall County residents, are the same. Some of the individuals appearing frequently include O. H. P. Bailey, Amasa Johnson, A. B. and A. C. Capron, James A. Coarse, B. Nusebaum, D. E. Van Valkenburg, Charles Palmer, H. B. Pershing, John C. Cushman, C. S. S. Todd, C. H. Reeve, Dr. A. O. Borton, and John G. Osborn. They appear on a regular basis throughout the journal and often purchased money orders for the same people or same companies at the same locations. Plymouth companies that are prevalent in the journal include J. E. Westervelt and Company, Cleveland and Nicoles, A. L. Alleman and Company, Koontz and Palmer, Buck and Toan, Koontz and Hoham, Pershing and Richey, and Lauer Brothers, Residences

The residences of the payers are predominantly in Plymouth. Of interest to historians, however, is that several payers lived in Marmont, now known as Culver. There are also payers who lived in Walnut, earlier known as Fredricksburg, Tyner City, now known as just Tyner, and in Walnut Hill, a village north of what is now Lapaz. Other payers lived in Argos, Bourbon, and Bremen. Occasionally, payers were from towns outside Marshall County, such as Rochester, Walkerton, Warsaw, and Lakeville and several from outside Indiana.

Payees

Payees of the money orders were individuals and companies, with many appearing regularly throughout the journal. Some were likely family members. Many were life insurance companies in Cincinnati, Chicago, and New York, including Aetna, American, National, Continental, and Teutonia life insurance companies. Miller Lock Company in Toledo was a common payee, along with the Western News and Chicago Tribune in Chicago, J. C. Kraft and Company in Baltimore, Meyer Brothers in Fort Wayne (a major wholesale drug house founded in 1852), Hull Hoop Skirt Company (steel hoop and skeleton skirt manufacturer) in Birmingham, CT, C. W. Starbuck Company (newspaper, journals) in Cincinnati, South Bend Iron Works (chilled plow manufacturer), Royal Baking Powder Company in Chicago, Singer Manufacturing Company (sewing machines) in Chicago, R. J. Chestnutwood (St. Joseph County Recorder) in South Bend, Fuller, Finch and Fuller (drug company) in Chicago, E.C. Allen and Company (publishing company that printed a wide variety of magazines) in Augusta, ME, Brandriff and Roberts (stove manufacturer), and Miller Brothers (cutlery) in Boston. Residences

The residences of the payees span coast to coast, from Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington DC to California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. South San Diego, California was a curious destination for many money orders. In the Midwest, popular sites were Kansas City, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. For Indiana, there were a great number of money orders being sent to South Bend, Pierceton, Laporte, Valparaiso, Peru, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis. Oddly, there were some made out to payees in Plymouth.

Come to the Museum

For genealogists, the journal has been transcribed and names of individuals and companies can be easily accessed on the computers in the museum. Writing by post office employees was often difficult to decipher, so some entries may have incorrect spellings. There is no issue in finding the residence of payees. Most out-of-state residences of payers are well-known cities or have the state given.