Today, unaccompanied minors can travel by plane, usually with a staff member who escorts them through the airport. But what did they do before this? Surprisingly, there are a handful of cases in the United States where babies and children did in fact travel by mail, and miraculously they arrived safely in their chosen destination.
When Did the US Start Delivering Mail?
The United States Postal Service was established by the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1775, with none other than Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. Stamps weren’t issued until 1847; the first one being sold in New York City.
They were available as 5 or 10 cent stamps and featured Ben Franklin and George Washington. Today there are thousands of different unique stamps printed, although there isn’t a specific number. Before 1863, postage only took mail between Post Offices where people had to go to collect their mail. Rarely, some bigger cities offered delivery to the house for an extra fee.
Over the years upgrades to technology changed the way mail was delivered. Some ways our letters have traveled over the years include by foot, steamboat, railroad, the famous pony express—which only operated for a year between 1860 and 1861, planes, and even by reindeer—from 1899-to the early 1900s in parts of Alaska. The Post Office’s Parcel Post began at the beginning of January 1913.
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This opened up shipping opportunities for Americans to get access to goods shipped through the mail, opening up the opportunity for parents to send their children through the mail as an alternative form of travel. One other fun thing that has gone through the mail? Harry Winston used the USPS to get the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian.
Who Was the First Baby to Travel by Mail?
Baby James Beagle, the eight-month-old son of Jesse and Matilda Beagle was “mailed” just after the United States Post Office began to take packages by mail in 1913. No, he wasn’t wrapped in paper or a box, but went in a secure baby carrier. It cost the couple fifteen cents and an extra $50 in insurance. At the time parcels had a strict weight limit of 11 lbs, and little James was just under that limit. Mail carrier Vennon O. Lytle took charge of safely delivering the boy.
Where was the little tot going? James was only travelling a few miles away, something that might seem easy with today’s cars and public transportation, but which was much more difficult at the time. According to the Smithsonian, it was cheaper for the couple to send the child to his grandmother through the mail rather than buying a train ticket. It was certainly a clever way to get around the system, and once the story appeared in the newspaper, others took up the idea as well.
How Many Children Went Through the Mail?
Another well-known story of a child going through the mail was Charlotte May Pierstorff. She went from Grangeville, Idaho to her grandparents a whopping 73 miles away. She was only four years old. Pierstorff actually traveled with a family member who was a clerk for the mail service and played chaperon to see her safely make her journey. Today, her story can be read in Mailing May.
While there are more stories of kids or babies being taken through the mail, it wasn’t something commonly seen all the time. There is evidence that it took place through archived newspapers, and was enough of a problem that the USPS took steps to end the practice by posting announcements in many large newspapers after a decision was made.
The Los Angeles Times printed on June 14, 1920 that the “Parcel post won’t accept children… First Assistant Postmaster General Koons ruled… in passing upon two applications received at the Washington city post office for the transportation of children through the mails.”
Did Adults Travel by Mail?
The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, who escaped from Richmond Va. in a box 3 feet long 2 1/2 ft. deep and 2 ft wide. Publ. by A. Donnelly, no. 19 1/2 Courtland St, NY 1850. Source: Library of Congress.
One of the most famous stories of an adult mailing themselves through the mail is Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who escaped to freedom by mailing himself in a crate from Virginia to Philadelphia. The box was tiny, only three feet by two, lined to soften any knocking around that happened, with a few small holes that allowed Henry to see a small bit of the world and provide him with oxygen.
Henry Box Brown was born in 1815 and worked on both a plantation and in a tobacco factory at the age of fifteen after the death of his original enslaver. After his wife and children were sold to an enslaver in a different state he planned his escape with the aid of a friend. On March 23, 1849 Brown climbed into the box and spent a little over 24 hours traveling by wagon, boat, and railroad to safety.
The package was received by James Miller McKim, leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. McKim was a Presbyterian minister, editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman and supporter of the underground railroad organizations.
