In the days of having a delivery service for nearly everything, there’s one thing that we most certainly never put in the mail: our children. While that may seem like a whacky concept, back at the beginning of the 20th-century, the concept of children being sent through the mail to grandparents or other relatives wasn’t completely unheard of. (1)
When Children Were Sent Through The Mail
Throughout much of the 20th century, mail carriers were extremely important people, particularly for those living in more remote, rural communities. When the Post Office finally allowed the mailing of large packages in 1913, they proved just how much their communities trusted them. More than one set of parents decided to take advantage of the increased size and weight limit, opting to have their children sent through the mail to grandparents or other relatives. (1)
James Beagle
Just weeks after the new rules, Ohio couple Jesse and Mathilda Beagle mailed their eight-month-old son James to his grandmother’s house a few miles away. They purchased his 15-cent postage stamp and insured him for $50 and sent him with the postman. (1)
He was the first of many children mailed through rural routes to relatives who lived further away. After all, it was much cheaper than a train ticket. Of course, these children weren’t stuffed into packages and put in the mailman’s bag along with the rest of the letters and packages, they were simply accompanied by the postman from point A to point B. (1)
Mailing May
These stories began cropping up all over, however, none were as famous as the one about four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff. In February of 1914, they gave her a stamp and sent her with the mail on the train to her grandmother’s house who lived 73 miles away. (1)
The story eventually became a children’s book that is titled Mailing May. (1)
The true story is that her mother’s cousin was a clerk for the railway mail service. Likely his influence and willingness to chaperone her had something to do with mail officials allowing the little girl to be sent through the mail. (1)
Children Weren’t The Only Strange Packages
The regulations when parcel service came into effect were quite vague. People were mailing eggs, bricks, snakes, and other strange items through the post. (2)
“The first few years of parcel post service—it was a bit of a mess,” says Nancy Pope, head curator of history at the National Postal Museum. “You had different towns getting away with different things, depending on how their postmaster read the regulations.” (2)
At that time, the mailman wasn’t just some stranger who collects and drops off your mail each day. He was a well-known, trusted member of the community. In the case of children, it was sort of like asking your neighbor or a close friend to drop your child off at your parents’ place because, well, they were already heading by there, anyway. (2)
Post Mast Finally Bans Children Sent Through The Mail
Eventually, the postmaster made an official declaration that parents could no longer have their children sent through the mail. Despite this, the postman continued to be an important, trusted civil servant to those living in rural communities for quite some time. (1)
“Mail carriers were trusted servants, and that goes to prove it,” says United States Postal Service historian Jenny Lynch“There are stories of rural carriers delivering babies and taking [care of the] sick. Even now, they’ll save lives because they’re sometimes the only persons that visit a remote household every day.” (1)
So while it might sound crazier than it seems, it is fun to picture a baby sitting on a pile of mail with a stamp attached to their jumper.
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References
- “A Brief History of Children Sent Through the Mail.” Smithsonian Mag. Danny Lewis. June 14, 2016.
- “When People Used the Postal Service to Mail Their Children.” History. Becky Little. August 21, 2020.