Horseheads, Elmira, NY Cover To Prussia

I just picked up a really great cover from the early to mid 1870's. The postal cancel is from Elmira, NY and the cover addressed to Hess Oldendorf, Prussia. I'll try and get pictures posted later. I have a bunch of questions but the first one is this; has anyone ever seen a duplex cancel from Elmira, NY using a horses head? Is the cancel genuin?

Can anyone make out the horse heads I mentioned?

Interesting. When I first saw your headline, I thought 'Horseheads' referred to the town of Horseheads, NY which is just a few miles (5-7) north west of Elmira (next town over) on Route 17. Could that have anything to do with it?

From what I've been researching I think horseheads, is, or was, part of Elmira. Still looking for more information but its been an interesting read so far. I did learn that,

"The Town of Horseheads is north of the City of Elmira, upon which it borders. There is also a village named Horseheads in the town. It is part of the 'Elmira, New York"

"Elmira served as a transportation hub for New York's Southern Tier in the 1800s, connecting commercial centers in Rochester and Buffalo with Albany and New York City, via the canal system and railroads. The city was the southern terminus of the Chemung Canal (completed in 1833); later, the Junction Canal was constructed to connect Elmira with Corning, facilitating transport of coal from the Pennsylvania mines via the Northern branch of the Susquehanna Canal system. In 1849, the New York and Erie Railroad was built through Elmira, giving the area a New York City to Buffalo route. In 1850, the Elmira and Jefferson Railroad gave the area a route north and the Elmira and Williamsport Railroad a route south in 1854. This made the city a prime location for an Army training and muster point early in the Civil War. In 1872 the Utica Ithaca and Elmira Railroad was begun, eventually creating a route to Cortland and Syracuse via Horseheads, Breesport and VanEtten. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was completed in 1884, which competed with the Erie's New York City to Buffalo line."

I'm guessing this letter went via; RPO through Horseheads to ? Syracuse ? then to Prussia?

Horsehead cancels especially appropriate for a letter from tanners and curriers.

Like cookies and milk Doug.

Just now researching Hass, Oldendorf. What history.

"During the 17th century, the landgraviate was internally divided for dynastic purposes, without allodial rights, into:

the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg (1627–1834)
the Landgraviate of Hesse-Wanfried-(Rheinfels) (1649–1755)
the Landgraviate of Hesse-Philippsthal
Landgraviate of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld
These were reunited with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel when each particular branch died out without issue."

there is going to be a lot of Google-ing involved in that last post for me! ha-ha!

Still searching and reading, trying to learn more about the sender and recipient.

Is the back stamp from Oldendorf a common box type back stamp for the area? Can anyone tell me anything about it? Also, Can anyone make out the date for the back stamp?

Hi 597596,

The backstamp appears to be dated 30th August 1877 in the period 7pm to 8pm.

Edit: I originally wrote "7am to 8am" but I believe the "A" stands for "Abend", i.e. "evening".

Thanks Nigelc