Did 1870 Towns Use Their Own Cancel Or Use Larger City/Town Cancels..?

I have plenty of 1800's maps with post offices within a certain Township.

I took one township to investigate this theory.
I am familiar with Wentworth Township with Hamilton as the major city with 45 smaller towns in the 1800's.

I was wondering if back then each town within a Township had their own town cancel, or used the major Town/City as their cancel...?...The reason I ask this is I am having a hard time finding cancels from these smaller towns and lots from the major Cit of Hamilton.

Below are the P.O.'s involved and old town names compared with actual now a day names.




Below is 2 towns that have name changes to what is there today.



Lots of these smaller P.O. areas closed circa 100 years ago as shown below thanks to "Library and Archives Canada" database.



Bottom line...Does anyone have information whether small Town cancels were used, or everyone used the common large City cancel...?

Robert

Robert,

AFAIK, all (or almost all) of those offices would have had their own hammer. A good source would be "Ontario Broken Circles" by W. Bruce Graham as it lists actual hammers used by all post offices in Ontario.

As an example, Woodburn, a small postoffice, used some 6 different hammers. I have an example as a receiver in my collection. I'll see if I can find a scan.

My own collection interest is more centered on Lincoln county. The smaller postoffices do have their own hammers, but they are rare and hard to find.

Jan

Jan..Good info.



Robert

Robert,

Here, as promised, is the Woodburn cancel (with the variant spelling Woodbourne):




Also, I have the following list of post offices in Wentworth county that opened in the 1800's:

Alberton Ontario 1857-05-01
Albert Town Ontario 1852-04-06
Aldershot Ontario 1856-12-01
Ancaster Ontario 1824-??-??
Bakersville Ontario 1865-09-01
Bartonville Ontario 1857-05-01
Binbrooke Ontario 1848-06-06
Bullock's Corners Ontario 1874-03-01
Burlington Beach Ontario 1884-07-01
Carlisle Ontario 1851-09-06
Carluke Ontario 1854-05-01
Chedoke Ontario 1891-03-01
Christie Ontario 1886-06-01
Clappison Ontario 1882-05-01
Clappison's Corners Ontario 1890-10-01
Clyde Ontario 1857-07-01
Copetown Ontario 1851-08-06
Darnley Ontario 1840-08-06
Dundas Ontario E 1814-??-??
Elfrida Ontario 1865-03-01
Flamborough Centre Ontario 1881-01-01
Freelton Ontario 1854-12-01
Fruitland Ontario 1894-11-01
Glanford Ontario 1847-03-06
Glanford Station Ontario 1887-01-01
Greensville Ontario 1853-06-01
Hamilton Ontario BEM 1835-??-??
Hamilton Beach Ontario 1891-11-01
Hamilton - James Street Ontario 188?-??-??
Hamilton - Pearl Street Ontario 1891-04-01
Hamilton - Steven Street Ontario 1891-04-01
Hannon Ontario 1854-03-01
Hayesland Ontario 1870-05-01
Jerseyville Ontario 1852-02-06
Lynden Ontario 1851-02-06
Mill Grove Ontario 1852-06-06
Mount Albion Ontario 1852-11-06
Mountsberg Ontario 1863-01-01
North Barton Ontario 1888-04-01
North Glanford Ontario 1854-03-01
Ontario Ontario 1851-12-06
Orkney Ontario 1878-05-01
Renforth Ontario 1871-09-01
Renton Station Ontario 1874-04-01
Rockton Ontario E 1851-08-06
Ryckman's Corners Ontario 1854-01-01
Sheffield Ontario 1837-04-01
Sinclairville Ontario 1874-07-01
Southcote Ontario 1894-05-01
Stony Creek Ontario 1826-??-??
Strabane Ontario 1851-06-06
Tapleytown Ontario 1852-08-06
Trinity Ontario 1892-02-01
Troy Ontario 1852-05-06
Tweedside Ontario 1861-02-01
Valens Ontario 1885-04-01
Vinemount Ontario 1895-06-01
Waterdown Ontario E 1840-08-06
Weir Ontario 1878-06-01
West Flamborough Ontario 1840-04-06
Westover Ontario 1855-08-01
Winona Ontario 1868-04-01
Woodburn Ontario 1852-08-06

Hi Jan

Good info..There are a few missing, but great items..Thanks

Robert

HeyJ an..Your list is good, but searching ""library and Archives Canada"" I noticed discrepancies on opening dates..See below.
Also there are soe towns missing off the list..Example--Mount Hope, Ontario.

Hi Robert,

I appreciate you looking for errors. The ones you have given me can be explained as follows:

Albert Town opened 1852-04-06, closed 1852-10-05, then reopened 1854-05-01, closed again 1854, then reopened as Alberton 1857-05-01.

Greensville opened 1853-06-01 and changed its name to Bullock's Corners 1874-03-01. Then on 1874-04-01 a new postoffice named Greensville opened in the same township.

Mount Hope opened 1913-08-01. It was the third post office in Ontario with that name. The first Mount Hope opened 1869-11-01 and was in Middlesex county and changed its name to Cairngorm 1871-12-01. The second Mount Hope opened 1884-12-01 in Bruce county and finally closed 1912-12-31.

Let me know if you find any other inconsistancies.

Jan

Hey Jan

I am having a hard time wondering where you are getting dates of P.O. openings...I am going by ""Library and Archives Canada"" database.

You show Mount Hope in Wentworth County opening 1913-08-01...LAC shows it opening 1847-03-06.




Your friend....Robert

Hi Robert,

My data is from "Ontario Post Offices" by Robert Smith. It is confirmed by " Canada Post Offices 1755-1895" by Campbell which lists the Mount Hopes in Bruce county and Middlesex county, but not Wentworth.

I see now. Glanford opened 1847-03-06 and changed its name to Mount Hope 1913-08-01.

Jan

To be precise, the name change from Glanford to Mount Hope was reported in the quarterly supplement to the Canada Postal Guide for August, September, October 1913, so could have occurred on any day in that 3 month period, not necessarily 1 August.

Jan

Ya..Very strange...Archives Canada shows same date exactly for both Post offices.

Robert

Hello Robert, Regarding Mount Hope and Glanford - Pay attention to all the information from Archives Canada searches

Glanford Post Office
Opened 1847 March 6
Renamed 1913 August 1
Subsequent name Mount Hope

In other words all mail processed by this office between 1847 March 6 and 1913 August 1 will have a Glanford Postmark and after 1913 August 1 that name will no longer appear and mail will have a Mount Hope Postmark.
In the archives all the information from the previous office name Glanford, was copied in to the file under the new name Mount Hope. Therefore opening date and postmaster information for the new office name (Mount Hope) will always include the information from the former office name.