The material below was originally posted in another thread here...
http://goscf.com/t/86788This morning, I determined that it was not within the theme of the original thread, so I moved it to this new thread. Enjoy...
Since the subject of Ben Franklin and his role as the Postmaster General of British North America -- the Colonies and Canada -- came up in another thread, the following information might be of interest.
On August 10, 1753, Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the Deputy Postmaster General of the British Colonies in America jointly with William Hunter. While they were jointly responsible for all mails in British North America, Franklin spent most of his time in the Colonies, while Hunter was located in Canada.
The practice of issuing a postmaster commission document to newly appointed postmasters began during this time. The following is the commission issued by Franklin and Hunter for W. Thomas Vernon as postmaster at Newport, Rhode Island, on December 28, 1754.
This image is from the collection of the New York Public Library
William Hunter served with Franklin until 1761. He and Franklin were scheduled to be reappointed when Hunter became ill and died before the appointment came through. He was then replaced by John Foxworth, who was appointed as a Deputy Postmaster General on August 12, 1761. They served together until Franklin was dismissed by the Crown in 1775 because of his loyalist tendencies towards the Colonists.
Franklin and Foxworth also issued postmaster commissions.
This commission is for the appointment of Abraham Hunt as the Postmaster at Newport, Rhode Island, and is dated Jan 20, 1764. This image is from Robert A Siegel Sale 1129 Lot 301.
Franklin was removed from his position as a Deputy Postmaster General for the Crown on January 31, 1875, and was replaced by Hugh Finlay. On July 26, 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the first Postmaster General of the new Continental Post. He also issued postmaster commissions for the Continental Post.
This commission is also for the appointment of Abraham Hunt as the Postmaster at Newport, Rhode Island, and is dated Oct 13, 1775. Again, this image is from Robert A Siegel Sale 1129 Lot 301. These two Franklin commissions are the only examples held in private collections, and for many years were in the personal collection of USPS Postmaster General Benjamin F. Bailar. A total of seven of the Benjamin Franklin commissions are believed to have survived, the remainder in institutional collections
And, no, neither of these latter examples are from my collection.
Mike L
Posted 05/04/2024 10:41 am
