Dead Post Offices (Dpo/D.p.o) In Ontario/Canada

One of my 5c beavers (Canada Scott#15, 1859-1864) is postmarked Edwards S.W. Oc 5 66, which I assume is the small village of Edwards, Ontario near Ottawa, (there is a picture of it on Google Maps). Apparently it still has a post office.

My first thought was that it was a dead post office or discontinued post office (dpo) but in searching for reference material on dead post offices in Ontario, or Canada for that matter, on the web I was not successful. Is that info available (i.e., listed) on the web or, failing that, is there a reference book?

Note: title edited (August 2013)to improve search results

Canada Post Offices, 1755/1895

Canada Post Offices, 1755/1895 , 1972 by Frank W. Campbell. A thorough index of Canadian post office details during the dates given. Hard-cover, 191 p.

The current list price for this book is C$40-50.

Stamporator: thanks - will try my library first just in case they have it.

Russ: thanks

Hello Cynical

You also might want to try the Canadian Postal Archives at

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/arc...index-e.html

As long as you know the electoral county and the name of the Post Office in question, this site will give you opening and closing dates wherever applicable.

Hope this helps you?

Chimo

Bujutsu

Bujutsu: thanks for your post. Given the site that you gave me I looked up 3 post offices: Cargill, Pinkerton and Eden Grove (electoral Grey-Bruce but all in Bruce County) and found that Pinkerton and Eden Grove post offices have closed. Apparently Cargill is still operating in a variety store.

My question for you, given your immense knowledge of local postal operations in southern Ontario: would the operation out of a variety store in Cargill be considered an official post office with a "postmaster"?

I ask this in light of the fact that after much revamping of the post office system there are now seemingly "franchise" operations that in bigger centres don't seem to stay in one place very long (i.e., they might be in a Zeller's store for a while or then show up in a Shopper's Drug Mart, or whatever). They can be almost amoeba-like.

Hi Cynical

The answer to your question is 'yes'. A Postmaster was either employed by the Canadian Post Office or was awarded a 'contract' to be a Postmaster for any given Post Office.

I have in my collection post office markings that were either located in private homes, general stores and hotels plus your normal post office facility, usually a major town.

The names you see in the Canadian Post Office Archives are all bonafide Postmasters and they can be operating the post office from any of the above structures I have mentioned. Nowadays, especially in the larger centers, including towns like Bracebridge, thay are now called "Lead Hands". To the best of my knowledge, the smaller communities here still have Postmasters. I will check with a friend of mine who works in a PO in the area here to verify my last statement.

Hope this helps

Chimo

Bujutsu

Bujutsu: I have been remiss in not thanking you for the postmaster information. I have also used your link re old post offices numerous times.

A fellow local collector showed me his vast collection with postmarks from 10 sunken towns in Ontario. His collection has been written about in BNAPS. I don't actively search out these but definatly keep my eyes open .

Lost Villages - The Lost Villages are ten communities (Aultsville, Dickinson's Landing, Farran's Point, Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Santa Cruz, Sheek's Island, Wales, Woodlands) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the former townships of Cornwall and Osnabruck (now South Stormont) near Cornwall, which were permanently submerged by the creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1958.

The hamlet of Gillies Hill in Bruce County is one of Ontario's "ghost towns". (see link below)

http://www.ghosttownpix.com/ontario...ieshill.html

Its post office opened in 1874 and closed in 1909. Does anyone have any postmarks/cancellations for this post office (dpo)?

Another Ontario Ghost Town was the community of Lovat located a few miles southwest of Paisley, Ontario, where it straddled the town line separating Bruce Township and Greenock Township in Bruce County (see link below). Lovat, and many places like it, were known as "postal hamlets" or "postal villages".

http://www.ghosttownpix.com/ontario...s/lovat.html

The Lovat Post Office opened in 1864 and closed in 1913. Below is a link to a picture of it (cira 1904).

http://www.ghosttownpix.com/ontario...ovatimg.html

I have two covers that passed through the Lovat Post Office. They were both posted from Chatham to the same person in Lovat. The first (see below) is postmarked October 15, 1907, on what I believe is a 1905 King Edward VII postal stationary envelope (Canada Scott#U16):



The cover, I assume, would have traveled from Chatham by train to ultimately reach the Palmerston hub (a train-spotter's paradise at the time) to then be whisked northwest through the rapidly diminishing Queen's Bush over the old Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway track, which, by this time, had merged into the Grand Trunk system and later Canadian National. The transit backstamp (see below) indicates next day arrival in Paisley. The date on the Lovat receiving mark is not discernible but the few miles from Paisley to Lovat probably happened the next day via horse and wagon, or cutter, buggy or sleigh depending on the weather.



The second cover was sent from Chatham to the same person on Jan 15,1908 and it arrived in Paisley on the 16th again and Lovat the next day as can been seen from this image of the cover back:



The cover back provides an added bonus for those who have followed the post this far in that it shows a penciled recipe for a "good salve", however, you will need "sweet oil" to make it.

All that remains of Lovat is a well-maintained cemetery. A list of people buried there (including a past postmaster If I'm not mistaken) can be seen by following the link below:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...Scid=2353444

I found this small cover in the United States part of my collection and it fits here. It was mailed from Detroit on April 15, 1917, based on the April 16, 1917, Paisley receiving mark on the back. I assume the stamp is either US Scott#425 or US Scott#463 depending on whether or not it is on water-marked paper. Unless the stamp had been horded I assume it was the latter as it is my understanding that the postal department had run out of watermarked paper roughly nine months before this mailing.


US Scott#463/US Scott#425? Detroit, Mich-Paisley, Ont-possible mourning cover


I put the above cover here to show that the Lovat Post Office had closed and the area was now part of the rural route delivery system served from Paisley. The sender, however, wasn't taking any chances having written "Lovat" in brackets in the bottom left corner.

The placement of the stamp in the upper left corner may relate to a death in the family the previous month (see cemetery link above), which would make this a "mourning" cover that may have contained a small sympathy card.

By integrating the covers shown here with the cemetery link one can appreciate the efforts made by a person or persons to keeping the ancestral lineage current.

The Rocky Saugeen Post Office was located a few miles north of Durham, Ontario in Grey County where the river of the same name crosses Highway 6. The post office opened on August 1, 1885. The occasion was recognized in the following manner by The Markdale Standard (October 1, 1885):




The post office closed on April 30, 1913. The year 1913 is a common closing date for many hamlet post offices apparently because for many of them rural mail delivery was instigated from nearby larger centres at this time.

Below is one of my Rocky Saugeen cancels on a damaged small Queen Victoria stamp that might be Canada Scott#37. I have a difficult time distinguishing between #37 and #41 so rather than waste time I tend to just lump them in #37. Hopefully someone can make out the date for me.

Rocky Saugeen Postmark/Cancel

I would say maybe January 5, 1884/ 1894 for the date?

cynical

I believe your stamp date is Jan, 30th 1894

Gentlemen: thanks for taking the time to ponder my question. I was in the Jan 5,1894 camp prior to posting but after seeing Wert's image I'm going with Jan 30, 1894.