Odd Connecticut Cover - Stamp?

Hi, I have puzzled over this cover for a long time. It was mailed from Tylerville, Connecticut, March 21, 1892 (letter inside is dated March 18, 1892). It mentions a bad snowstorm "today" which is perhaps why it wasn't mailed for 3 days. Anyway, you will see first that there is no stamp, and there is no sign there ever was one. Instead, someone (not the same handwriting as the letter) drew a box in the corner and marked it U.S. Postage 2 cents. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Also, the receiving marks on the back indicate that instead of going from Tylerville to Essex, Connecticut - a perhaps 20 minute drive today - it went to Salem, Mass, received on March 22, and back to Essex on March 23. Any thoughts?
Mike Wells

I can't help much about the handwritten "postage", unless a post office clerk had too much time on their hands.

However, as to the Salem, Massachusetts backstamp, since there is a town of Essex, Massachusetts not too far away from Salem, it could be that the letter was erroneously directed to Massachusetts in error and when the mistake was caught, it was redirected back to Connecticut.

If you're interested in some history on the addressee of your cover, here's something you don't find everyday: The pictured lady with the hat sitting on the steps is none other than Effie Pratt of Essex, Connecticut!



The full photo and details about it are provided at this link:

http://cslib.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/co...oll0/id/1814

In fact the Pratt family ancestry suggests they were one of the founding families of Essex, Connecticut.

Also, Effie later married Linwell Behrens, and the ancestry of that connection is recorded in this 1997 news article:

http://articles.courant.com/1997-05...-pratt-house

Hi, thanks for the reply. I wondered if someone drew it on after it went through the mail, but then wondered why.

By the way, I didn't bother to mention it in my post, but Effie Pratt Behrens was a cousin of my grandmothers (several times removed, but they lived near each other). The cover came from her daughter's estate when her daughter died in 1992. But I had never seen that Essex photo before, thanks for that too! Amazing what you find on the internet. Mike Wells

Here is my guess regarding the cover. The cover was brought to the Tylerville post office without postage. The post office had run out of stamps and due to the snowstorm did not get their replacements on time. The postmaster made an impromptu provisional postal marking, and then validated it by cancelling it with the CDS handstamp.

That is the same Pratt family that is Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. It was started as an industrial school it is now an excellent school of the arts and design.

Since I collect Middlesex County, Connecticut postal history, and Tylerville was a very small post office now dead, if it was indeed an impromptu "provisional" then that would be really interesting addition to that collection. But I guess we will never know for sure. Thank you to all who responded, I appreciate it.