How Was Mail Delivered In 19th Century?

Just from casual observance it seems that it wasn't necessary to put the street number of the addressee (or even the street) on envelopes in much of the 18th century. How did the mailman know where to deliver it? If you lived in Podunk, Iowa I understand that everyone knew everyone, but what if you lived in a big city? When did putting the number and street address become standard? Could I still send mail to Podunk today without a street address and not get it returned?

In the US, for much of the 19th century there was no home delivery and customers had to go to the post office to mail letters or receive letters. Thus, there was no need for a street address. Some, mostly larger, post offices had carriers that picked-up or delivered letters for an additional charge. In addition, there were local posts that would take letters to the post office or deliver letters to an address in the same city, again for a fee. Free home delivery started in 1863 but only in cities. Rural free delivery didn't start until years later.

Many letters in England in the 19thc had the address on them like this one from 1841. see my ebay shop for examples

Alright, so it's 1860 and the population of NYC is about 800,000. Is all of the mail for NYc going to one post office where it waits to be picked up? What if your name is John Smith? If you decide you want your mail delivered, how was that arranged? Can't call on the phone.

No its going to street names and street addresses, some go to post offices for collection just like today. They did have post boxes to incase your name was John Smith.

The average guy in 1860 also didn't get much mail. People generally paid in cash on the spot for any goods or services, there were no utility bills to come in the mail, and advertising by mail hadn't really started yet. Maybe you got a few letters a year from relatives but that was probably about it. It would be a little while longer yet before mail was a daily occurrence for most people. Businesses and wealthy/middle class people would have used the mails more often during that era and they probably would have visited post offices to send and receive mail fairly frequently. The average working Joe of that era - about 90% of the country - didn't use the mails nearly as often as people do today.

But on the other hand there were merchant companies like Fred Huth & Co who received thousands of letters from all over the world. They traded in everything. Ships carried their letters from various ports to London.

Of those 800,000 people, a significant number were illiterate and did not send or receive mail. As noted above, a very large percentage of the mail was business correspondence. For individuals sending and receiving mail, they may have had a post office box, may have used the services of the post office carrier department or a local post. You also sometimes see letters addressed to a name with an occupation so that the letter goes to "John Smith, Attorney" rather than "John Smith, Merchant" or "John Smith, Ship Captain" etc. Similarly, businesses typically had post office boxes or would use the carriers or local posts.

As you went further back only a selected number of people could write if they were not merchants or business men. Here is an example from CARTAGENA? Columbia or Spain? Its sent on the 1st Nov 1784 and hit England 25th Nov, two styles of bishopmarks a London one and a Foreign one probably French. Look at the address no house or street name at all just that he lived at Dartmouth by Devon. This is a family letter. Look how good the postal service was back then. Every destination had set routes and appropriate postmarks and charges applied. The postmen changed at each point along the way. In many cases mail went on a boat or ship and then carried on a horse if distance was far. What I am getting at is the post worked much like today and they knew where the letters had to go to. See these scans if anyone can clarify the red postmark let me know. I thinks its Colombian as it too 24 days. Look how nicely this guy could write to.

Beautifull very old cover.
I collect Colombia, and I can tell is not Cartagena Colombia (used to be called Cartagena de indias).
The cancel says Cartag. Reyno de(E inside the D) Murcia (Murcia is the region in spain where Cartagena is located)

Thanks very much codexluminati for identifying the postmark and confirming its Spain. Now why did it take 24 days to reach France and England? Was it the winter slowing it down? Is there a clearer example of that Cartag. Reyno postmark anywhere?

Speaking of John Smith I just came across this one, what do you notice about the cover?

Addressed to Byron's home - although he was long dead. Or is the test philatelic?

Test is postal history look at the dates in the postmarks, you have two of each postmark one day apart. The mail was too late because?

In the US, for some mail the cover was advertised in the local newspaper if there was no address of building/facility name. Once the cover was advertised, the receiver would go to the post office and pickup his/her mail. If no one picked it up, it went to the dead letter office and often stamped "unclaimed" or it was "return to sender".

Attached is an example of an "Advertised" cover from Batvia NY to Chicago from 1864.

Mail (Ship?) conveyance per the route had already left.

Nice markings on the Batvia cover, great auxiliary handstamp!
An Oval ADVERTIZED and a straight line JAN 4 were applied at the Taunton, Mass po when Mr. Antonio Francisco Lazaro didn't pick up his letter from Mendocino, Cal. in Dec of 1871. They held it for a month when it was again postmarked on the reverse. Taunton postmarked it twice, two ads?