How To Date Dateless Covers? Circa 1880 Ravenna OH To Rochester NY

Cant be any earlier than September 4 1877, the date when Quaker Mills trademarked "a figure of a man in 'Quaker garb.'" shown under the return address.
Don

Sometimes you get lucky and there is a date in the receiving marking, or sometimes the person or company that received the letter handwrote a note with a year date on the cover as to the day they received it or the day they answered it, but more often than not one needs to go by whatever clues there may be and be happy with a date range that is sometimes rather wide. 51studebaker points out one good clue as to the earliest it could be - 1888 since the cover is canceled on June 16 and the Quaker Man logo began on September 4, 1887. But this does not set a year on the other end of the range as it could be 1889 or 1890 or 1891 or even later. It is possible that somewhere is a reference book with Ravena, Ohio and Rochester, NY cancels and the date ranges different ones were used, but I do not know if such reference books exist. And even then, later dates are possible because once a cancelling device is made it can lie around a post office and be used at later dates.

If someone has a Ancestry.com subscription they might be able to look up the addressee and determine when they lived at that address. Sometimes you can get lucky.
Don

Thank you both for the reply, these are good tips. I did find the 1871 Rochester directory on Google for Mr Edward Corning, but the earliest it can be is 1878 as 51studebaker mentions September 1877 is the logo copyright. I will also try ancestry.com.

Kimo, great thoughts but I do not think it can be later than 1883 as that is when the 2c per half ounce and 4c per ounce rates went into effect (note above Scott 210 in the scott catalog). I also have such a cover with the Quaker man as a 2c usage, and by 1888 Ravenna cancels were dated.

Another approach might be researching the cancellations. I set a search up for Ravenna on ebay. I came across this UX3 card with dateless Ravenna, and the reverse is dated in the writers hand as November 21, 1874. It is similar but has a star killer. With enough dateable cancel references it might be possible to bracket as well.

Here is the image used with permission of adman881 the owner.

Kimo's date are 10 years later than they should be, so please adjust reading that post accordingly.

To summarize, this cover must date from after the Quaker trademark date of 9/4/1877 and before the change of the letter rate to 2 cents, Oct 1, 1883. Being dated in June, that rules our 1877. Leaving it 1878-1883. Sometimes that is as close as you can get for a cover. Narrowing it much more indeed requires knowledge about the recipient or the cancels. Cancel date ranges are always being extended as new examples are found, and finding detailed listings for other than the largest towns is challenging.

"c1880" isn't a bad label for it.

Recipient research is bearing fruit. I see the "Care T.B. And W Corning." Thought this may be the parents, but I found a source it is the T.B. And W Corning banking firm formed by brothers Timothy B. And William Sr Corning in 1870. Edward is the son of William. Esquire on his name suggests he was an attorney. So this cover may have had to do with financing the early Mill operations, or other legal matters. The 1877 Rochester Directory mentions Edward as Bookeeper. As prominent as the Corning family was to Rochester, I'll pursue info on Edward and when he became deceased. My feeling is he was a young man at the time, however.

https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fi...FileId=30926

The time of journey between Ravenna and Boston looks to be quick, somewhere between 31 and maybe 48 hours. Would this have had to be by railway and if yes can we determine when the rail operations were in affect? I see Ravenna to Boston is 625 miles.

Circa 1880 probably the best I'll get absent any other dateable examples that may surface. As I learn more I'll update the thread. Certainly it answers the question dating yearless cancels is a challenge! Thanks all, Jeremy

Thanks, John. I you are correct, I was thinking 1879 but somehow wound up typing 1889. My bad.