Canada - Very Early Postal History : Help Wanted

It appears that we have a number of very knowledgeable members on this forum for Canada. I need your help.

I am looking for a reference source that discusses the early development of the Post Office and postal history of Canada, under the British postal system.

I have found that the British established post offices at Montreal, Quebec, and Three Rivers in 1764.

The ideal reference would provide a table of post offices established after that date, through about 1800 or 1820, with the dates (year or more specific), and where known, who was the initial postmaster(s), etc.

My only personal library reference is William Smith, "History of the Post Office in British North America", but the establishment of post offices is scattered throughout at random, and only year dates are provided. Plus he has a few conflicts in the dates he provides. Has another writer improved on this post office information?

I have tried most of the usual on-line searches, with only marginal results.

Thanks for any recommendations as to where to continue to look.

Mike

"The Encyclopedia of British Empire Postage Stamps, 1639-1952, Volume V, The Empire in North America" published by Robson Lowe might be helpful.

This web site in french explains the post system in the Nouvelle-France before 1763.
https://www.cfqlmc.org/bulletin-mem...-a-nos-jours

j'espère que vous pourrez lire le français

Robert

Merci pour le lien. Tres interessant. Very informative.

Une peu!

It was high school 50 years ago, but with Google translate and DeepL, I can get through a number of languages.

The major problem is the computer translators are generally keyed to translating literary language, where as a lot of things I try to translate are things like postal laws and philatelic technical stuff, and I have to bend the translations into the proper form.

Mike

This may be useful!

https://www.franceandcolonies.org/p...154_supp.pdf

I did a translation of the part concerning Nouvelle France.

The postal service in Nouvelle France

Since the 1700's there was exchanges of private and official mail between France and his Canadian colony. The mail comes by boat generally from La Rochelle harbor for Quebec City. Since the St-Lawrence River is frozen six months a year, the boats arrive in spring. Before 1713 the mail was often sent to Acadia to avoid the ices of the St-Lawrence and then sent to France.

The arrival of boats from France bringing news and mail was a big event. The settlers would go by barks meeting the boats at sea to bring back the mail. In 1732, the French Intendant, Gilles Hocquart, issued a decree describing the regulations for the mail reception. The boat captains must bring the mail to a specific place. The mail is brought after by vessels to Montreal. But with the lack of transportation it was difficult for the inhabitants to receive their mail.

At the end of the 1700's, messengers would carry the government mail. In 1693, even if there is no service to the population, Pedro Da Silva, a Portuguese citizen living in Quebec City, was charged to carry the letters between Montreal and Quebec City. On December 23th 1705, the intendant Raudot put him in charge of distributing the official and the inhabitant mail throughout the colony. Following his death in 1707, he was replaced by his son in law, Jean Moran. Postal connections exist also between the Atlantic English colonies.

In January 1721, esq. Nicolas Lanouiller received the exclusive right to establish a route between Montreal and Quebec City. He proposes to open post offices in Quebec City, Tree Rivers and Montreal and to put in place a courier system with relays under the Postmaster authority.

In 1723, a regular service is establish with France and letters are sent free of charge between Quebec City and La Rochelle. The letters from Paris are sent to the embanking port for 7 sols. The service is irregular, often at the mercy of Quebec City and La Rochelle boats.

1737 is the end of the construction of the "Chemin du Roy", following the St-Lawrence River between Quebec City and Montreal. Because in 1731, Jean-Eustache de Lanoullier, the civil servant in charge of the roads, have intensified the construction of this road slowly progressing since 1706. This brought a regular communication link between the two Nouvelle France major cities and a regular mail service.

Along the "Chemin du Roy", there is postal relays for travelers who supply lodging, carriages, horses and meals and also a ferry service for river crossings. The relays are under the Postmaster authority and can receive mail and money.

In 1760, the Nouvelle-France is conquered by the English. Until the Treaty of Paris, Canada is ruled by the British army and the civil mail cannot be carried normally.

Sylvain.m:

Thank you for the translation. I had gotten much of the gist of it from Google translate.

Unfortunately, this source is a little off track from my original post, as my interest lies entirely with the British postal system which began in 1754 with the post office at Halifax.

GeoffHa:

That's a great help. I've filed a copy away and will add it to my Foreign Resources Portal.

Here is a less complete but multilanguage version: https://www.stampshows.com/translate.html

Another resource for translation support.
http://www.filbert.com/StampListope.../default.htm