Question On Routes 1843 Mentioned In Official Letter

i have this letter from elista whittlesey, Sixth Auditor of the
Treasury to john walker esq
mentioning silas moore and routes 1401,1609,40,53 for witch payment is requested.

i am wondering if the combination of names and routes, and year 1843, makes that anyone understands what routes this is and potentially confirm who walker and moore are




Transcript of letter:
Sir,
Yours of the 7 th ???, enclosing acknowledgement for route 1401 is received. Your request that a draft
may be made in YOUR favour for the balance is to. I regret that that I cannot comply with your
wishes in this instance. The acknowledgements of routes 1609, 40 & 53 must be returned before the
XX can be audited; otherwise the settlement would be a partial one, witch, under any circumstances
is inadmissible. Nor yet could I make any report in your favour individually, it must be for yourself
and Mr Moore as administrators XX. Had you not better forward to this office, to be placed on file,
an afsignament by mr Moore in your favour, of all the mail pay due now and hereafter to the estate
of silas moore
Respectfully

E whittlesey, Auditor

Send by elista whittlesey:
Biography[edit]
Born in Washington, Connecticut, Whittlesey moved with his parents in early youth to Salisbury,
Connecticut. He attended the common schools at Danbury, and studied law there. He
was admitted to the bar of Fairfield County and practiced in Danbury and Fairfield County. He
also practiced in New Milford, Connecticut, in 1805. He moved to Canfield, Ohio, in 1806, where
he practiced law and taught school. He served as prosecuting attorney of Mahoning County. He
served as military and private secretary to Gen. William Henry Harrison and as brigade major in
the Army of the Northwest in the War of 1812. He served as member of the Ohio House of
Representatives in 1820 and 1821.
Whittlesey was elected to the Eighteenth through Twenty-second Congresses, elected as an Anti-
Masonic candidate to the Twenty-third Congress, and elected as a Whig to the Twenty-
fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses and served from March 4, 1823, to July 9, 1838, when he
resigned. He was one of the founders of the Whig Party. He served as chairman of the
Committee on Claims (Twenty-first through Twenty-fifth Congresses). He was Sixth Auditor of the
Treasury from March 18, 1841, until December 18, 1843, [1]  when he resigned and resumed the
practice of law in Canfield. He was appointed general agent of the Washington Monument
Association in 1847. He was appointed by President Zachary Taylor as First Comptroller of the
Treasury and served from May 31, 1849, to March 26, 1857, when he was removed by
President James Buchanan. [2]  He was reappointed by President Abraham Lincoln April 10, 1861,
and served until his death in Washington, D.C., January 7, 1863. He was interred in the Canfield
Village Cemetery, Canfield, Ohio.

To john walker ????


Mentioning silas moore in letter, I think this one:
Silas Moore Stilwell, Sr. (June 6, 1800 – May 16, 1881) was an American lawyer and politician.
Biography[edit]
He was born on June 6, 1800, in New York City to Stephen Stilwell, who had fought in
the American Revolutionary War and opened a glass factory in 1804 in Woodstock, New York. [1]
Silas was educated at Woodstock Free Academy until 1812, then, after his father#39;s bankruptcy,
he went to New York City and began to work.
In 1814, he engaged in surveying in the west, and then settled in Tennessee. In 1822, he was a
member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Afterwards he removed to Virginia, and
was Clerk of Tazewell County and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was
admitted to the bar in 1824. [1]
He returned to New York in 1828, and was a member from New York County of the New York
State Assembly from 1830 to 1833. In 1830, he proposed "An act to abolish imprisonment for
debt and to punish fraudulent debtors" in the Assembly, which was enacted on April 26, 1831,
and became known as the Stilwell Act. [2]
In 1834, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Whig ticket with William H. Seward,
but they were defeated. He was an alderman in New York City in 1835, and chosen chairman of
the Board of Aldermen. In this year, the political parties were equally divided, and as he had the
casting vote on all appointments he became popularly known as "King Caucus". He was acting
mayor at the time of the Great Fire of New York in 1835. [1]
He was married Caroline Norseworthy (1820-?) around 1840, and one of their children was Silas
Moore Stilwell, Jr. (1854–1891), a lawyer in New York City.
He was United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York during President John Tyler#39;s
administration from 1841 to 1845. At this time he was sent on a special mission to The Hague to
negotiate a loan for the U.S. government. At the end of his term he resumed the practice of law.
He was the author of the National Banking Act in 1863.
He wrote on questions of finance, many of his articles appeared in the New York Herald from
1860 to 1872, under the pen-name of "Jonathan Oldbuck". [1]
He died on May 16, 1881, in New York City. [2]

Many records related to Mail Contracts were published in the official records of the US Congress.

House Report Doc. No. 85, (26th Congress-2d Session) dated JAn 26, 1841 listed Mail Contracts issued for 1841 -1844.

The contracts for three of the four mail routes mentioned in your letter were awarded to Silas Moore (he is not your Silas Moore Stilwell). These were 1401, 1640 and 1653). All were in Pennsylvania.

Apparently 1609 was initially awarded to one A. Henderson, but for some reason he failed to perform, and the route was transferred to Silas Moore in Mar 21, 1841.
Details follow.

Mail Route 1401...



Mail Route 1609



Mail Route 1640



Mail Route 1653



Based on the nature of these routes, as the official contractor, Silas Moore had to employ a number of people to actually execute the carrying of the mail. It appears that this John Walker was one such person.

From Whittlesey's writing, it sounds like it is possible that Silas Moore had died, and John Walker continued to operate the route 1401. Perhaps the confusion resulting from Moore's death resulted in Walker not being paid, and he was trying to get the Post Office Department to pay him direct. They simply did not do that.

I hope this helps. It's an intricate problem for John Walker and I hope he finally got it straightened out.

mml1942, this is wonderfull, what a great help this is!!! thank you.

very interesting how it states in what number of horses stage coach a route needs to be done, or in railroad cars. including times. very detailed.

Great feedback mml1942,

I would add that some western state/territory stagecoach routes were assigned based upon political favors and were outrageously profitable. This led to the USPOD auditing the assignments and the costs that were being claimed. I believe that in the late 1880s they found fraudulent declarations of route expenses in Montana Territory which was paying the route contractor owners millions of dollars (in today's money). Stagecoach mail volume and frequency of route runs were also being fraudulently declared on some routes. In other cases, they found that the route expenses (i.e the number of horses needed, claims for feed and stabling) was intentionally being incorrectly reported.
Don

51studebaker is correct.

During the late 1878s and early 1880's, a number of mail routes were "fabricated" which duplicated other routes between the same locations, or for which there was no real mail volume, and contracts awarded, but mail was not carried according to the contracts or in some instances not at all. Proposals were then made for these routes to have increased service and contract amounts were upgraded. Apparently Thomas J. Brady, Second Assistant Postmaster General in charge of mail contracts was involved. The incident was referred to at the time as the "Star Route Conspiracy" and a narrative of the eventual trial can be found in an official government report here:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt...ew=1up&seq=7

Many of the routes in question were also located in Texas.

I don't recall ever seeing this matter discussed in the philatelic literature, although there was an article on the related Texas routes published in TEXANA , a Texas history journal, in Vol VII, No. 3, 1969, at pages 220-233. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a digital version of this publication anywhere.

The following examples from the TEXANA article cited previously may provide a better idea of the scheme.

The writer, Jno A. Galbreath, was a Post Office Inspector.



Another example.




I like his candor: "This route is an unblushing fraud."

TO: Dutch US Stamp Collector

If it is convenient, could you scan and post the letter itself.

Thanks

mml1942, will do tomorrow

A fantastic historical remnant from the time period with postal delivery business of the day and wonderful research provided! This is one of the things I love about this forum. Thanks to all that contributed, and really glad that Dutch US Stamp Collector brought this to the forum.

I agree. Good stuff.

I will apologize for what may be a hijacking of this thread, but I believe that the original question by the OP has been addressed, and there seems to be interest in the history behind the function of the original posted document.

What follows are representative examples of similar documents related to the establishment of mail routes during the decade (the 1840s) of the original document. These types of documents appear on ebay from time-to-time, and I have tried to acquire typical examples. While two documents are associated with the same mail route, the others were associated with unrelated mail routes, and all documents are presented only to show the efforts by the US Post Office Department to establish and manage these mail routes.

The first item is a cover letter dated 30 June1845, for Mail Route No 233, between Milton Mills, NH and Union, NH, where the Department is sending the copies the blank contract back to the Postmaster at Milton Mills, NH, for execution by the contractor.

[NOTE: I know it was for Mail Route No. 233 only because it was acquired at the same time as the following document.]



The next three images are the three pages of the Contractor's executed and signed Contract for Mail Route No. 233
Page 1:


Page 2:


Page 3:

The second and third pages were cropped to eliminate blank space. This document is a folded single sheet measuring 20" x 13", and is folded in the center to create a four page item. The 4th page is blank, but could have been used as the address panel if it were mailed individually.



Next we have another document with instructions, provided to the Contractor for this same Mail Route No 233, explaining how he is to submit his report of service on the mail route. A second page with an example of the format of his ACKNOWLEDGMENT or report is included.



The following is the second page, with an example of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT for the Contract was to complete to show what payments he had received for carrying the mails on the designated route. It is my understanding that when routes did not fully pay for the service, a Draft or Warrant was sent to the contractor for the difference, which he would present to the postmaster at the post office at the heard of his mail route for payment.



The next document is a similar letter from 1848 to a contractor informing him that his bid for the contract on mail route 1820 from Northumberland to Williamsport, PA has been accepted, and he is to execute the contract and provide the contract and Bond to the Department. The USPOD is now apparently sending these notices to the contractor and not the postmaster at the head of the mail route.



The address panel for the previous letter...



The final example is a form from the Auditor's Office (this time our Elisha Whittlesey from the original posted document). There is a piece of this form letter missing at the bottom of the page that I believe included the ACKNOWLEDGMENT form mentioned in the earlier instructions for the contractor to report his performance. I've never seen a completed example of this form letter, probably because the ACKNOWLEDGMENT was always removed and returned to USPOD Headquarters as a requirement to receive his payment. If it was not removed and sent to POD HQ, the contract would not have been paid.



And the mail address block for the above...



The same types of documents can be found used during most of the 19th century, although the format, instructions, and names would change over time.

When seen as a group of related documents, and not just as an individual document, one can begin to piece together the understanding as to just how complex the operation of the POD was during this period.

One must also keep in mind that there were hundreds of these mail routes put up for proposals each year, and contracts were awarded for many of them.

The Clerks in the Contract Office had to keep track of all of these, and they did not have anything but ink pens and ledgers to keep their records accurate.

i was asked to show the letter, here it is, sorry for the delay

Thank you for posting the full letter.

Your transcription was for the most part correct. The following fills in some gaps, which I have highlighted in bold. I also corrected a few spelling variations to match the letter.

Sir,
Yours of the 7 th inst (or instant - referring to date of Walker's letter), enclosing acknowledgement for route 1401 is received. You request that a draft may be made in your favor for the balance is to "&c or et cetera". I regret that that I cannot comply with your wishes in this instance. the acknowledgements of routes 1609, '40 & '53 must be returned before the a/c (or account)" can be audited; otherwise the settlement would be a partial one, which, under any circumstances is inadmissible. Nor yet could I make any report in your favor individually, it must be for yourself and Mr Moore as administrators XX "&c (or et cetera). Had you not better forward to this office, to be placed on file, an assignment by Mr Moore in your favor, of all the mail pay due now and hereafter to the estate of Silas Moore.

Respectfully
E Whittlesey, Auditor

John Walker, Esq.
Merchant's Hotel
North 4th Street
Philadelphia
Pa.

The use of Esq. following John Walker's name might indicate that Walker was an Attorney, and who may have been working to settle the estate of Silas Moore. The final line in the letter implies that Silas Moore ws deceased.
At the first location where you had inserted "XX", the writer had inserted the abbreviation a/c for account.

At the second location where you had inserted "XX", what you could not decipher is an abbreviation for the equivalent of &c or et cetera.

I located a Silas Moore in the Family Search genealogy website, who lived 1792-1842. I think this may be the same individual, as he was listed as one of the owners of the Pioneer Fast Line-Packet Boats and Railroad Cars, in the following newspaper advertisment found in his biography.



In an informal biographical sketch of Moore found on that website, the writer noted:

"In addition to the pack-boat line, it appears he was engaged directly and indirectly in local businesses. He was somehow involved in the early stagecoach business that preceded the railroad lines. He had an interest in the business side of hauling of the US mail. He had extensive real estate holdings both in and out of Hollidaysburg."

and

"Even though Silas passed away in 1842 legal matters regarding his properties lingered as long as to the year 1905."

The complete article can be seen here:

https://www.familysearch.org/photos...cid=mem_copy

MML1942, this is absolutly wonderfull!!!!

thank you so much for this info.

the spelling mistakes I would have expected as English is not my native, thank you for correcting