Help Wanted In Deciphering Post Office Names

I recently acquired several old Post Office Forms, called Account of Mails Received, which were used at the small post office of Gravel Hill, VA ,during the month of June 1861 These are large forms (12.5" x 18") and it was not possible to get a good scan that was small enough to upload the complete document to the forum, so I've include a small section from the top of the form to give everyone a flavor. The actual form has lines for 44 post office/letter entries.



The form consists of a letter by letter list of all letters received with each delivery by the mail route contractor. The form above has the start of the listing for June 1st, 1861, the first day of the Confederate Postal System.

I was curious as to where this incoming mail was originating, so I began to try and decipher the names as written by the postmaster. Those I could identify were verified by examining the list of Virginia post offices in Jim Forte's Post Office search website and the Official Register published in Sept 1861.

I was unable to decipher several post office names, and thought I would draw on the collective wisdom (and younger eyes) of this SCF forum.

PO#1 (Received Form):



PO#2 (Received Form):
This one might be a post office in Mississippi (Miss) and the last looks like "C.H" with perhaps an "ay), which doesn't make sense.



PO#3 (Received Form:)




Please take a look and see if you can make sense of the postmaster's writing.

Please identify your solution with the title above each of the images.

Thanks for your help.

MikeL

The second one appears to be Shannon, Miss.

Third one might be Charlottesville.

Ross Mills for number one?

GeoffHa:

There is not a Ross Mills in Virginia, but there is both a Rose Hill and a Rose Mills so I would be inclined to go with the Rose Mills.

parcelpostguy:

I think you are correct on both of your suggestions.

On the Shannon, Miss, I guess I don't know what to make of the final group of letters following "Miss".

Thank you both for the help. It's almost obvious once you know the answer.

I have another group of these which I will try and crop later today, after I look at them one more time to try and not look so inept.

I think the word after is "May".

Post deleted, a duplicate entry made in error
MikeL

Here we go with Part 2.

There was a second form titled Account of Mails Sent,. The postmaster would record the destination of the letters he had prepared for the Mail contractor to pick up, but he was not required to list every letter, just the number of letters to each destination address. This information was also included on a "Letter Bill" that would accompany the letter or letters to each destination. It also had a place to mark whether the letter was unpaid or paid, and whether paid by cash or stamp. As there were no Confederate stamps available in June, all letters were paid in cash or unpaid (and I am not sure of the rules for unpaid, which is another topic.

This form is slightly different, as it had space for two separate columns to list the letter information, so that a full form had two rows of 44 letter destinations. Again a cropped from because of image size limits...



PO#1

My first question is slightly different. There are regularly two different entries for Richmond. One is obviously for Richmond, VA, the capitol. The other is written as Richmond, ? P.O.

I can't make any sense out of the single character indicated by the question mark. I Suspect this is a Richmond in another State, but can't quite figure out which one. Any thoughts appreciated?

Here are several examples. I've included both "Richmond's" as part of the crop....






PO#2:
The next post office looks like it begins with "Mill",



but I can't get the rest of the name to match entries in the Official Register



PO#3:

The next one is another "mystery" name. It looks like Manassa Junction, but I cannot find a post office with that name. There is a Manassas, but it does not to have been operating at the 1861 time.




PO#4:
The next entry is another "mystery". I looks to be Jonestown Store, but again, I cannot find reference to a post office that name.



PO#5:
This one looks like it could be something like Burlington, but can Ican't quite make the scribble match.



That's enough for now. I appreciate any thoughts..

MikeL

I read 2 as Millboro.

I'm making a big guess here since I'm a novice, but I think maybe on #1, the writer was referring to a post office in Richmond (city) Virginia, and the other one is the rural post office in Richmond (county) Georgia? Or since it was during the civil war was there even a post office listed in the city of Richmond Virginia? So maybe, Prince Edward Richmond Virginia county?

Re: Post Office #1 in Account of Mails Sent.

In a conversation earlier today with a Confederate collector, he suggest that the puzzling entry for Richmond ? P.O. might indicate that these were letters which were correspondence being sent to the Confederate Post Office Department in Richmond, VA.

I'm inclined to lean my thinking this direction, rather than speculating that it referred to a Richmond post office in another state.

Again, thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Mike L