This document from the United States Post Office Dept, Table of the Post Offices in the United States, on the Thirty-First of January 1842, (1842), Page 104; lets us know that in 1842, Ephraim F Shackford was postmaster of the Kittery postoffice in York County, Maine and that the postoffice was 497 miles from Washington DC and 100 miles from the Maine state capitol. (United States Post Office Dept, Table of the Post Offices in the United States, on the Thirty-First of January 1842, (1842), Page 104; digital images, Google eBook (http://books.google.com : accessed 15 August 2013)
Ephraim F Shackford
Ephraim F Shackford was born February 25, 1810 in Newington, New Hampshire to Nathaniel Cooper Shackford and Phoebe Nutter[i]. We can assume that this Ephraim Shackford is the 1842 postmaster referred to in the above document because 1) the Kittery vital records show that Ephraim Shackford married Mary A Yeaton in 1838[ii] 2) the 1850 Kittery census shows that Ephraim Shackford died of pleurisy at age 39 in Kittery on March 28, 1849, and Ephriam's probate records, show that he was married to Mary when he died[iii] Also Ephraim's probate records, show that Ephriam owned land in Kittery at the time of his death[iv].
I'd love to know more about what a postmaster did in 1842 in the town of Kittery which had a population around 2,435.[v], We know that Ephraim replaced Charles Stimson as postmaster and that Ephraim's postmaster salary was $77.70/year[vi] (about $2,260/yr in today's dollars). Mail must have been extremely important to the Kittery families in 1842 since many individuals had headed off to fight in the civil war.
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[i] New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Birth Records, 1659-1900, , Ephriam F Shackford, birth, 25 February 1810; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 August 2013); “New Hampshire, Birth Records, through 1900.” Online index and digital images. New England Historical Genealogical Society. Citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire
[ii] Maine "Maine, Marriages, 1771-1907," database index, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 August 2013), Ephraigm F Shackford m Mary Newton 26 Aug 1838.
[iii] Maine, Maine, York County, Probate Estate Files, Ephriam F Shackford Case 16901; "Maine, York County, Probate Estate Files, 1690-1917," digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org: accessed 13 August 2013); Case no 16831-16928, Seaward, W-Shackley, R, Image 1143-.
[iv] Maine, Maine, York County, Probate Estate Files, Ephriam F Shackford Case 16901; "Maine, York County, Probate Estate Files, 1690-1917," digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org: accessed 13 August 2013); Case no 16831-16928, Seaward, W-Shackley, R, Image 1143
[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittery,_Maine
[vi] Unsure: Executive, Post Office Department. Officers, clerks, employed in the Post Office Department during the two years ending September 30th, 1843, with the annual compensation, and the whole amount paid to each of them within that period. (n.d.), page 14; digital images, (: accessed 29 October 2013
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