The Short-Lived Hoesville, NY Post Office

 originally written by me and published in Excelsior! the semi-annual journal of 

the Empire State Postal History Society (2015)

Today we are all used to having almost instantaneous communication with family members either via telephone, or email, or even by letter.  But before the middle of the 19th Century, people often left their families and immigrated to other countries, knowing full well that they would probably never see their families again.  The letter was the only means of keeping touch and the news in the letters could be months or years old.

 Hoesville was a short named post office from May 28, 1846 to June 13, 1849.  Previously it was known as West Galway Church (1838 to 1846) and changed its name again in 1849 to West Galway (1849 to 1919).

Although the post office was officially known as Hoesville, the writer, a niece of the addressee, Mrs. Oliver, used West Galway as her location.  The letter is dated July 23, 1846 less than two months after the post office name was established. According to New York Postal History: The Post Offices and First Postmaster from 1775 to 1980, the first postmaster was Peter I. Hoes. Obviously the post office was named after him.

According to the 1997 American Stampless Cover Catalog, there are only manuscript postmarks known from Hoesville in 1845 with a value of $60. Obviously, there is a mistake some where since the post office name was not established until 1846.  In La Posta’s “United States Post Offices Volume IV -- The Northeast”, Hoesville has a rating of “5”, $25 - $50

        

Information with the cover indicates that the letter was mailed from Hoesville on July 29, 1846 and PAID to New York City where it was then carried privately to Liverpool before being entered into the British postal system.  Seen on the reverse is a “Liverpool Ship Letter” transit marking (21 Aug 1846) and a Kelso receiving mark (Aug 23, 1846).

The letter sheet is 3 1/2 pages of tightly space writing telling of family gatherings, local deaths, and the weather.  All the things that people still tell other family members about today.