Tallow Light, vol. 3, # 2, July- August 1968, Washington County historical Society, Marietta, Ohio
The Newport Post Office was established on November 5, 1815.
These are the postmasters to date:
1. Thomas Ferguson, November 15, 1815
2. Luther D. Barker, November 13, 1821
3. Rev. James McAboy, May 21, 1825
Ebenezer Battelle, Jr., October 11, 1825
5. Joseph T. Crandall, September 8, 1843
6. Thomas O’Neal, November 25, 1854
7. John W. Gale, October 24, 1857
8. Samuel Amlin, April 5, 1859
8. Alfred P. Cree, April 10, 1863
10. Lieut. George Davenport, March 22, 1866
11. Joseph Leonard Reckard Jr., March 3, 1868
12. John M. Gano, August 24, 1868
13, Edward A. Jones, May 4, 1876
14. Martin Wilbur Rea, May 12, 1884
15. George W. Haight, June 19, 1886
16. Preston G. Hays, April 17, 1889
17, George W. Haight, June 19, 1893
18. William S. Gano, June 19, 1897
19. Fred J. Kerr, December 30, 1913
20. Joseph E. W. Greene, June 3, 1922
21. Robert H. Gano, March 3, 1927-1969
22. Dwight Sanford, March 6, 1971 – Rural Route, December 28, 1952 until 1969
23. Opal M. Mendenhall, April 13, 1983 – September 28, 1992
AS respects to the postal service in and out of Newport Township, there was an early need for an office at the point where Dana’s Run empties into the Ohio River because a cluster of cabins sprang up here within the next few years after the arrival of the Dana’s and Greene’s in 1798.
The Newport Post Office was established on November 15, 1815 with Thomas Ferguson named the first Postmaster. He was born in Loundon County, Virginia, and arrived in Newport Township in1801. Postal Records do not indicate the post office ever in operation until the appointment of Luther d. Barker, November 13, 1821. The explanation for this is possibly because of the inconvenient location at Ferguson’s Landing on the Ohio River opposite Middle Island about 1 ½ miles above the settlement.
The earliest known letter posted at Newport is a stamp less folded letter postmarked in the manuscript of Luther Barker on December 16, 1822. Barker’s brick residence was a half mile closer than Ferguson’s but he soon moved to McConnellsville and the Rev, James McAboy took over the duties of postmaster near his Baptist church in Newport settlement effective May 21, 1825. Elder McAboy held the office less than five months when it was removed to the centrally located two-story log house of Ebenezer Battelle Jr. who was commissioned about October 11, 1825. It was on part of Captain Battelle’s extensive property that the town of Newport was laid out in 1839. The office was placed in the hostelry of Joseph T. Crandall, and he was appointed postmaster on September 8, 1843. Crandall received $40.33 pay for the fiscal year 1848-1849. He died in 1854 at the age of 38 and Thomas O’NeaI succeeded him, effective November 25, 1854. John W. Gale was then named postmaster on October 24, 1857 at the age of 18 years old. Samuel Amlin took charge on April 5, 1859 when he was about 83 years of age. Squire Amlin died in Newport in 1872, aged 94 years. His successor in the Post Office was Alfred P. Cree, on April 10, 1863 who held it until it was removed to Lieut. George Davenport’s Dry Goods Store, on March 22, 1866. His brother-in-law Joseph Leonard Reckard Jr., was named postmaster on March 3, 1868 but held it only five months when it was placed in John Gano’s store on August 24, 1868, when Mr. Reckard moved to Marietta to take over his father’s livery stable. Edward A. Jones kept the Newport Post Office in his store beginning May 4, 1876 with J. M. Dana his postal clerk for a time. Jones moved to Columbus in 1884 and Martin Wilbur Rea, a lawyer in Marietta, purchased his goods and rented his building the firm became “M. Rea & Co.” Rea was appointed postmaster on May 12, 1884 but ill health soon forced him to retire in favor of George W. Haight on May 12, 1886. The popular Mr. Rea died soon afterward, on November 1, 1887. The post office was then removed from Haight’s grocery into the store of Preston G. Hays on the Ohio River bank, on April 17, 1889. A traveling writer for the Marietta “Resister” newspaper noted in the issue of October 27, 1891”--P. 0. Hay’s--daughters attend to the office and it is well done. The business has picked up somewhat since the oil excitement in the vicinity.--”
George W. Haight received a second appointment as the Newport Postmaster in a political change made on June 19, 1893. William S. Gano took charge on July 16, 1897 and held the office over 16 years until replaced by Fred J. Kerr, on December 30, 1913. Joseph E. W. Greene took the office on June 3, 1922 and then Robert H. Gano came into office on March 3, 1927 and efficiently served the Newport Post Office for more than 41 years until his retirement in 1969. He was the third member of his family to be postmaster here. Dwight E. Sanford became acting postmaster on November 1, 1969 and officially on March 6, 1971 . Opal M Mendenhall became Postmaster on April 13, 1983
Newport is the only office of the ten that have existed in the township that is still in operation. The Post Office was moved to its present site at the back of Harris’ Super market in 1970. In August of 1956, Newport office received modem postal equipment from the U. S. Post Office Department.
Mail carriers from Newport to St. Marys
1. Dudley Myers, by boat
2. Albert Myers, by boat
3. Floyd Riggs, by boat
4. Steve Delong, by boat
5. William Torner, by boat
6. Norris Torner, by boat
Rural Mail Carriers
1. Bill Kirkbride
2. Steve Delong
3. Forrest Knowlton
4. Dwight E. Sanford
5. Earl Rouse, sub. & carrier
6. Sam Greenwood, sub.
7. Beulah Congelton
8. Paul Harris, sub. & carrier
9. Rema Robbins, sub.
The following is courtesy of Eileen Thomas:
THOMAS FERGUSON 1815,LUTHER D BARKER 1821, JAMES MCABOY 1825 , EBENEZER BATTELLE 1825, JOSEPH T CRANDALL 1843,THOMAS O'NEAL 1854 JOHN W GALE 1857, SAMUEL AMLIN 1859, ALFRED P CREE 1863,GEORGE DAVERPORT 1866, JAMES L RECKARD 1868, JOHN M GANO 1868, EDWARD A JONES 1876, MARTIN WIBLUR REA 1884 , GEORGE W HAIGHT 1886, PRESTON G HAYS 1889,, WILLIIAM S GANO 1897, FRED J KERR 1913, JOSEPH E W GREENE 1922, ROBERT H GANO 1927, DWIGHT E SANFORD 1969 ,WILLIAM B SENTER 1983,OPAL M MENDENHALL 1983,MARTIN DAVID SCOTT 1992, LEE ANN SMITHBERGER 1992, JUDY E HAMILTON 1993, REMA L ROBBINS 1996, LEE ANN SMITHBERGER 1996, MARY E CALDWELL 2003, TERESA CAIN 2003, KATHERINE M BINEGAR 2004 (NOW 2011)
The following was written by R. Quincy Robe, Trustee, Morgan County (OH) Historical Society,. as told to him my William V. Torner, whose name in the list above of mail carriers.
OHIO RIVER MAIL SKIFF
In 2007 the Morgan
County Historical Society received a donation of a 16’ Beaver Built skiff built
on a Racine pattern.The donation
was made by Douglas Albaugh who had acquired the skiff from his parents, Dave
and Ruth Albaugh.The Albaugh’s had
purchased the skiff from Norris and Marjorie Torner in Newport, Ohio in 1963 for $75.The skiff was marked with the letters “US” on both sides of the bow and on
both sides of the transom.The skiff had
reportedly been used in mail service on the Ohio River.
At the time
of acquisition the above description was all that we knew.Taking a long shot I (Quincy Robe) wrote a
letter to the editor of the S & D Reflector which is published by Sons and
Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen.The
letter stating what was known was published in the winter 2008 (Vol.45, No.
4).
In late
March 2009 I heard from Marlene Morris and her father’s first cousin William
Torner.As a boy of 16 to 18 years, William
who is 93 (born on 20 December 1915), helped his uncle Norris Torner and
grandfather William Victor Torner row the skiff across the Ohio River between Newport, Ohio and Vaucluse, West Virginia.William is named after his grandfather and is also William Victor
Torner.The senior William Torner had a
contract with the US Postal Service in the 1920s and 1930s to deliver mail
between Newport, OH and the B&O rail station.Young William moved to his grandparents’ home
in Newport in 1931.
The railroad
station in Vaucluse was near the Green Run ravine on the Pittsburgh to Huntington line of the B&O.Vaucluse had earlier been the western
terminus of the Baltimore to Ohio River Stage Line.The river level has since been raised by the
Corps of Engineers; the river shore is different from that in the 1920s and
30s.
The skiff
was built in Beavertown, OH by Andrew Beaver for the elder Torner expressly for
his mail contract.The elder Torner
never forgot that the 15’ 10” boat cost $3 per foot to purchase.The skiff has oar locks for rowing and a
stern notch for sculling.A story
provided to Eileen Thomas by Norris was that “Andy” Beaver’s eyesight was so
bad that he couldn’t see well enough to drive a nail.His wife had had to place the nails for
him.I say that she was a very brave
woman.
The mail contract
required five roundtrips across the Ohio per day six days per week year
round.William’s uncle Norris and
grandfather William let him row since he was young.They would leave home in Newport with whatever mail needed to be
taken to the railroad in the morning.On
the Vaucluse side of the river they would drop off the Newport mail and use a wheelbarrow to move
the two to six mail bags from the railroad shack to the skiff.They would then return to Newport.This routine was repeated four more times during the day.If the river was in pool stage the trip was
pretty straightforward.If the river was
in flood the Torners’ would go upstream “behind the willows” far enough to
arrive on the opposite shore at the desired destination.If they misjudged the current and arrived
downstream on the Newport or Vaucluse sides they would then
row upriver “behind the willows” to get to their destination.On the Newport side of the river a wheelbarrow was
again used to move the mail to the post office.
During the
winter when the river was filled with ice one crewmember was at the stern notch
with a sculling oar.A second crewmember
used a pike pole to push ice aside.If
the ice flows were large, they would pull the skiff onto the flow, slide it
across the flow, and launch the skiff off the other side.
On Sundays
young William was permitted to take the skiff out for fun, but grandmother kept
watch with field glasses from home.He
had strict instructions not to swim in the river.William, however, knew a spot on the river
that was behind the tree and out of sight of grandma.He just had to not get his hair wet, so
grandma never knew.He would often spend
his Sundays with the crew of the towboat Tu-Endi-Wi on the West Virginia side of the Ohio.
Harley &
Norris Torner in skiff
during January 1937 flood:
