Letters by Stephen J. Fuller, Port Dover, 1849-1850

Abstract

Two letters written by Stephen J. Fuller of Port Dover. The first letter is addressed to W.H. Fitts, the postmaster at Lewiston and is dated December 1849. Fuller complains of complications arising from a letter addressed to him being held at the post office, writing that “I enclose ten cents to pay for a letter you say is lying in this (Lewiston) office to my address. This is the second notice of a similar kind I have rec’d from you…and I have to request that you will not again put me to the…expense of paying double British postage for a piece of information…the last letter you sent me was four months between New York and your office…”. A brief reply from W.H. Fitts, the postmaster at Lewiston is included on the reverse. He writes that “permit me to call your attention to the note appended to the notice you received from this office. It is indispensable that the notice should be returned when the letter is ordered”. The letter is postmarked Buffalo, N.Y. Dec 27.

The second letter is addressed to Sir. H. Bulwer, British Minister and is dated January 1850. Sir Henry Bulwer was the British ambassador to the United States at this time. Fuller complains about the postal service between Canada and the U.S. through Lewiston, writing that “the postal arrangements between the Sovereign and the U.S. as at present conducted in the U.S. frontier post-office at Lewiston has become a source of such serious inconvenience and unnecessary expense to the inhabitants of this portion of Western Canada that it is deemed a … subject for representation to the head of the Post Office department at Washington”.