List of Letters in 1825

Back in the early days of many cities, no one really had individual mailboxes for postal delivery. Your mail was sent to the local post office and it was up to you to check and see if you had a letter. This was kind of hard if you lived way out in the parish and didn’t go to town that often. Local newspapers would advertise the names of all persons who had mail waiting on them at the office. If you had a number beside your name, that told you that you had more than one waiting on you. They were advertised for weeks if not months, and if they were not picked up, the letters were sent to the dead letter office. I have even seen Monroe area names in the Natchez papers advertising they had a letter waiting on them there! The below List of Letters was advertised in the Washita Gazette issue of June 11, 1825.