Around Christmas time everyone waits
impatiently for boxes from Amazon, packages from United Parcel Service and cards
and letters via the United States Postal Service. Some live by Facebook and Twitter, but all of us can remember back
in the old days when we received a letter, card or even a package in the mail
with our name on it. What an exciting
and precious thing!.
Today I am going to give you a gift as
precious as a day at the beach and like
a straw beach mat, strong and true. I shall weave you a story how people used
to get mail, and you will have a new appreciation for the phrase “snail mail.”
From the time Captain Cook discovered the
Sandwich Islands a.k.a. Hawaii Islands in 1778 until 1850 when the first postal system was
established, mail happened, just not like you and I think of mail deliveries.
No men or women showed up in little blue uniforms with envelopes or packages. As old
as the Bible itself, the desire to
communicate via words on paper found a
place in the Sandwich Islands as well as on the Mainland. The Hawaiian
language, unwritten until the missionaries came, already pulsed across the
islands with messages of love, diplomacy, and governmental issues. During this time in
the United States and Hawaii, English speakers addressed their sealed letters on
the outside of the folded letter. Even without envelopes, correspondence
reached its destination. (Pre-Postal)
If someone in Hawaii wanted
to send a letter to someone in the United States, it was their responsibility to
check the times of departures for ships leaving the Honolulu harbor. Their
letters, given to harbor masters, ship
captains, missionaries, and acquaintances
returning to the mainland made precarious journeys to their prescribed
destinations. Often this precious cargo traveled a year before it reach its
appointed destination. Sometimes it was shipwrecked and lost at sea. Some that
survived tell us stories of old. Three
of the earliest Hawaiian letters came from a nobleman, a king, and a wife, all different,
but paramount to each in importance. They each paid a two- cent ship fee for
their letters to be transported, a five- cent Hawaii fee and an additional fee,
depending upon how far it was going
across the United States or the manner in which it went. Sometimes people paid
a double fee in hopes that somehow it might help the letter reach its addressee.
(Pre-postal).
In 1803, Don Francisco de Paul Marin, a Spaniard
who lived in Honolulu, wrote letters of recommendations for sea captains
wishing to do business up and down the California coast, thus, promoting commerce.
(Pre-Postal) In 1810, King Kamehameha I sent at least two “royal” letters to
King George III in England. Dictated to a sea captain, Kamehameha asked for English
bunting and colors to be sent to show cooperation between the two nations. In one
letter, he stated he expected his harbors to be neutral in England’s war with Napoleon.It seemed more a statement, rather than a
request. One letter to King George III said that he and
Kaumuali'i, King of Kaua', had made a
treaty and declared that he now ruled over
all the Sandwich Islands, a victorious announcement. (Hackler)
But my favorite piece of mail promises true
love will prevail. In 1817, a twenty-three year old named James Hunnewell from
Charleston, Massachusetts was left in Honolulu by his ship’s captain for the sole purpose of selling his ship and
receiving payment in sandalwood. (Shipping) While he lived in beautiful Hawaii,
his wife, Susannah lived in cold, frigid Massachusetts. As this happened
several times, they corresponded with one another during these periods of
separation. To be exact, Hunnewell saw Susannah only seven months in the first
eleven years of their married life age. One of her surviving letter records how
much she missed him. She said the more she missed him, the less she adjusted to
it. (Hunnewell Collection) Her love and
those letters drew him back, for after that time, he left his part of the
business in Honolulu and returned to Charleston. (Hawaiian Trader)
As far as inter-island mail in the Sandwich
Islands, people carried mail for one another when going to a different island. Finally,
in 1850, a formal postal system was set up by the government. From 1850-1859 in
Hawaii, all domestic mail was delivered free of charge. That included everything from pineapples and
coconuts, to hats and flammable liquids. And for the most part, the Hawaiian postal system put them in the hands of delighted receivers. (Local)
By 1859 these rates applied to Hawaiian mail. Although almost hilarious to us, they are divided
meticulously.
- 15¢ to register any kind of mailable matter; (Now that
covers a lot of stuff, and you did not even have to put it in a box in those
days! Boy! Could you have a lot of fun with that one! I suppose a bicycle
would not be considered mailable, would it? )
- free for newspapers sent from the office of publication
to subscribers;
- 1¢ for all other newspapers; (Even the New York Times!,
that is if you wanted to send it to a friend after you read it. You can
believe they did that!)
- 1¢ per ounce for bound books; (This would be like the
Book Mobile without the bus! )
- 2¢ each for pamphlets under 200 pages and 4¢ for
pamphlets of 200 pages or more; (That would cover a phone book, except
they didn’t have telephones.)
- 2¢ per ½ ounce for sealed packages; (What if the seal
popped in transit? Then what did it cost?)
- 1¢ per ounce for parcels of small bulk without letters, papers, liquids in glasses or anything injurious to the contents of the mail bag; (I loved this one—injurious to the other contents-Does this eliminate chickens, because they might eat other things in the mail bag, since chickens can cause such damage? I wonder if that covers perfume, since that might be injurious to the chicken should it drink it—one marinated bird, ready to grill, huli-huli prepped chicken upon arrival!
- free for drop letters mailed at the office of "delivery" (no city or town carrier service existed then so "delivery" was at the post office when someone called for their letters); (You could send out party invitations free!) (Local)
Those days have
slipped into the mist of time. From the beautiful Hawaiian islands to the snowy
Massachusetts, people wrote to one
another. They conveyed their thoughts,
their hearts desires, and their most precious possessions. We do the same as we
click our texts as quickly as we can, whether we “live Hawaii” or in the cold
Midwest, whether it was a letter that took a year to reach us or five second text
from Honolulu to St. Louis. All of us want to stay connected. When we send a written card or letter, we
allow our friend to visit with us over and over as they look at that card more
than once. Call me “old fashioned,” but
I think I will send out Christmas cards again, so people can feel my love and
perhaps, some of them may even get a bite of huli-huli chicken.
Try it!
Say Merry Christmas this year, using snail mail, and connect with someone you love. It will make
their day and bless yours.
References
Hackler, Roda. Alliance or Cession?Missing
Letter from Kamehameha I to King George III
of England Casts Light on 1794 Agreement. Retrieved December
1, 2014 from
Local
and Inter-island Rates. Post Office in Paradise. Retrieved November 30, 2014
from .
Pre-Postal
Mail. Post Office in Paradise. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
The Shipping
Papers of James Hunnewell, Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. Vol. 8,
No. 4, (June, 2934). P. 63. JSTOR. The
President and Fellows of Harvard College. Retrieved December 1, 2014 from . http://www.istor.org/stable/3110721
Hunnewell
Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.Retrieved December 1,
2014 from http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/wes/collections/professional/other_professions/content/1001954579.html
The Hawaiian
Trader. Honeywell Heritage. The Honeywell Family retrieved December 1, 2014
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