Who’s Ever Mailed A Child?
Well, sadly none of us, because hasn’t been done in 110 years….but guess what?
It used to be legal!
Look at this news story! People used to do it! I wonder where you placed the postage!
The practice of mailing children was officially banned in the US in 1914 after Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson instructed postmasters to stop accepting humans as mail. Although the ban was established in 1914, the last known case of a child being mailed occurred in August 1915.
While the ban was in place, some families still attempted to mail their children, often relying on trusted rural carriers to transport them short distances. For example, in 1913, an 8-month-old baby in Ohio was mailed to his grandmother a few miles away. The Washington Post says that the most famous mailed child was May Pierstorff, sent by Idaho railway mail car in 1914, with stamps on her coat.
One news article says that a couple from Ohio paid 15 cents and an unknown sum to insure their infant son for $50!
There are a number of wild things you can still legally mail, like potatoes and coconuts – without a package!
I know this because my blogging friend Beth shared that story – click on it to find out how it can be done!
This terrific story only bolstered my interest in my friend Pete’s incredible list of true facts like this:
I mean, how cursed – and lucky – can one person be?
See many more wild true facts at Pete’s site here:
I love random stuff like that – and things like this as well – watch:
That was right before we saw this sign:
Well, how could we not stop to find out what was going on there!
See what we discovered here!
That happened when I drove to Georgia with my son – the ultimate road trip! We saw a lot of things on our multi-day trip across 8 of the United States, including the place where one of the most famous stories took place:
Yep, we visited the legendary “O.K. Corral”, where they re-enact the entire bloody altercation for people in the town of Tombstone:
Click here for a tour of the real Tombstone – beautifully kept I must say – and see the video I shot of this moment in history:
Out here in the wild Wild West, there are so many places to explore – like this real life ghost town:
As you can see, I explored Calico during the pandemic – not sure why I’d need a mask in a “GHOST TOWN” but hey, it was that kind of time, wasn’t it?
Click here to see my tour:
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Categories: Exotic Travel, Funny Pictures, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
I wonder how the children reacted. I bet they were thrilled at a train ride. Definitely a wild and crazy time.
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OMG! That must have been some experience for the kids, poor little ones.
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A crazy story to be sure! Thanks fr commenting!
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If you get on a ship and there’s a Violet on board, you run for the hills – smile! Posting kids is completely amazing.
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I saw this on some random TV show….outrageous…..but it would be cheaper in the long run. chuq
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so crazy, amazing that the kids made it and they must have been terrified. thanks for including my spuds ‘n coconuts. I think people were just fascinated by the mail service and tested the limits over the years. and clearly continue to.
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Exactly! And according to the news reports, the kids were fine! What did they know? Hilarious bit of history and you showed it’s still can amuse today as well!
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a great point –
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Yup – tho’ I cannot quite believe it now, but in the 60s to 80s it was pretty common for us to take our daughters overseas with us during their autumn or spring holidays and send them back on their own from London or Tokyo or the States et al to grandparents and school whilst we remained for business or adult fun for another few weeks. They attended a Dalton-scheme school in Sydney for all the 15 years of their schooling – and that was totally accepted . . . when our winter began and it was growing warm in the northern hemisphere there would sometimes be half-a-dozen kids alone on a QANTAS plane London>Sydney! If more than 3-4 were booked they put an extra hostess on to look after them. And the girls just LOVED it!!! This was so common at the time, their classes during the winter term oft began with just a handful there . . . tho’ the headmistress asked your kids to be back within three weeks of the start of term. Horses for courses.
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Thanks for the mention, John. I also used a ‘Fascinating Fact’ about sending kids in the post on one of my ‘lists’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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