Now that postage rates have gone up again, did you ever wonder how and where your ancestors received their mail?
The town of Ira has had several post offices within the town over the years during the last half of the 1800s and early 1900s. These offices were located at Ira Station, hamlets of Bethel, Ira, South Hannibal, Lysander and Floridaville Road, plus in the villages of Meridian and Cato. Ira Post Office had rural delivery up until it closed on Jan. 15, 1961.
The last carrier was the late Carl Wiggins, a very dependable carrier.
Many will wonder why I have listed South Hannibal and Lysander. Folks would go to the nearest hamlet for groceries, church and their mail. Lysander did have a rural carrier that delivered mail in the eastern portion of the town of Ira. The Meridian Post Office had postal patrons that lived in the town of Ira.
Incidentally, the Meridian Post Office recently received an envelope that contained a letter addressed to Mrs. Jesse Ferris, Meridian, NY, dated Aug. 3, 1918, from her son, a soldier in World War I.
The cover envelope was stamped insufficient address. Mrs. Ferris lived north of the village on what is now called Ferris Road. Thanks to David Dudley (a distant Ferris relative) and the computer, two grandsons of Mrs. Ferris were located with James Ferris of Skaneateles coming and claiming the letter.
The Ferris grandsons were thrilled to have a letter from their dad that was sent to his mother while he was serving in the U.S. Army stationed in France. Where has it been for 87 years?
Town of Ira residents still do not all have the same postal address. The northwest corner of the town is Martville, the northeast corner is Hannibal and a small portion of the east side in Baldwinsville with the balance a Cato address. With 911 giving us a street address, it helps all to pinpoint where we live.
Another convenience that has grown immensely is the telephone. We now have big conglomerate companies, plus cable and wireless companies.
When phone service first came to the town of Ira, the lines came down from Hannibal. Small local companies started in the hamlets of Bethel, Ira, South Hannibal, Lysander and then went further south to Meridian and Cato villages.
All of these small companies were purchased by a group of men that had formed the Cato-Meridian Telephone Co. in the 1920s.
This company's phone lines were party lines that had nosey folks listening to their neighbors' conversations. It was after World War II that dial service was started locally. The exchange was a Tremont number. Eventually we got just numbers for the phone and in the 21st century have private lines for the phones.
Cato-Meridian Telephone Co. was bought out in the 1960s by Iroquois Telephone Co., next was Continental Telephone Co. in 1984, then GTE in 1992 with Citizens Telecommunications of New York purchasing the phone company in 1995. The last company still owns the company but it is now called Frontier, starting in 2002.
We now have a cable company, Time Warner, that services areas along Route 370. Wireless companies are by your own choice.
Be is post offices or telephone company, we are now in the new technology era with faxes, voice mail, e-mail, answering machines and we still have what some refer to as the slow mail. Have you adapted to all of this new technology?
Dorothy Southard is the
town of Ira historian
The last carrier was the late Carl Wiggins, a very dependable carrier.
Many will wonder why I have listed South Hannibal and Lysander. Folks would go to the nearest hamlet for groceries, church and their mail. Lysander did have a rural carrier that delivered mail in the eastern portion of the town of Ira. The Meridian Post Office had postal patrons that lived in the town of Ira.
Incidentally, the Meridian Post Office recently received an envelope that contained a letter addressed to Mrs. Jesse Ferris, Meridian, NY, dated Aug. 3, 1918, from her son, a soldier in World War I.
The cover envelope was stamped insufficient address. Mrs. Ferris lived north of the village on what is now called Ferris Road. Thanks to David Dudley (a distant Ferris relative) and the computer, two grandsons of Mrs. Ferris were located with James Ferris of Skaneateles coming and claiming the letter.
The Ferris grandsons were thrilled to have a letter from their dad that was sent to his mother while he was serving in the U.S. Army stationed in France. Where has it been for 87 years?
Town of Ira residents still do not all have the same postal address. The northwest corner of the town is Martville, the northeast corner is Hannibal and a small portion of the east side in Baldwinsville with the balance a Cato address. With 911 giving us a street address, it helps all to pinpoint where we live.
Another convenience that has grown immensely is the telephone. We now have big conglomerate companies, plus cable and wireless companies.
When phone service first came to the town of Ira, the lines came down from Hannibal. Small local companies started in the hamlets of Bethel, Ira, South Hannibal, Lysander and then went further south to Meridian and Cato villages.
All of these small companies were purchased by a group of men that had formed the Cato-Meridian Telephone Co. in the 1920s.
This company's phone lines were party lines that had nosey folks listening to their neighbors' conversations. It was after World War II that dial service was started locally. The exchange was a Tremont number. Eventually we got just numbers for the phone and in the 21st century have private lines for the phones.
Cato-Meridian Telephone Co. was bought out in the 1960s by Iroquois Telephone Co., next was Continental Telephone Co. in 1984, then GTE in 1992 with Citizens Telecommunications of New York purchasing the phone company in 1995. The last company still owns the company but it is now called Frontier, starting in 2002.
We now have a cable company, Time Warner, that services areas along Route 370. Wireless companies are by your own choice.
Be is post offices or telephone company, we are now in the new technology era with faxes, voice mail, e-mail, answering machines and we still have what some refer to as the slow mail. Have you adapted to all of this new technology?
Dorothy Southard is the
town of Ira historian