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Post by jamesw on Apr 19, 2015 23:20:32 GMT
Went down to the National Stamp Show, put on by the CSDA (Canadian Stamp Dealers' Association) and this year hosted by the North Toronto Stamp Club. Got there a little late, and decided to focus on one area, so I thought I'd treat myself to my new interest, early Niagara cover. I was born'd and raised in St Catharines, and my family were settlers in the area after the American Revolution (Loyalists we were), so this interest has been brewing for a while. Now I'm ready to totally indulge myself. This first is a folded cross border letter postmarked Dec 10 1850 in St. Catherines (I've noticed that early cancellations were misspelled with the 'er' rather than the 'ar' I was raised to use). It reached its destination in New York via Queenston (cancelled on the back in black on Dec 11), Lewiston NY, seen cancelled on the front in red, then on to the Big Apple (though I guess it wasn't called that at that time). It seems to be business correspondence, though for the amount of paper that is folded here, there is very little writing. Makes me wonder if some money wasn't included. The sender, whose name I can't make out at this time, appears to be an agent for the Bank of Montreal (coincidently, my employer, at the moment!) Sums of money are discussed, but it's all a mystery to me at this point. 10d. postage was paid, but PAID has been crossed out, the 4 1/2p added. Postage rates during this period are still a mystery to me. Research!  This second cover, an envelope from St. Catherines to Toronto with a straight 3d. postal rate  There's an interesting blank CANADA double split ring cancel on the back. This cancel could be incomplete, but it does seem strange to have CANADA at the top of the circle. Any input from the experts would be appreciated.  This next cover was postmarked in Wellandport using a split ring cancel with script date, Nov 1 1869. Paid 6¢, there is an indecipherable split ring back cancel. I can make out 69 (1869) and U.C. The cover is destined for New York state and contains a letter which demands settlement of an estate. Wellandport is on the Welland (Chippawa) River and is in the approximate centre of the Niagara Peninsula.  This last is an interesting little piece. Appears to be a homemade newspaper wrapper sporting a very brown 3¢ small Queen postmarked in Thorold (just south of St. Catharines) on Jan 8 1887 with a radial shaped fancy cancel. The folded piece has a circular Hamilton receiver cancel also dated Jan 8 1887. Regarding the stamp, I think it is just oxidized. Early issues of the small Queens were a copper red, but considering the late usage, later issues were vermillion-red, rose carmine or bright vermillion, which is why I'd considered this stamp to be a changeling.  |
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Admin
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Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2015 23:27:41 GMT
jameswSt Catharine's I lived in St Catharine's for a few months back in 95, Summers of 93 and 94 I lived in the little town of Jordan just outside St Catharine's. Maybe we rubbed shoulders 
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Post by jamesw on Apr 19, 2015 23:32:47 GMT
No apostrophe, Jack. Something else they're particular about.
By the mid '90s, I was well out of there, though always went home to see my kin.
No one knows who Catharine was. Some say she could have been the wife of Major John Butler who commanded Butler's Rangers, a regiment of Loyalists formed in 1777. His wife Catharine spelled her name with that peculiar 'ar'.
But we may never know!
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Post by jamesw on Apr 20, 2015 1:19:21 GMT
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Post by jamesw on Apr 20, 2015 2:07:19 GMT
Aaaaaaaand. In a further 'development', I do believe the small Queen on the wrapper to actually be a late usage #37b (Unitrade) from the first Montreal printing of the Queens in 1870-73. My reasons? The stamp is a perf 12x12 and has a position dot in the lower left corner. [BROKEN IMAGE LINK(S) REMOVED] According to the chart in my Unitrade catalogue, the later printings have the dot at the 3 or 9 o'clock position on the medallion rim ( on 1886-88 Montreal perf 12x12 printing) or no dot on the 1889-97 Ottawa printing, also perf 12x12. The1888 Montreal printing is perf 12x12.5. The first Montreal printing has the dot at lower left and is 12x12, and did come in a copper or indian red colour. The 37b 3¢ queen catalogues in my book (2011) at $75 on cover. Not bad for a $20 purchase (if I'm right!) |
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Post by jamesw on Apr 20, 2015 2:31:26 GMT
And on the first folded cross border letter. Though I still don't fully understand the contents, the sender is talking about a sum of cash 'enclosed' on behalf of a gentleman named T. R. Merritt.
Thomas Rodman Merritt was the son of William Hamilton Merritt, the man who founded the first Welland Canal in 1837, which bypassed the Niagara River and Falls and helped improve trade in the region. Merritt Jr continued in business with his father, and his home still stands on the banks of what was to be the second Welland Canal (there have been four) and today houses a the local art gallery, Rodman Hall.
Forgive me but to a Niagara boy, this is COOOOOL!
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Post by jamesw on Jul 6, 2015 2:28:44 GMT
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Post by jimjung on Jul 6, 2015 10:42:33 GMT
jamesw, The first letter you have there is from the well-known DS Kennedy correspondence. There are hundreds of these covers from roughly 1848-55 sent mostly from St Catharines, Kingston and Montreal. The rate was 4 1/2d Cy (Canadian Currency) to the border and this would have been marked PAID. At the border, the 10 would have been applied as payment for the postage due to New York by the USA PO and the PAID crossed out at that point. Although there are many of these covers, they are liked because collectors feel confident that they are genuine covers. For the 2nd cover, the CANADA cancel is likely incomplete and there may be a city name to the left of CANADA and I do see some marks in the center which would be the date. For your 3rd cover, although you don't show the postmark, I can be confident that the mark is a transit cancel as New York will almost never add receiving marks. Could it be a border crossing? For the 3c SQ, I agree that it is an ealry Ottawa printing (1870-73). The position dot is clear and I don't think the stamp is oxidized. It's nice that you are getting into the Niagara region Postal History. I do have some very interesting covers from this area. This cover is only a front but the postmark is from a few days Before the release oft he Large Queens. The table below is from Duckworth's and shows that the MR 26 68 date is known from St Catherines and that there are only 2 known, this being the 3rd.   I also have a four ring 23 postmark on another cover from Niagara. I will try to find the scan. |
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Post by jamesw on Jul 7, 2015 3:23:39 GMT
Hi Jimjung Thanks for the responses to these covers. I was quite thrilled with all these purchases. With regard to the 3rd cover, the one addressed to Caleb Clark, the Wellandport cancel is the postmark, as the letter inside the envelope attests to the fact it written in and sent from Wellandport. What I didn't show was a transit cancel on the back, which on my album page I mistakingly called a receiver cancel. But it is obviously from UC or Upper Canada, so must be a transit cancel, probably at a border crossing. Unfortunately the town name is indistinct. Possibly ending in END.  |
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rod222
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Post by rod222 on Jul 7, 2015 7:15:39 GMT
Hi Jimjung Thanks for the responses to these covers. I was quite thrilled with all these purchases. With regard to the 3rd cover, the one addressed to Caleb Clark, the Wellandport cancel is the postmark, as the letter inside the envelope attests to the fact it written in and sent from Wellandport. What I didn't show was a transit cancel on the back, which on my album page I mistakingly called a receiver cancel. But it is obviously from UC or Upper Canada, so must be a transit cancel, probably at a border crossing. Unfortunately the town name is indistinct. Possibly ending in END. Hi James, could it be "CAMDEN D" D? D = District? |
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Post by jimjung on Jul 7, 2015 11:05:38 GMT
I think it is the tiny town of CANFIELD. I'm sure that's a scarce postmark !
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Post by jamesw on Oct 18, 2015 15:24:16 GMT
I'm following up on this thread with some new purchases from yesterday's club bourse. I've also changed the name of the thread to reflect the content. This is new collecting direction for me and this will give me a venue to bore you with new acquisitions. Perhaps a new exhibit for next years show? Yesterdays big ticket item. Postmarked July 4 1837 with a manuscript date on what's called a Niagara Buckle cancel. I saw this piece at the CSDA show where I purchased the items shown above, but put it back side the price was a little prohibitive for me. BUT it's haunted me since last spring, so when I saw it again, I gulped, checked my wallet and was able to talk the dealer down within range. Poorer, but happier! There is annotation on the back of this piece, with a wax seal, mentioning that £154.15 is enclosed. So though it's not noted on the front, I think this may be a money letter, precursor to registered mail. I saw many covers from several dealer addressed to John H. Dunn. Obviously a big shot in the receiver generals office. I see research in my future.  This cover postmarked in St. Catharines on October 30 1861 is marked UNPAID 7. The recipient Richard Henry Secord is a nephew of Canadian War of 1812 Heroine Laura Secord.  This little cover is postmarked July 28 1869 at the St. Catharines West postal station.  |
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Post by jamesw on Oct 18, 2015 15:37:26 GMT
A few more. This cover with a 1¢ small queen is postmarked with an interesting obliterator I personally had never seen before, nice an clean too. The cover is back cancelled Baillieboro Ont. in 1882. Month is unreadable.  This wrapper is quite a find, for me. It's almost identical to the one shown above purchased last April, but postmarked the following summer on July 2. Like the one above, back cancelled in Hamilton Ont. This one was purchased from a dealer from North Bay Ont., way way up north. The wrapper purchased last spring came from a lovely couple who come from Thorold, where these wrappers originated, down south. I find it impressive how far afield two items from the same place and time can travel, and then come together again after 128 years! Also I'll note that the second cover, purchased yesterday was a fraction of the cost of the first. Which, I guess, also goes to show, the pricing of these things can be pretty arbitrary.  This last cover is quite recent by comparison, but I always like to see young Princess Elizabeth gracing an envelope. St. Catharines December 18, 1935  |
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Post by jimjung on Oct 18, 2015 17:13:22 GMT
jamesw, the fancy St. Catharines, Ont grid is listed in the Lacelle catalog as #797 but with the most common rate group with usage between Oct 1880 to June 1897. But all fancy cancels are scarce. The 1c Rate makes it a little scarcer, too. Nice cover as more collectors are getting into the SQ and LQ fancy cancels.
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Post by jamesw on Oct 24, 2015 19:31:20 GMT
Better late than never, jimjung. I just realized I HAVE the Lacelle catalogue you mention. Duh!
Guess I should pay more attention to my own bookshelf.
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Post by jamesw on Oct 24, 2015 19:41:39 GMT
And here's a mystery regarding the Wellandport cover above. If the back cancel is Canfield as jimjung suggests, and believe it is, I have to wonder why the letter travelled there, because while Wellandport is in the geographic centre of the Niagara Peninsula (a little geography lesson for you 'out of towners'), Canfield is to the west near Cayuga, while the final destination is Ostego County in New York state, to the east, in exactly the opposite direction! Hmmmm. This map shows the location of the two towns as well as Niagara Falls at the Canada/US border. Canfield circled on the left, Wellandport in the centre. Ostego County NY is due east. [BROKEN IMAGE LINK(S) REMOVED] |
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Post by jimjung on Oct 25, 2015 12:48:24 GMT
In cases like this, you have to think there was a regular Postal route from Canfield to the border and larger cities, so all the towns in the area would send their mail there on a regular basis, in order to meet the outgoing mail route from Canfield. I haven't done any of this research of the mail routes in this detail but there are a few experts who do. I have seen the Canfield postmark more often than the Wellandport so I feel that Canfield was a larger Post Office.
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Post by jamesw on Oct 26, 2015 2:23:54 GMT
I love to research the senders and recipients of these things. The top cover in my recent purchases with the interesting St. Catharines obliterator, was sent to Minnie Dawson and Richard Dawson in Baillieboro, south of Peterborough Ont. The genealogy website geni.com tells me that Richard Dawson was the father of Minnie Victoria Dawson. A notation on the envelope says that it contains a card and no correspondence. The tilt of the stamp, in the Language of Stamps means 'Forget me not'. A message from a suitor?
Sadly the website also tells me that that she was aged 20 when she received this card, and would die two years later when "Minnie wandered onto train tracks and was killed"
Tragic. Sometimes I'd just rather not know.
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Post by jamesw on Nov 10, 2015 1:45:05 GMT
Earlier in this thread I was marvelling at how I could find two small queen wrappers delivered to and from the same people over a hundred years later, from two separate dealers blah blah blah. So, last night whilst lounging in bed, I was leafing through a back issue of the PHSC (Postal History Society of Canada) Journal and came across this cover postmarked St. Catharines West in 1869. And I said to myself, "Self? That cover looks familiar!" Does it look familiar to you folks too?  ...it should. It's sitting seven posts above this one. Not the same cover, but same sender to same recipient from the same post office, a little over one month earlier. It's mentioned in the journal that the indicia on the enclosed broken circle (another term I've learned from the journal!) is the earliest known to date. Mine being just over a month earlier, beats that, and would have been the record holder....18 years ago. |
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firstfrog2013
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Post by firstfrog2013 on Nov 10, 2015 3:49:54 GMT
james,I assume the three and five are the postage rate.Why is the rate different one month apart?
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Post by jamesw on Nov 10, 2015 3:51:48 GMT
They are both 3's Mr Frog.
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firstfrog2013
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Post by firstfrog2013 on Nov 10, 2015 4:33:07 GMT
Dang I am old.My eyes are going going gone. Thanks james
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Post by jimjung on Nov 10, 2015 10:44:44 GMT
Just an extra note that the PAID 3 handstruck is actually the older 3d hammer from the Pence period being reused for the new 3c rate which began on April 1, 1868 when the Large Queen Issue was released.
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Post by jamesw on Jan 19, 2016 3:07:06 GMT
Another addition. Been eyeing this 'lady's cover' on ebay for a while. Then someone else put in a bid, so I had to pounce. Postmarked Dec 21, 1857 from St. Catherines (sic) with a two line CANADA PAID 10Ct rate stamp.  Shown next to a ruler to get an idea of size. No idea who the sender is, but there are several listings for a Rebecca B. Fay of Rochester NY born Mar 20, 1812 - Apr 9, 1903 |
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Post by jimjung on Jan 19, 2016 8:20:44 GMT
The 10c rate for a crossborder cover to the USA ran from 1859 to 1868, the first decimal period. I'd say this cover is dated 1867 and not 1857. If it was 1857, it would have been a 6d charge. The last day of the 10c rate was March 31, 1868, just a few months after this letter was sent, when the rate reduced to 6c for mail to the USA.
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Post by jamesw on Jan 19, 2016 11:52:44 GMT
thanks for that Jim. It was sold as 1857, but I had wondered about it being a decade later. I compared it to another of my St Catharines letters from the late 1850s and it looked like the same stylized 5, but your evidence is MUCH more compelling.
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Post by jamesw on Jan 20, 2016 3:46:16 GMT
I'll also note there that, though, as Mr J rightly points out, this must be an 1867 cover due to the denomination, the double split ring St. Catherines cancel appears to be a very late usage.
According to Ontario Broken Circles, by W. Bruce Graham, the cancel of the period should read C.W. at the bottom for Canada West. This this cancel wasn't inked sufficiently to make an impression of the bottom.
But the stamp in general bears the characteristics of the cancel which according to Graham was last used on Dec 31 1858, including a 30mm diameter, whereas the cancels of the 1867 period would have been 20.5 -21 and included a 13 bar obliterator, and a serif typeface. Actually it's almost identical to the two St Catherines UC cancels on the covers at the opening of this thread.
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Post by jamesw on Jan 23, 2016 22:03:08 GMT
Back from Unipex with some more Niagara area covers for the pile. There's still time to move on to another thread if you've already had enough of these.... Ok, here goes. This first is the big ticket item of the day. I think postmarked December 25 (the script cancel is difficult to make out - but it would make it my first Christmas Day cover) in Merrittville CW. The post office in Merrittville (or Merrittsville, according to Frank Campbell's Canada Post Offices), was open from 1849 until 1858. It later became the present day city of Welland. Back cancelled in St. Catherines (sic) and Niagara, that one definitely on Dec 25. Niagara is now known as Niagara-on-the-Lake. 
This is a photo of the recipient Joseph Woodruff, taken from the archives of Brock University (where my youngest daughter happens to be in her second year!). It reads on the back, Joseph Woodruff (1820-1886) son of William Woodruff. He married Julia Claus. He was the Sherriff of Lincoln County and one of the incorporators of the Zimmerman Bank.  This one posted from Niagara July 2 1850 to Dundas. Back cancelled in Hamilton CW and Dundas UC  This is postmarked July 19 1867 (a little over two weeks after Canada became a country) from Seneca CW to Cayuga, only a few miles away. Both are just due south of Hamilton.  |
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Post by jamesw on Jan 23, 2016 22:10:43 GMT
Here's a few more. Posted at St Catharines West postal station (where the train station was, and still is) February 15 1885. Nice target cancel on a small queen.  From Thorold, just south of St Catharines to city hall. Back cancelled the same day, August 3, 1890. Nice joined pair of small queens  Lastly a letter card posted from Niagara on September 4 1901. The contents are an invitation to a lodge meeting - Circle no. 89. Important lodge business will be discussed.  |
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Post by jamesw on Mar 26, 2016 20:26:00 GMT
Picked this cute little lady's cover up today, not even realizing it was a Niagara cover! St. Johns C.W. (Canada West) was a little town, actually not far from where I grew up. Here's a website with a little history. www.exploringniagara.com/places_to_explore/forgotten_places/st_johns.htmlOh, and here's the cover. This C.W. split ring cancel doesn't appear in my edition of Ontario Broken Circles. But it's pretty old, so has probably been reported since.  |
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