Mount Union borough

Who Was Mount Union's First Postmaster?

Who kept Mount Union's first post office? Three local histories give the same man, William Pollock. J. Simpson Africa's 1883 county history calls Col. Pollock the pioneer postmaster. Charles Howard Welch's 1909 history of the town says "we learn from earlier history" that he was the first postmaster here, with the office in the vicinity of the Narrows. The 1937 sesquicentennial souvenir book says he was appointed the first postmaster of Mount Union on April 1, 1833, and that he received $6.59 for a full year's service. That book spells his name Pollick on that page.

The federal Official Register lets us check part of that. It lists William Pollock as postmaster at Mount Union in 1835, with compensation of $3.85. In 1837 the figure beside his name is $6.59, the same sum the 1937 book gives, and in 1839 it is $20.04. So the book's number matches the record, though the Register prints it four years after the appointment date the book gives.

Who came next is less tidy. Welch, going on information given by Elias K. Rogers, says James Morgan succeeded Pollock and John Sharrar succeeded Morgan. The Register has those two men in that order, but not right after Pollock. Its 1841 volume shows T. H. Ayres to September 30, 1840, then A. Bathurst. Its 1843 volume shows Antes Bathurst to March 31, 1842, Reuben Cornelius to March 31, 1843, then James Morgan. Its 1845 volume shows Morgan to March 31, then John Sharer, as the Register spells him.

Welch's list runs on from there. After Sharrar came George Eby, E. R. Foust of the firm of Foust & Etnier, and David Etnier. Thomas A. Appleby followed and was first appointed in 1867, but because of the change in administration T. H. Adams succeeded him shortly after and served only a few months. Appleby was appointed again in 1869 and served until 1885. John C. Ross held the office next, and after his death his widow, Mrs. M. R. Ross, held it until 1889. Appleby was then reappointed, and Welch says Mrs. Ross and daughter continued to run it. Charles E. Hart became postmaster in 1893 and held one term, and I. Newton Taylor took charge in 1897. This part of the list may have gaps too, because the Register for 1851 names Adam Holliday at Mount Union, and Welch does not mention him.

Was Pollock truly the first? Three earlier offices in the county have names that could point toward this ground. The list of U.S. post offices compiled by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock gives a Clintonville in Huntingdon County from 1829 to 1830, and the 1829 Register names Samuel S. Barton as postmaster at Clintonville, Pennsylvania. Africa places a Clintonville within the present borough limits, at the south end of the canal bridge, and Milton Lytle's 1876 history puts a town of that name at Drake's Ferry. The same list has an office called Drakes Ferry in 1817, and one called Jack's from 1829 to 1832. A federal table of 1830 lists Jack's in Huntingdon County with Alexander Rogers as postmaster. None of these federal lists says where the offices stood, so we cannot yet say whether any of them served the ground that became Mount Union.

One more puzzle. The 1829 Register also lists a William Pollock as postmaster at Shirleysburgh, with compensation of $24.43, and by the 1830 table John Long held that office. The records do not say whether he is the same William Pollock.

Checked against the record. The federal checks are the Official Register for 1829, 1835, 1837, 1839, 1841, 1843, 1845 and 1851 and the government's 1830 post office table, read on the page images, along with the county histories and the Blevins list of post offices. The Register confirms William Pollock as Mount Union's postmaster in 1835, 1837 and 1839, and it shows other men serving between him and James Morgan. Welch's account of Pollock draws on earlier history, so the histories are not separate witnesses to the word first. Still open: we have not seen the federal record of appointments, which would give the date of Pollock's appointment and any earlier postmaster here. April 1, 1833 rests on the 1937 book, though the Blevins list also gives 1833 as the year. We cannot place Jack's, and we cannot confirm that the Clintonville office is the Clintonville of the county histories. If either stood on this ground, the word first would need rethinking.

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