On 19 February 1914 Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed by train from Grangeville, Idaho to her grandparents’ house 73 miles away. Charlotte was 4 years old.
Mailing children was not uncommon in rural areas after parcel post began in 1913. The service was introduced to compete with package delivery services and it greatly expanded the ability of people to send and receive goods no matter where they lived.
In the case of children, it was an alternate transportation option when parents were poor and could not take time off, or afford regular travel.
The first baby noted to have been sent by mail was a 10 month old mailed for 15c, though his parents did insure him for $50.
Postal officials were trusted members of the community, and it was known they took good care of their packages, even the ones that needed their diapers changed.
In the case of Miss Pierstorff, her cousin happened to be a railway postal clerk that she was entrusted to. And it is not true that she was mailed at the chicken-mail rate. Chickens were not allowed in the mails until 1918.
Her story was written as a children’s book “Mailing May” (2000) by
Michael Tunnell.
The Postal Service did try to discourage the practice, and on June 14, 1913 newspapers rant a story that the Postmaster had put a stop to the practice. But it was not until 1920 that it became illegal to send live humans through the U.S. mails.
But in 1920, the First Assistant Postmaster General decreed that children are not harmless live animals that require no food or water during transit.
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