When Did The Us Postal Service Stop Mailing Children?

The Weird History of Mailing Babies Through the Postal Service

No proper guidelines made parents take advantage of the Post Office in unexpected ways

The early 20th century witnessed significant innovation when the Post Office decided to ship large packages and parcels through the mail. Previously, during the 19th century, private delivery companies existed; however, Parcel Post's introduction expanded the mail-delivery reach to the far-flung areas.

Since the beginning of the official Post Office's Parcel Post on January 1, 1913, the service has opened the American people's doors to exchange vast amounts of goods and services. Surprisingly, the service leaves us astounded when parents literally mailed their babies. Yes, "mailing babies" was a real thing that history documents. Technically, there was no postal regulation against it.

After the few short weeks when the Parcel Service began operation, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle mailed their eight-month-old son, James Beagle. At that time, the Postal Service imposed a weight limit, and the kid James weighed just under 11 pounds, making him technically come under the weighing limit norms.

James was successfully delivered to his grandmother's home, just a few miles away in Batavia. And he has been honored as the first baby to ever had been delivered via mail.

Fortunately for the child, the journey wasn't troublesome; instead, he slept peacefully along the way. Mailing young James Beagle through postage cost merely 15 cents, although his parents ensured him for $50, according to Smithsonian.

Modern-day parents might find the act of mailing babies through parcels as weird, something beyond imagination. However, it made sense to enough people back then. James Beagle's story not only grabbed headlines but also established a child mailing trend. Soon, newspapers covered this peculiar story, and many similar stories started appearing for several years where children were mailed through rural routes via Parcel Post.

As the Postal restrictions on weight-limit shifted and were relaxed, older children began to be mailed as well.

As per the National Post Museum , in February 1914, a four-year-old girl named Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from her home in Grangeville, Idaho, and sent via train to her grandparent's house about 73 miles away.

As it turns out, the girl was accompanied by her mother's cousin who worked as a clerk for the Railway Mail Service, and it is likely that because the relative attended the child, the local officials might have agreed to send the little girl via mail. Once again, the girl's mailing journey widely grabbed headlines and attracted the public. Her tale became legendary and inspired the children's book called Mailing May.

Back in the early days, children were the most bizarre packages being sent through the postal system; however, that is not even remotely close to the other sent items.

According to the Washington Post, since the Parcel services began, all kinds of cargo showed up in the mailing lines, including eggs, dogs, and coffins. Also, there were other questionable items like taxidermy animals, deadly medical specimens like dead fish, and more.

Coming back to babies' mailing, the most extended trip taken by a "mailed" child happened to be in 1915. It was the mailing of a six-year-old girl, Edna Neff, from her mother's home in Pensacola, Florida, to her father's house in Christiansburg, Virginia, about 720 miles away.

The "baby mail" episode highlighted the importance of Postal Services when traveling long distances became important but remained difficult to access or was mostly unaffordable for many Americans. Perhaps more importantly, the Postal Services was considered a crucial part of communities, a touchstone with friends and families who stayed distant away from each other, and a bearer of important good news.

In some ways, Americans trusted their postman with their lives and eventually with their babies. They knew that their children weren't just handled by the stranger; instead, they personally knew the mail carriers. Because of the plain old trust on the postmen, the mailing of babies was much entrusted upon.

Many people felt that mailing babies were somewhat better for it was a cheap public transit and a sensible economic solution. Unlike delays of many other parcels, there are no records of any mailed children suffering damage during the transit or not arriving at their destinations on time.

Down the line, in 1915, the Post Office Department formally outlawed the practice of mailing children; however, the restrictions were rarely enforced. Despite regulations, few people breached the laws, and a handful of children were still found to be mailed and delivered between 1913 and 1915.

In August 1915, a three-year-old Maud Smith happened to be the last child mailed. The grandparents sent the child 40 miles through Kentucky to see her sick mother. The Railway Service investigated as to how the mailing took place despite the regulations. However, History records no investigation results, but many historians believe that someone might have been reprimanded for the act.

Around 1916, the practice of mailing babies altogether ceased. Further reports mentioned that in June 1920, General John C. Koons, the First Assistant Postmaster rejected the two applications of mailing children, stating that they cannot be classified as harmless living animals.

In History, the "child mail" episode became more of an entertainment and was considered publicity stunts. However, there are no instances where parents simply dropped their children to post offices, handover them to strangers for their delivery in faraway places.

Instead, all the child mailing that happened involved mail carriers who were known personally by the parents. Also, the photographs representing kids with mail carriers were staged up to grab the masses' attention. History, thus, can be a quirky mail wrapped as human parcels with thrilling ironies.