April 2, 2016 - Of the seventy-four post offices in Shelby County that ever existed, there are three for which locations have not been identified. In order to complete the task of displaying the locations of all our County post offices for the Spring 2016 issue, the publisher of We the People of Shelby County online magazine solicits its readership to assist. This is rather important to the magazine, whenever it may be accomplished. That is because a unique feature of the issue is a series of maps (quad sections of the county) that place the post offices related to today’s roads and highways. It provides a rather interesting picture of the placement, over time, of our seventy-four post offices and the communities they served. Later, we will at least double the number of Shelby County communities located on the series of maps by adding known communities that thrived in spite of having no post office.
The three post offices still not located are Clay’s Mound, Graham’s Mills, and Rue. However, there are known facts about these post offices that may serve as clues for placing them, eventually, on the map.
Clay’s Mound functioned from 1858 to 1866 and had three postmasters during that span of eight years: John Clay, James Sullivan, and George Locke. Graham’s Mills had two postmasters during its short life from 1854 to 1856: James Graham and Ralph Alexander. While the Rue post office never opened for business, it did have a postmaster assigned to organize it (Heaton E. Lynch) during July of 1899.
It is my hope that there are readers in Shelby County today who know, probably as family ancestors, these six gentlemen and where they lived during the last half of the 19th Century. If so, please let me know at dpswanzy@shelbycountytx.com. Your information will be added to the edition, together with any family history that you may be able to provide.
