52 Ancestors #25: 1861 Mail Carrier Thomas Moynahan

No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: "Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.”

 This week's blog post is about mail carrier Thomas Moynahan.

Thomas Moynahan was 65 years old in 1861 and was noted in the Canada West census as a "mail carrier". He lived in the "Town of Windsor". I have not been able to locate him in the 1871 census.

Thomas Moynahan was born in 1796 in Ireland

Image from Canadian Postal Archives database
"Mail courier approaching King's Head Inn"

According to the LAC: "The Post Office was created as a federal department in 1867. Although postal operations in Canada date back to 1755, postal services were under the control of British authorities until 1851."

1894 Postman dressed in his fall clothing

Other Moynahan Mail Carriers

Denis Moynahan of Tilbury (1880-1935), Ontario also worked as a mail carrier in Comber, Ontario.

From "The Township of Sandwich" (Neal)

 The Amherstburg Stage

Excerpt: "Ready to start from the Windsor Post office with mail for Sandwich and Amherstburg and intermediate points. Wm. Fox, the veteran stage driver, stands at the rear of his horse, near the seat. This mode of carrying the mails was discontinued June 3, 1907. The Sandwich, Windsor & Amherstburg Railway now carries the mail between these points."

Postmasters of Sandwich (On) 

1800-1909

From "The Township of Sandwich" (Neal)

Mail Carriers - Walkerville, Ontario circa 1920

Links:

•   Historic databases of Post Offices and Postmasters .