Farmerville Post Office, Union Parish Louisiana Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by T. D. Hudson, 8/2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================= Early Postmasters of Farmerville Post Office, Union Parish Louisiana ================================================================================= SOURCE: Records of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832 – September 30, 1971, located in the National Archives, identifed as Record Group 28, Microfilm Publication M841, Reels #51 & 52. T. D. Hudson transcribed this information from the original records and donated it to the Union Parish Archives in August 2004. ================================================================================== FARMERVILLE POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED: 2 May 1840 HISTORY OF FARMERVILLE POST OFFICE, 1840 - 1930: office open continually since 2 May 1840 office name incorrectly recorded in postal service records as 'Farmersville' on 2 May 1840 office name officially changed to 'Farmerville' by Postmaster Isaac Shuster on 25 September 1886 POSTMASTERS: James H. Seale, 2 May 1840 - 6 July 1842 Enoch B. Whitson, 7 July 1842 - 29 Dec 1845 John A. Bayliss, 30 Dec 1845 - 7 June 1847 James C. L. Nyegaard, 8 June 1847 - 4 Sept 1849 James A. Dozier, 5 Sept 1849 - 8 Feb 1852 William A. Darby, 9 Feb 1852 - 21 June 1854 William B. H. Poer, 22 June 1854 - 20 May 1855 Matthew D. Mayes, 21 May 1855 - 17 Mar 1856 William B. H. Poer, 18 Mar 1856 - 14 Mar 1858 Henry Archer, 15 Mar 1858 - 17 Aug 1858 T. H. Cann, 18 Aug 1858 - 30 Dec 1859 Campbell Lassiter, 31 Dec 1859 - 28 Feb 1866 Mrs. Harriet R. Dozier, 1 Mar 1866 - 12 Mar 1866 James A. Dozier, 13 Mar 1866 - 11 Dec 1866 Edward Bronson, 12 Dec 1866 - 16 Oct 1867 Judge James Etherington Trimble, 17 Oct 1867 - 9 May 1875 William Cleaton Carr, 10 May 1875 - 29 Jan 1878 Isaac Shuster, 30 Jan 1878 - 21 May 1903 [Longtime Farmerville postmaster Isaac Shuster died on 17 April 1903.] Etta Shuster, 22 May 1903 - 26 Apr 1904 Kate Gilbert, 27 Apr 1904 - 25 Feb 1919 [she was reappointed as postmistress on 1 Jan 1914 and 25 Feb 1915.] Mabel Gilbert, 26 Feb 1919 - 27 July 1919 Harry Preaus, 28 July 1919 - serving in 1930 [he was reappointed on 19 Apr 1924 & 2 May 1928 ================================================================================== COMMENTS: #1 This is the oldest existing post office in Union Parish. It was named for Mills Farmer, a pioneer settler who arrived in the Ouachita Valley between 1810 and 1812. He served in the Louisiana militia during the War of 1812 and is the second oldest Union Parish settler of European descent. He lived in the Pine Hills community as it was then called, now the Downsville or Walnut Lane area of southern Union Parish. Farmer died in 1834. #2 United States postal officials incorrectly recorded the name of the post office in their records as "Farmersville". It remained officially incorrect until 25 September 1886, when postmaster Isaac Shuster had the mistake corrected. #3 Harriett Ann Dozier was born in England about 1831. She married Dr. James A. Dozier, a Farmerville physcian. She served as Farmerville postmistress for twelve days, from March 1st through March 12th, 1866, when her husband took over as the postmaster. We have no explanation for her short tenure, but it gives her the distinction of being the earliest-recorded female public servant of Union Parish. #4 James Etherington Trimble, a Farmerville school teacher, lawyer, district court judge, and newspaperman, had the distinction of casting the only Republican vote from Union Parish in the 1868 presidential election. He served as Farmerville's postmaster between 1867 and 1875, a period in which he also served as the Judge of the District Court. Trimble became embroiled in the nasty Union Parish Reconstruction politics, and his outspoken views attracted a wide following, despite his Yankee origins. He founded the Farmerville "Gazette" in 1878 and edited the paper for the next nine years. His paper allowed him to disseminate his political viewpoints to a wide audience, and caused a number of public disputes with other influential Farmerville residents. One controversy with fellow attorney James A. Ramsey led to a shootout between the two in December 1887. Both men died in the gunbattle on the Farmerville streets outside Stein's Store. #5 Isaac Schuster served as Farmerville's postmaster for twenty years. Born on 8 July 1827 in Bavaria (now Germany), he married Sarah (born about 1840) and they migrated to North America by the latter 1850s, first settling in Illinois. They lived in Louisiana by 1859, and joined the substantial Jewish community of Farmerville in the 1860s. He worked as a peddler in 1870, but soon became a fixture among the Farmerville businessmen. He served as Farmerville's town clerk in the 1880s in addition to his duties as postmaster. He died on 17 April 1903 and was buried in the Farmerville Cemetery. ###########################################################