22-23 Jul - Post Office

This was a typical post office of the time. On one side was the post office, and the other side was a dry goods store where people could purchase or barter for what they needed. In the post office people mailed or picked up letters. In those days the sender didn’t have to pay postage. It was expensive and people had 90 days to pick up their mail or it would go to the dead letter file. Because postage was so expensive, people wrote across the page width wise and then turned the paper to write lengthwise. Then the letter was folded and sealed with wax. At one point, Joseph Smith was receiving a lot of mail, much of it insulting. So he put an add in the papers in Nauvoo and Kirtland requesting those who really wanted to contact him to pay the postage. Otherwise, he wouldn’t pick it up.