Our early Mission township settlers laid the foundation for the great
purpose our American post office represents today, although the first post
office was nothing more than a mere living-room in the home of Squire Neff. an
old wounded Mexican war veteran.
Mr. Neff's home was located near
Mission Point, the home of missionaries on Mission creek, now a farm owned by
Lyle Bowen, formerly owned by Francis Bowen. Also, the first cabin in the
township was here at Mission Point, which was soon burned down by the Indians
before many of our forefathers had settled. Mr. Neff's house was one of the
largest in those days, as most of the distant homes were but small log cabins.
There were six rooms — a kitchen, a living-room, a bedroom, a pantry, and two or
more rooms upstairs. They did not have any more than one closet in the house
where they could keep their clothing.
The furniture was very scarce. In
one of the rooms a large carpet covered the square floor, while in the other
rooms there were rude benches and probably a table.
The chief room,
where Mr. Neff had his small office, was the living-room, warmed by a large
fireplace. This fireplace was made of clay or bricks. They got the clay in the
Mission creek and made it into bricks. The family of about fifteen spent most of
their time beside this cheerful fireplace.
Squire, or "the justice of
peace," as he was known, usually sat by his unpolished four-legged desk. He
seldom left his desk or chair without need, for the reason that he was lame.
There were no boxes in the office to put the mail in except a few
pigeonholes on one side of the desk where he put some of the mail. They didn't
have to have many holes for the mail because they never received much.
The postmaster never sorted his mail during the daytime. He would sit at his
desk and wait for callers. When anyone came he would look for their mail and
hand it to them.
It was much harder to bring mail in those days,
therefore the people did not send much or receive so much, either. The few
settlers received mail only two or three times a week. There was never a large
amount of mail because the cost on a letter or any pamphlet was not small.
Although the mail did not come regularly, the people, especially the
children coming home from school nearby, were delighted to enter the Neff post
office, where a homelike atmosphere always prevailed, to ask for their mail. He
was a very pleasant old gentleman and he was usually prepared for a lively and
interesting conversation, in which everyone was delighted.
The nearby
school, just mentioned, was named Neff school in honor of Squire Neff. When Mrs.
Frank Bowen, now a resident of Sheridan, was a little girl, she attended the
Neff school. On her way home from school many times she would stop at the Neff
post office and get the mail. She can vividly recall his pleasant, devoted and
friendly manner.
Our present post office shows a marked advancement over
the first office, but still our forefathers and friends love to tell about its
beginning by Mr. Neff.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 46.
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