Introduction

Section 1. Express Companies serving Hartford

Section 2. History of the Hartford Letter Mail

Section 3. Stamps of the Hartford Letter Mail

Section 4. Covers of the Hartford Letter Mail

Section 5. Biographies of the Originators

Section 6. Plating Guide and Enlargements

Section 7. References

Combination PDF file of all sections

Section 5.
 

Biographies of the Originators

Francis A. Fuller

Francis Fuller was probably the person most directly involved with both the inception and operation of the Hartford Letter Mail. Unfortunately, little is known of Fuller beyond the few period newspaper references to him and the December 1895 W.H. Bruce fictionalized article in the Eastern Philatelist that mentions, "Mr Parsons, at the time of their emission, was engaged in the book business in Hartford and among his acquaintances was a Mr. Fuller, who was the terminal agent for the Thompson & Co. express line, of Springfield. These gentlemen conceived an idea that it was possible to operate a letter route by express … On the suppression of the stamps the plate remained in the possession of Mr. Fuller for several years, when, it is claimed, it was destroyed."

The earliest mention of Fuller that I have found in the Hartford papers is a notice of an advertised letter addressed to him that was published in the Hartford Courant in March 1842. He first appears in the city directories as an employee of Phillips New York Express that operated between Hartford and New York City and simultaneously as an agent for Thompson's Express that operated between Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts. According to the Geer's (May) 1844 Hartford City Directory, both expresses operated from the same office at the "7 Central Row" address. Fuller boarded at the U.S. Hotel. In Geer's (May) 1845 Hartford City Directory the address for both Phillips & Co. N.Y. Express and Thompson's Express is listed as 139 Main Street, Hartford. This 1845 directory shows Fuller living at Bull's cottage on Church Street. 

Significantly, this 139 Main Street address begins to appear in Hale and Company advertisements dated July 12, 1844 as a secondary Hartford address to their mail primary address at 7 Central Row (Hartford). The advertisement (Figure 19) is shown as it appeared in the October 11, 1844 Hartford Daily Courant. This same address is also listed in the directory as the primary address of Thompson's Express. These addresses correspond to the series of Hale & Company advertisements that appeared in the Hartford Daily Courant. From July 12 until September 25, 1844 the address for Hale & Co. Hartford Office appears in the advertisements as 7 Central Row. From September 27 until October 24, 1844 the advertisements include both the new 139 Main St address in second paragraph and the 7 Central Row address at foot. From November 6, 1844 until the ads were discontinued in early 1845 the address in second paragraph appears as 139 Main Street and a new address of 117 Main Street appears at the foot. 

After the end of the Hartford Letter Mail on June 30, 1845, a single notice appears in the Hartford Daily Courant in September, 1845, "We are indebted to Mr. Fuller of the express office, for a copy of European Times" and then he disappears following two unusual notices that were published in 1846. A large Phillips Express display advertisement appeared in the Feb 21, 1846 Hartford Times included (in bold), "FA Fuller, former Agent of Thompson & Co has not now, neither has he had, any connection in business with Phillips & Co since Aug 30, 1845." Finally an April 8 1846 notice in Hartford Daily Courant, "Thompson Express. Francis A. Fuller ceased to be our Agent on the 20th day of October last. 

Figure 19.  Hale & Company advertisements in Hartford Daily Courant. Advertisement at left, internally dated July 12 (1844), ran until September 25, 1844. Advertisement at center, identical except listing the Phillips Express address of 139 Main Street in addition to the Hale address at 7 Central Row (Hartford) ran from September 27, 1844 until October 24, 1844. Advertisement at right, with main Hale address listed as "117 Main St" ran from November 6, 1844 until 1845. 

Edward Williams Parsons

Although no period mention of E.W. Parsons's involvement with the Hartford Letter Mail has been found, in the 1890's Parsons claimed to have been the "instigator of the enterprise" and his claims require careful consideration even if they can not be verified. 

The earliest mention this author has found of his purported involvement with Hartford Letter Mail appeared in a report of "Rare Postage Stamps" that was distributed to several newspapers in 1890. The piece was published by the New York Times on March 7, 1890 and Dickerman's United States Treasury Counterfeit Detector of the same year. This report, apparently sent out by Parsons and another stamp collector from Hartford, Hammond Trumbull, will be examined after a review of Edward Parsons' career.

According to his obituary published in the Hartford Courant on September 26, 1898, Edward W. Parsons was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 28, 1817 and died in Hartford, Connecticut on September 25, 1898. He came to Hartford in 1836 to work in a flour mill and afterward he became a partner of Flavius A. Brown in the book business, the firm name being Brown & Parsons.

The advertisements of Brown & Parsons continue unchanged through the 1844-45 period of operation of the Hartford Letter Mail. The first mention of Parsons being associated with the express business appears in a news item in the January 22, 1852 Hartford Courant that states: "Mr E.W. Parsons (of the late firm of Brown & Parsons) has become associated with Messrs. Phillips & Co. of this city in the Express business." After Daniel Phillips merged his express into the new Adams Express Company in 1854, Parsons continued on with the new company. On December 13, 1855 the Springfield Republican mentions that Parsons had just been appointed as Superintendent of the New England section of Adams Express Company. Two uses of E.W. Parsons' Adams Express datestamp are shown in Figure 20. Following a successful career with Adams Express, Parsons retired to become the first President of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.  

Figure 20. E.W. Parson's oval datestamp on Adam's Express Company business letter of September 2, 1857 dated from Hartford and the same marking on a local use 1858 cover. 

Interestingly, Parsons became a member of the American Numismatic & Archeological Society on February 25, 1869. He apparently had philatelic interest in the Hartford stamp as well. The 1890 "Rare Postage Stamp" notice (Figure 21) previously mentioned includes: 

RARE POSTAGE STAMPS - A Hartford, Conn. dispatch says: .... In 1845, the same year in which the first stamps were issued by the New York Post Office, two years earlier in fact, than the first Government stamps, the old Adams Express Company put out an issue of its own, the company stipulating the transportation of mail matter as express for just one-half of the Government rates. E.W. Parsons of this city who was formerly Superintendent of the company, was the instigator of the enterprise. He has two of these stamps in his possession. They are buff-colored and somewhat smaller than the new two-cent stamp. The figure of a man is represented astride of two continents, with a mail pouch over his shoulder, and the word 'Hartford' written across it. President Daniel Phillips of the Mechanics' Savings Bank, who is now nearing the eighty-year limit in life, was an associate of Mr. Parson's in the express company. It was one of his duties to sell the stamps. He has in his possession a gold dollar which was given him by mistake for stamps forty-five years ago. The trade was discontinued on account of Government interference after it had been carried on for a short time. The stamps were scattered, and it is not probable that a dozen of them can be found in the entire state. 

This un-sourced article, seemingly distributed by Hammond Trumball and Edward Parsons, is loaded with inaccuracies. Adams Express had no connection with Hartford Letter Mail. The Hartford stamp was issued in 1844, not 1845. Further, there is no mention of the pink stamp and curiously, no mention is made of Francis Fuller. Also, Daniel Phillips' role was certainly more significant than implied. 

In December 1895, W.H. Bruce authored an article (Figure 22) on "The Hartford Local" that was published in The Eastern Philatelist. The author apparently interviewed Edward W. Parsons and the article states:

In this later class (locals of which few copies are extant) must be enumerated the labels issued in 1845 by Messrs. Parsons & Fuller of Hartford. .. Mr Parsons, at the time of their emission, was engaged in the book business in Hartford and among his acquaintances was a Mr. Fuller, who was the terminal agent for the Thompson & Co. express line, of Springfield. These gentlemen conceived an idea that it was possible to operate a letter route by express …

This short introduction repeats the date of issue error and fails to make any mention of Daniel Phillips who at least got mention in the 1890 version. Also, the stamp is described as having the word "Hartford" written across it, and this is repeated in the 1895 “Eastern Philatelist” report and may refer to the manuscript precancel that exists but the mail bag has the word "MAIL" inscribed on it. However, even with all the errors of fact contained in the article, there does remain a hint at a possible connection. A following sentence, "On the suppression of the stamps the plate remained in the possession of Mr. Fuller for several years, when, it is claimed, it was destroyed" suggests that Parsons had knowledge of the stamp plate. The most likely connection would be that he was involved with the printing of the stamps while working at Brown & Parsons booksellers. The firm is known from their advertisements to have sold prints locally produced.  

In summary, the author has not been able to find any real evidence that E.W. Parsons was involved with the Hartford Letter Mail. The few published accounts from Parsons, relating to both coins and the Hartford stamps, do not inspire confidence in the veracity of his claims. However, it does seem possible that the plate of twelve individual engravings was prepared by a local engraver and printed under the direction of Parsons.  

Figure 21. This "Rare Postage Stamps" newspaper article appeared in March 1890 and was printed in several newspapers and publications. It appears to have been distributed to those publications by Trumbull and Parsons. 

Figure 22. Article on "The Hartford Local" by H.C. Bruce which appeared in December 1895 “The Eastern Philatelist.”

Daniel Phillips

Daniel Phillips was the proprietor of the "New York Express Company" that operated a package express between Hartford and New York City. This is the express company that actually conveyed the Hartford Letter Mail letters from Hartford to New York City. It seems probable that the company also carried Hale & Company letters in both directions between Hartford and New York City.  

According to Pearce’s Forbes & Forbush Genealogy, Phillips was born July 2, 1809 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He left Westboro, Massachusetts in 1842 to engage in the express business between Hartford and New York operating the line previously established by W.F. Harnden in 1837. The express operated as Clark & Phillips New York Express in early 1843. By November a New Haven Columbian Register notice no longer included Clark's name. The full notice reads:

Phillips & Cos Express (Late Harnden & Co's). The agency having been transferred from Mr James S. Bailey to W. Webb, hereafter all packages for Hartford & East, should be  marked "Care Phillips & Co" and left at 56 State street before 11 o'clock AM. ,W. Webb, Agent

In 1845 Geer's Hartford Directory the address from Phillips & Co N.Y. Express is listed as 139 Main Street, Hartford. Significantly, this address begins to appear in Hale and Company advertisements dated July 12, 1844 as a secondary Hartford address to their mail primary address at 7 Central Row (Hartford). The advertisement (Figure 1) is shown as it appeared in the October 11, 1844 Hartford Daily Courant. This same address is also listed in the directory as the primary address of Thompson's Express.  

This advertisement is a variant of a nearly identical ad that did not include the 139 Main Street address that ran under the same July 12 internal date prior to October 1844. The address was the location of the Hartford Letter Mail office run by Francis Fuller in his dual role as employee of Phillips New York Express and as agent for Thompson's Express.  

Figure 23 shows a folded letter from Waterbury endorsed to be carried by Phillips Express that entered Hale’s office in New York as unpaid and collect. It was handled by Phillips Express via New Haven to New York City before receiving the Hale & Co. boxed collect handstamp. This letter tends to confirm the relationship between Hale and Phillips. 

Figure 23. "By Phillips Express" endorsement on December 4, 1844 folded letter from Waterbury to Philadelphia.  

Following the June 30, 1845 termination of the Hartford Letter Mail service, Phillips continued their package express. A July 26, 1845 Hartford Times advertisement reads: 

Phillips & Cos Express have made arrangements to run their express daily between Hartford & NY. Messengers will leave Hartford at 6 ½ PM and Harnden & Cos Office, 6 Wall St, New York at 6 ½ AM for the transportation of bank notes ..... 

Phillips New York Express continued until 1854 when it and other companies were merged in the Adams Express Company. That same year Phillips was elected as member of the Connecticut General Assembly.  Daniel Phillips also served on the Adams Express first board of managers and continued his association with the express until 1866 when he retired. He died May 2, 1903.