Nelson Harper was known as a Christian Soldier

Nelson Harper was born a slave into the family of William Harper before the civil war, in a cabin near where the Seminary, Kentucky Post Office stood in Cumberland County. Although he was not sure of his actual birthdate, "Uncle Nels" was believed to have been over one hundred years old when he died at War Memorial Hospital on July 18, 1956.

He had suffered a stroke while helping repair the pump to the well at New Hope Church at Highway, where the annual reunion and homecoming was taking place. He lived adjacent to the church and had been a deacon and lay-leader there for a great number of years and was noted for his piety and deep concentration to the cause of Christ.

Uncle Nels would often talk about events that had taken place during and after the Civil War. Older folks who remembered him as a grown man when they were children told how their parents had said Uncle Nels was a good sized boy and able to do small chores on the farm before the war ended.

He first married Mattie Alexander. Their daughter, Pearl Craft, was living in Muncie when Uncle Nels died. After Mattie died, Uncle Nels married Laura Staley and they had four children; David, Clarence, Edgar and Nora. Edgar, his only other surviving child, was living in Cincinnati when his father died. A half brother, Gerald, lived at Highway. Another one, Eugene, lived at Bakerton. He lived to be 101.

Uncle Nels was buried at Harper Cemetery near Seminary, following a funeral at New Hope Church. Both the service and a visitation at Sewell Funeral Home had been attended by a large number of people wishing to pay tribute to the man who was highly esteemed by all who knew him.

He proved to be faithful as a Deacon of his church. He was called a Christian soldier who was ever ready to wage war with the enemy and stand firm until the battle was ended. He loved his church and good preaching and often encouraged the speakers with his amens. The light he left behind lit the path for others who followed.

The burial site for William Harper, who lived between 1815 and 1892, is unknown, but his wife, Mahalia Brown Harper (1814-1888) is buried at Harper Cemetery. There are four graves there: Nelson Harper, Mahalia Brown Harper, Laura Branham Harper (1849-1920) and her mother, Emily Wilson Branham Burchett, a slave brought to Clinton County from Danville, Virginia by Barnabas Branham. Her surname was Wilson. She was sold away from her husband, King Harper, and 3 or 4 of her children. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Ben Dyer and the Zip Code

It was sixty years ago this year, in 1963, that the post office began using zip codes. Albany postmaster Ben Dyer announced in June of that year that a new system of improving mail dispatch and delivery would begin on July 1st. The zip code, five digit numerals to be placed on all correspondence, will cut up to 24 hours between the time of the deposits and delivery of mail, he said.

Local post offices that were assigned numbers were Aaron 42601, Albany 42602, Alpha 42603, Highway 42623, Huntersville 42627, Seminary 42644 and Static 38586. Everyone in these communities were asked to use the numbers on all correspondence to not only speed deliveries but to reduce the chance of missent mail.

Dyer also instructed residents on how to include the zip code with the address. "This prefix is to be used on all mailers, whether they are post boxholders, have home boxes or get their mail by general delivery."

For the first time ever, the new zip code plan would permit post office employees to decrease repeat readings of addresses. Previously, the address on mail often had to be read eight or ten times in order to get it to the proper destination. Each handling slowed the process of mail dispatch and added to the opportunity for human error.

The zip code allowed the United States to have 'the most modern system of mail distribution in existence,' Dyer said, and he encouraged everyone to learn their zip codes and use them on return addresses on all correspondence and that in answering mail the zip code taken from incoming mail should be used.

Ben Dyer was appointed postmaster in November of 1959, replacing Odell Cummings, who had been acting postmaster for one year following the retirement of W.H. "Bill" Vitatoe. Ben served as postmaster for 22 years, longer than anyone else who served before him. He retired in January of 1981.

One Hand on the Plow, the Other on the Fiddle and Guitar

Check out this circa 1905 photo of a group of Fentress County, Tennessee musicians. My fourth cousin, Gilbert Boles, is sitting to the left of the man holding onto the plow. His brother, Herbert, is to the right of the man. Gilbert was a school teacher. In the postcard dated March 17, 1910, he tells Herbert that he needs someone to meet him at the river after the school at Jamestown, Tennessee ends.

Parcel Post Began on Jan. 1, 1913

By law, the Post Office Department could not carry parcels weighing more than four pounds at the beginning of the 20th century. Private express companies, which had begun to flourish in the mid-1800s, delivered large packages. The establishment of rural free delivery had provided a heady taste of life for rural Americans. Soon the demand increased for the delivery of packages containing food, dry goods, drugs, and other commodities not easily available to farmers. Though express companies and country merchants fought long and hard against it, rural residents, who represented 54 percent of the country’s population in 1910, were equally emphatic in wanting Parcel Post.

The Act of August 24, 1912 authorized Parcel Post and it officially began on January 1, 1913. It was an instant success, with 300 million parcels mailed in the first six months the service was offered. The effect on the national economy was electric. Marketing and merchandising through Parcel Post spurred the growth of the great mail-order houses. Montgomery Ward, the first mail-order company, started with a catalog of more than 100 products in 1872. Sears, Roebuck and Company followed Montgomery Ward in 1893. The year Parcel Post began, Sears handled five times as many orders as it did the year before. Five years later, Sears doubled its revenues.

(from usps.com)

"Life Can Be Hard, But God Is Able"

Everything was going okay that day until all the other Post brothers got together in a huddle and decided to team up against Little Jimmy Post. I don't know for sure how things turned out for my buddy, but I have to believe that he made it through it okay. You see, life can be tough, at times as hard as crucible steel. That's what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his "Eulogy of the Martyred Children," which he delivered on Sept. 18, 1963. "[Life] has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace." You don't have to face your struggles alone, if you believe what the bible says in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." We can all learn a lesson from Little Jimmy. I pray that you will.

The Post Football Game

"The post football game was about to get ugly after all the others posts decided it was time to team up on little Jimmy."