(continued from Note Nr. 1779)
Peter Barnhard led a hard life delivering the mail. His route from Winchester to Staunton was approximately one hundred miles and then he returned. All of this was on horseback. He left on Wednesday and arrived on Saturday so it was three to four days. At first he made the trip only every other week but later he made the journey every week. Though his career as a post rider began in 1798 and lasted for almost thirty years, the roads were only slightly better than the original Indian trail. Today his route is approximated by Route 11.At first, he was an unofficial carrier of the mail earning his bread by the charges for delivering letters and newspaper. Later he became the official carrier of the mail but not every place along the route had a postoffice. Peter had learned the names of many people and if they were not far off his route he might make a “special delivery.” Generally though he used taverns as point for leaving and dropping the mail if there were no post office.
Letters were very expensive. The postage on a letter might cost as much as a couple dozen eggs or three chickens. Among his special services, he would accept advertisements for the newspapers of Winchester, New Market, Harrisonburg, and Staunton. He took orders for Gruber’s and Dietrick’s almanacs. He carried orders to Solomon Henkel’s drug store in New Market and brought back the medicines. He continued to sell his own rhymes which he printed with the byline, “Printed for Peter Barnhart”.
His arrival in a town always was an exciting event and the children flocked out to see and hear him. He had a saying, “Ich bring das Neus, so gut ich’s wiess.” - which, rendered into English, means “I bring the news as well as I know it.” This inspired Ambrose Henkel, the New Market printer, to cut a woodblock showing Barnhart on horseback blowing his horn and proclaiming his slogan. Later Henkel used the cut on the masthead of his German language newspaper, Volksberichter , which Barnhart distributed throughout the Valley. Subscribers to Beyond Gemanna can see it in the May 2003 issue in a reduced scale.
Gradually, the mail system grew more complex and larger and beyond the capability of one rider on a horse. Stages took over the work and reached to more remote places carrying passengers and freight besides the mail.
I don’t know what happened to Peter Barnhart. Let’s hope he rested.
(15 Oct 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.