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Page 10
Mr. Woods held the office until his death, which occurred on January 12,
1841; and he was followed by the Honorable George S. Boutwell, since the
Governor of the Commonwealth and a member of the United States Senate.
During the administration of Mr. Woods and Mr. Boutwell, the office was
kept in the brick store, opposite to the present High School.
Upon the change in the administration of the National Government,
Mr. Butler was reinstated in office, and commissioned on April 15, 1841.
He continued to hold the position until December 21, 1846, when he was
again removed for political reasons. Mr. Butler was a most obliging man,
and his removal was received by the public with general regret. During
his two terms he filled the office for more than eighteen years, a
longer period than has fallen to the lot of any other postmaster of
the town. Near the end of his service a material change was made in the
rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus
comments on it:--
The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to
December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four
dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the
first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars
and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the
natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and
fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before
had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon
the treasury. Whether the present rates will eventually raise a
sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures, remains to be seen. The
greatest difficulty to be overcome is evasion of the post-office laws
and fraud upon the department.
Like many other persons of that period, Mr. Butler did not appreciate
the fact that the best way to prevent evasions of the law is to reduce
the rates of postage so low that it will not pay to run the risk of
fraud.
Captain Welcome Lothrop succeeded Mr. Butler as postmaster, and during
his administration the office was kept in Liberty Hall. Captain Lothrop
was a native of Easton, Massachusetts, and a land-surveyor of some
repute in this neighborhood. Artemas Wood followed him by appointment on
February 22, 1849; but he never entered upon the duties of his office.
He was succeeded by George H. Brown, who had published The Spirit of the
Times--a political newspaper--during the presidential canvass of 1848,
and in this way had become somewhat prominent as a local politician. Mr.
Brown was appointed on May 4, 1849; and during his term the office was
kept in an ell of his dwelling-house, which was situated nearly opposite
to the Orthodox meeting-house. He was afterward the postmaster of Ayer.
Mr. Brown was followed by Theodore Andruss, a native of Orford, New
Hampshire, who was commissioned on April 11, 1853. Mr. Andruss brought
the office back to Liberty Hall, and continued to be the incumbent until
April 22, 1861, when he was succeeded by George W. Fiske. On February
13, 1867, Henry Woodcock was appointed to the position, and the office
was then removed to the Town Hall, where most excellent accommodations
were given to the public.
He was followed on June 11, 1869, by Miss Harriet E. Farnsworth, now
Mrs. Marion Putnam; and she in turn was succeeded on July 2, 1880, by
Mrs. Christina D. (Caryl) Fosdick, the widow of Samuel Woodbury Fosdick,
and the present incumbent.
The office is still kept in the Town Hall, and there is no reason to
think that it will be removed from the spacious and commodious quarters
it now occupies, for a long time to come. Few towns in the Commonwealth
can present such an array of distinguished men among their postmasters
as those of Groton, including, as it does, the names of Judge Dana,
Judge Richardson, Mr. Butler, and Governor Boutwell.
By the new postal law which went into operation on the first of last
October, the postage is now two cents to any part of the United States,
on all letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight. This rate
certainly seems cheap enough, but in time the public will demand the
same service for a cent. Less than forty years ago the charge was five
cents for any distance not exceeding three hundred miles, and ten cents
for any greater distance. This was the rate established by the law which
took effect on July 1, 1845; and it was not changed until July, 1851,
when it was reduced to three cents on single letters, prepaid, or five
cents, if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand miles. By
the law which went into operation on June 30, 1863, prepayment by stamps
was made compulsory, the rate remaining at three cents; though a special
clause was inserted, by which the letters of soldiers or sailors, then
fighting for the Union in the army or navy, might go without prepayment.
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