Car Stories, the Rural Mail Carrier

 

I collect antique photographs of musicians
that belong to a sub-category of collectibles
known as "occupational photos".
Typically these are photographs
of people holding the tools of their trade,
such as musical instruments for example,
or posed doing some activity in their line of work,
like performing in a band or orchestra.

Yet outside of my musical collection,
in my own family's photo albums,
there are surprisingly very, very few photographs
of my close relations or distant ancestors at work. 

Except for this one.

This picture of a man in an old-fashioned open automobile
putting letters and packages into a country roadside mail box,
is my mother's grandfather and my great-grandfather, William J. Dobbin. 
For over 30 years William was a Rural Letter Carrier
in Pope County, Minnesota.  

He put a lot of miles on his cars. 

1909 Maxwell Model LD
Source: New York Public Library digital collections

The car William Dobbin is driving was made by the Maxwell Motor Company, once a major manufacturer of automobiles that was first established in 1904 as the "Maxwell-Briscoe Company" of North Tarrytown, New York. The model is a 1909 Maxwell Model LD. It was promoted as "an especially stylish car, the aristocrat of its class...It is the logical car for physicians, contractors, and those wanting a car for general purposes."  The Model LD was also recommended to ladies "because of its comfort, the luxury of its appointments, quietness and ease of control." With a basket on the back it could also hold a lot of envelopes and package.

1909 Maxwell Model LD
Source: New York Public Library digital collections

The Maxwell Model LD had a two-cylinder engine rated at 14 hp. The transmission had two forward gears and one reverse. The wheelbase was 84 inches long by 56 inches wide and the car weighed about 1,150 lbs. The Model LD came in green and red with a base price of $825. A folding canvas top and storm front cover cost extra. 

According to a tribute that was published in the Glenwood newspaper on my great-grandfather's retirement from the postal service in 1938, when he first started delivering mail in October 1905 he used a horse and buggy. Of course this method of transportation took longer and was often difficult, sometimes impossible, during Minnesota's snowy winters and muddy springs. 

In 1912 he purchased a "high-wheeled Acme, [that had] 15 horse power with high speed of 12 miles per hour. It had solid tires and used 5 gallons of gas making the 28 miles around the route. Starting from the post office that machine would roar as though it was trying to tell Mr. Dobbin how it would eat up that hill ahead of it. Then part way up it would quiet down as though it had changed its mind about going up. Mr. Dobbin says a sick horse used to worry him some but that was nothing compared with the 15 horses that were condensed in that car. " 

William bought the Maxwell in 1914 to replace the Acme. In this era, rural mail carriers drove their own vehicles so I don't believe he purchased either car as brand new. According to his history in the newspaper report, the Maxwell didn't last long as from 1916 to 1925 he drove second-hand Model-T Fords followed by a new Star automobile in 1925. In 1927 he acquired his first "enclosed car", another Star. Then a Durant (which made the Star), a Chrysler, a Chevrolet, and two Fords.  

This next photo is a studio portrait of William J. Dobbin from around 1930, I think.

William James Dobbin was born in Ballymoney, Antrim County, Ireland, now Northern Ireland, on 17 February 1874. In 1883 when William was eight years old, he and his family emigrated to Cobourg, Ontario, Canada but they only stayed there two months before moving to Pope County, Minnesota. As a young man with only a grade school education and one year of high school, William became a teacher in nearby rural county schools for a couple of years. In September 1902 he married Birdie May Peacock and for a year they tried running a farm in Leven Township. In 1904 William sold the farm and invested in a feed mill and wood yard in Villard, MN. 

However it wasn't quite enough to support a family, so in 1905 William took advantage of a major change in how government jobs were awarded by taking the Civil Service examination for a mail carrier's position in Pope County. He scored 98.9%. Over the next 30+ years, practically every day, he delivered countless postcards, letters, and parcels to residents of the farming community around Glenwood.  It was a "load of mail!"

In this snapshot from 1939 which was sent to my mother from a Minnesota cousin, William J. Dobbin stands next to a heap of newspapers, boxes, and packages. It's an impressive collection of paper, but by this time William may have worked in the mailroom and relegated duty of deliveries to a younger man. 

In the Glenwood paper's tribute for him the report noted that William had recently acquired a Ford V-8 coupe. I believe that is the car he is standing next to in this last photo. It was taken in winter with several inches of snow covering the road and landscape. There is no date on the photo but I believe this was taken in the 1940s near the end of his life. I like how he has hung his hat on the car's bumper.

1937 Ford V-8 catalog
Source: The Internets

I found several examples on the internet of the early Ford V-8 coupe. The model pictured on the Ford 1937 brochure seems the closest match. It has the same dart-like hood ornament, football-shaped headlights, and enormous radiator grill with the little V-8 badge. 

 

1937 Ford V-8 catalog
Source: The Internets

William James Dobbin died in February 1946 a few days short of his 72nd birthday. My mom was then only age 15, so I never knew him. But I believe his son, Wallace R. Dobbin, my grandfather, shared some of William's charm and wit that makes me feel I can understand the person behind his smile. You can see some of that in my 2020 tribute for my mother, At the Lake.  

In the late 19th and early 20th century, mail order catalog companies like Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Montgomery Ward & Co. greatly expanded the geography of America's retail markets. Rural folk were no longer isolated by their distance from big cities and through these giant compendiums they now gained access to a huge variety of products, tools, and materials. 

Likewise newspapers, journals, and magazines at the turn of the 19th century offered inexpensive subscriptions to a wealth of information, political discourse, and cultural reviews. Publishers sent out new editions every month or every week. And, of course, postcards became the big medium in the 1900s. They were the instant social messaging of the era, when a note sent in the morning might get a reply by that afternoon. 

Rural letter carriers were the trusted couriers for this great wave of correspondence, media, and goods. And evidently William Dobbin was respected and appreciated for his dedicated delivery service in Pope County, Minnesota. By 1930 he was the president of the Minnesota Rural Letter Carrier's Association, the labor union representing hundreds of men and women who delivered America's mail. It's a connection to union labor that was shared by his son, Wallace who worked for the railroad yardmasters' union, and by me, too, representing musicians in our musicians' union. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where even an old car can take you to the future.