Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

“The first post-office in Potton was established at Knowlton's Landing.  Afterward, it was removed to Dr. Gilman's in South Potton, as it was then called.  Subsequently, it was removed to Coit's Corners, L.A. Coit being postmaster; and thence, about 1845, to Mansonville, where it still remains.”^[1]

In the Missiskoui Standard, a newspaper published in Frelighsburg, January 17, 1837 issue, appeared the announcement of new mail routes and appointments of Post Masters for Sutton and Potton.  “A route is also established from Frelighsburg (…) across Sutton Mountain to South Potton, to Mr. Elkins', thence by Mr. Coit's to Mr. Manson's mills.”^[2] From the Canada Directory of 1857-58, we learn that ”(…) mail (was) tri-weekly”^[3] for the Sutton area and most probably on a similar schedule for the neighbouring Township of Potton. 

Early mail service was slow, erratic and expensive.  Most mail was carried “by favour” of some traveller going to the destination, either by stage or ferry.  When a postal system was organized, payment for the service was made in the British system of pounds, shilling and pence until 1859, when Canada's monetary system converted to decimal.

The advent of rail service in rural areas greatly speeded mail delivery, and resulted in an increased use of the postal system for commerce. 

Potton's very own “great mail robbery” occurred in 1867, an event in which “money letters containing between $400 and $500 (were) (…) abstracted from the mail, but whether from the Post Office at Mansonville or after the mail left (…) was not known”.  An investigation “relieved all the Postmasters at Potton and along the line^[4]”, this presumed to mean that Postmasters concerned were placed on leave until investigation resolved the matter.  The “matter” remains without answer since no further mention of the incident has been found. 

After the move to Mansonville from Coit's Corner in 1845, the post office became known as Mansonville-Potton post office.  In 1895, the name changed to Mansonville and so it has remained to this day. 

Before free rural mail delivery was instituted across Canada, on October 10, 1908, small post-offices sprung up in virtually every hamlet of Potton, including Province Hill, Leadville, Owl's Head, Potton Springs and McNeil's Crossing, Dunkin, Highwater, Vale Perkins, and Knowlton Landing, also known as Tuck's Landing, depending upon the political party in power!

At 93 years of age, John F. Tuck was still the faithful postmaster in Knowlton Landing, having devoted some 45 years to the task.

When these small post offices were eventually phased out, rural routes were established and mail delivery was then almost door-to-door.  Throughout the 1930's and 40's, and perhaps even earlier, Philias Hamelin faithfully delivered mail by horse and cart on Rural Route 2, Mansonville/Vale Perkins/Knowlton Landing and to parts of what is now Cooledge Road, a distance of some 11-12 miles, calculated on today's roads, one way.  He alternated horses each day, using a cart in summer, sleigh in winter.  “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat (…) will keep this faithful courier from his appointed rounds!”  Plate # 61 in Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton depicts another postman, Aulden Bailey, delivering mail by horse and cart in the 1930's.

Today, Potton's only Post Office is in Mansonville.  The building was built in 1963, before which the post office was located on the first floor of the St. John's Masonic Lodge building, beside the Dépanneur des 13, where the funeral parlour is now located. 

Clinton Adams, Kenneth Jones and Danuta Rypinski-Marcoux have been successive post-masters to name only three.  Barbara Brouillette, of Mansonville, worked in our local post office for 37 years, beginning in the time of Mr. Adams.  She recalls that mail delivery at the time was three times a day, by rail to Highwater, and was brought to the Post Office by Merrill Heath, the owner of Mansonville House and station agent.  Barbara recounted that Heath's service “was called “The Stage” because anyone needing a ride to or from Highwater Station to town could ride along for a quarter!” ($0.25).  Mail was subsequently delivered twice daily, by train to the East Ray railway station, near Eastman.  It was then retrieved by Walter Durrell, a South Bolton resident, and delivered to offices in Bolton Centre, South Bolton and Mansonville.^[5]