Sarah Goddard and Mary Katherine Goddard

 

1792

 

   Sarah Goddard and Mary Katherine Goddard were known female Postmasters in the 1700s. The post office archives goes on to mention Ann Clay, postmaster in New Castle, Delaware. Elizabeth Creswell postmaster in Charlestown, Maryland and in 1792 postmaster Sarah DeCrow in Hertford, North Carolina.

 

   As we moved into the 1800s the number of women applying for postal jobs decreased, citing the low pay. The number of women employed by the post office and their pay scale seemed dependent on the man at the helm as Postmaster General and his personal views.

   Benjamin Franklin held the job only until 1789 when he was replaced with Samuel Osgood followed by Postmaster General Gideon Granger in 1814. P.M.G. Granger questioned the legality of appointing women in these jobs at all. The rise and fall of the number of women in postal jobs also would change during war time.

 

   But women persisted and continued to break through the barriers.

This has been an excerpt from "In Her Likeness" https://amzn.to/3SurXip