A piece of Furman postal history from 1860: Glimpses of Greenville with John Nolan - GREENVILLE JOURNAL

Postal history is another one of the many ways to research, discover and document aspects of the past.

Envelopes — or covers — traditionally were simply paper letters with a blank side or extension that were folded to be a self-cover for the letter. The first patent for an automatic envelope-folding machine appeared in England in 1845 by inventor Edwin Hill. Machine-made folded envelopes quickly overtook the folded letter and became more commonplace by the early to mid-1850s. The 3-cent postage stamp in the upper right corner to our modern eyes looks commonplace and expected. However, stamps like this had only been in use for about 12 years.

Congress approved the first United States postal stamps in 1847, and they have been a part of postal history ever since. It’s no wonder our first U.S. president’s image was on these early stamps.

Post office marks also evolve and give insights into history with their shape, date and wording. When the envelope shown in the photo was sent from Greenville in 1860, the post office’s mark says Greenville C.H. – the initials C.H. standing for courthouse. This wording was used from Greenville’s early years through the 1880s, after which it simply said Greenville.

Another detail of the envelope is the artwork that’s printed on the paper. Furman University’s official stationery from its first decade in Greenville was printed with a light blue color with the natural color of the paper showing through for the words, “Furman University Greenville, SC” and an artist rendering of the original “Old Main” buildings with the iconic bell tower. Upon close inspection, an amazing detail of this image is seen on top of the bell tower. Its familiar plain, sloped roofline doesn’t look the same here. This rendering shows the tower’s roof with a small dome surmounted by a cross. This dome does not appear in later images.

The envelope was sent in June 1860, just five months before South Carolina would secede from the Union. James C. Furman became the university’s first president the year before in 1859, after Basil Manly Jr. refused the position. He lived at his home, Cherrydale, directly north of downtown almost 3.5 miles away. The envelope is addressed to Julius A. Dargan in Darlington. Dargan was a prominent lawyer, a member of the state House of Representatives, and a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. Dargan would have received this envelope at 488 Pearl St. where his stately new home, built in 1856, still graces downtown Darlington as one of the few extant antebellum homes.

Perhaps the letter was from J.F. Dargan, who was a professor of ancient languages at Furman at the time.

John M. Nolan is owner of Greenville History Tours (greenvillehistorytours.com) and author of “A Guide to Historic Greenville, SC” and “Lost Restaurants of Greenville, SC.”

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