Meet My Great Aunt 3x Removed the Postmistress of Greenwood Nebraska

I have seen ads on the TV for http://www.ancestry.com/ with someone stating my ancestor was a postmaster. Little did I know I had not only a postmaster in my family but a postmistress.

I have been working on getting to know my Coleman line lately. Tonight while searching old newspapers on http://www.ancestry.com/ with the name Coleman listed I found a small statement on my 2nd great grand uncle Elic Chalker Colman Jr.

In the Nebraska State Journal ( Lincoln Nebraska) Jan 24 1900 it is written E.C. Coleman was today appointed postmaster at Greenwood, Cass county, Nebraska. Elic is one of my great great grandfather John Henry's brothers.

Next went and searched the 1900 census to see if this was my E C Coleman and sure enough he is listed in the census as the postmaster. The census was done the 13th and 14th days of June.

Elic is 57 years old and living with his wife Nancy ( Loder), daughters Catherine, Isa, Martha, Lula and sons Lloyd, Myron and Elmer. Elic and Nancy have been married 32 years.

In the 1910 census Elic is still listed as the postmaster of Greenwood. He is listed as 66 years old and lives with wife Nancy, daughter Catherine and sons Lloyd and Elmer.

One more census to check is the 1920's and he is now 77 years old and listed as a farmer. Living him is his wife Nancy , daughter Catherine and son Lloyd. Lloyd is listed as having no occupation but Catherine is listed as the postmistress.

This is the 1920's also known as the roaring twenties or the Jazz age. Warren G. Harding becomes the president after Woodrow Wilson.

The Women's suffrage campaign leads to numerous countries granting women the right to vote and be elected. I was curious how a woman was treated in the postal system in the 1920's and before. I found this interesting article at http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/WomenHistory/women_history/history_reconstruction.html

Women were encouraged to not marry if they wanted to work in the postal system in the early 1900's. Catherine never married and in the 1930's census she is listed living alone and renting.

Catherine was born November 3rd 1868 and died November 20 1942.

I think Catherine was a pioneer for women and I am proud that she is my first cousin 3 times removed. I look forward to seeing if I can find more about her in my future searches.

I have more interesting information on my uncle Elic Jr and will share that soon, but for now I can do a TV ad about have a postmaster in my family.