In the early 20th century, a quirky chapter in U.S. postal history unfolded when the United States Postal Service introduced Parcel Post on January 1, 1913. This new service allowed packages weighing up to 11 pounds (and later more) to be shipped affordably, revolutionizing how rural Americans accessed goods. But some inventive (or perhaps just practical) parents took the rules to an unexpected extreme: they mailed their babies and young children to relatives.
The practice wasn’t widespread—historian Nancy Pope from the National Postal Museum has documented about seven confirmed cases between 1913 and 1915—but it did happen, often in rural areas where train tickets were expensive and mail carriers were trusted neighbors. Children weren’t stuffed in boxes or sacks like ordinary parcels. Instead, they were handed directly to carriers, walked or carried along routes, or in some cases accompanied on trains. Stamps were affixed to their clothing, and parents sometimes insured them for a modest amount “just in case.”
The first recorded instance occurred just weeks after Parcel Post launched. On January 25, 1913, Jesse and Mathilda Beagle of Glen Este (near Batavia), Ohio, sent their 8-month-old son James—sometimes reported as James Beagle or simply “the Beagle baby”—to his grandmother about a mile away. Weighing just under 11 pounds, the infant cost 15 cents in postage, and his parents insured him for $50. Rural carrier Vernon Lytle (or Little) delivered him safely, and the story made local newspapers.
Other cases followed:
In February 1913, a small girl was mailed in Pennsylvania for 45 cents.
The most famous example involved Charlotte May Pierstorff (known as May), a 4- or 5-year-old girl from Grangeville, Idaho. On February 19, 1914, her parents sent her 73 miles by train to her grandparents in Lewiston. Stamps worth 53 cents were pinned to her coat, and she traveled in the railway mail car accompanied by her cousin, who worked as a clerk on the train. (Her story inspired the children’s book Mailing May.)
Longer journeys included 6-year-old Edna Neff, sent from Pensacola, Florida, to her father in Christiansburg, Virginia—a distance of over 700 miles—via railway mail.
In one late case, a 14-pound baby was carried 12 miles in Maryland in 1914, reportedly sleeping the whole way despite a new “no humans” rule.
The last known instance was in 1915, when 3-year-old Maud Smith traveled 40 miles in Kentucky to visit her sick mother.
Why did this happen? Parcel Post rates were often cheaper than passenger train fares, especially for short rural trips. Grandparents frequently played a role, serving as convenient destinations for visits or family help. There were no explicit bans on mailing live humans at first—regulations were vague, and the service initially allowed certain “harmless live animals” like bees. Children were treated more like trusted deliveries than packages.
The U.S. Post Office quickly moved to stop it. As early as February 1913 (and reinforced in June 1913), officials declared that children could no longer be sent as mail. By 1914, the Second Assistant Postmaster General announced babies weren’t permitted. Yet some carriers bent the rules for familiar families. The practice finally ended for good in June 1920, when First Assistant Postmaster General John C. Koons rejected applications to mail children, stating they couldn’t be classified as “harmless live animals.”
These stories highlight a more trusting era in small-town America, where rural mail carriers were community figures and safety concerns were different. No harm came to any of the children in the documented cases—they arrived safely, often with fond family memories. Today, the idea seems bizarre (and impossible under modern regulations), but it remains a charming, if odd, footnote in postal history.
Note: Photos you sometimes see online of mailmen carrying babies in mailbags are staged or humorous recreations, not real deliveries. The actual “mailings” were far more low-key handoffs.
you know? Because I didnt know that babies were sent far distances using USPS. In the early 20th century, a quirky chapter in U.S. postal history unfolded when the United States Postal Service introduced Parcel Post on January 1, 1913. This new service allowed packages weighing up to 11 pounds (and later more) to be shipped affordably, revolutionizing how rural Americans accessed goods. But some inventive (or perhaps just practical) parents took the rules to an unexpected extreme: they mailed their babies and young children to relatives.
The practice wasn’t widespread—historian Nancy Pope from the National Postal Museum has documented about seven confirmed cases between 1913 and 1915—but it did happen, often in rural areas where train tickets were expensive and mail carriers were trusted neighbors. Children weren’t stuffed in boxes or sacks like ordinary parcels. Instead, they were handed directly to carriers, walked or carried along routes, or in some cases accompanied on trains. Stamps were affixed to their clothing, and parents sometimes insured them for a modest amount “just in case.”
The first recorded instance occurred just weeks after Parcel Post launched. On January 25, 1913, Jesse and Mathilda Beagle of Glen Este (near Batavia), Ohio, sent their 8-month-old son James—sometimes reported as James Beagle or simply “the Beagle baby”—to his grandmother about a mile away. Weighing just under 11 pounds, the infant cost 15 cents in postage, and his parents insured him for $50. Rural carrier Vernon Lytle (or Little) delivered him safely, and the story made local newspapers.
Other cases followed:
In February 1913, a small girl was mailed in Pennsylvania for 45 cents.
The most famous example involved Charlotte May Pierstorff (known as May), a 4- or 5-year-old girl from Grangeville, Idaho. On February 19, 1914, her parents sent her 73 miles by train to her grandparents in Lewiston. Stamps worth 53 cents were pinned to her coat, and she traveled in the railway mail car accompanied by her cousin, who worked as a clerk on the train. (Her story inspired the children’s book Mailing May.)
Longer journeys included 6-year-old Edna Neff, sent from Pensacola, Florida, to her father in Christiansburg, Virginia—a distance of over 700 miles—via railway mail.
In one late case, a 14-pound baby was carried 12 miles in Maryland in 1914, reportedly sleeping the whole way despite a new “no humans” rule.
The last known instance was in 1915, when 3-year-old Maud Smith traveled 40 miles in Kentucky to visit her sick mother.
Why did this happen? Parcel Post rates were often cheaper than passenger train fares, especially for short rural trips. Grandparents frequently played a role, serving as convenient destinations for visits or family help. There were no explicit bans on mailing live humans at first—regulations were vague, and the service initially allowed certain “harmless live animals” like bees. Children were treated more like trusted deliveries than packages.
The U.S. Post Office quickly moved to stop it. As early as February 1913 (and reinforced in June 1913), officials declared that children could no longer be sent as mail. By 1914, the Second Assistant Postmaster General announced babies weren’t permitted. Yet some carriers bent the rules for familiar families. The practice finally ended for good in June 1920, when First Assistant Postmaster General John C. Koons rejected applications to mail children, stating they couldn’t be classified as “harmless live animals.”
These stories highlight a more trusting era in small-town America, where rural mail carriers were community figures and safety concerns were different. No harm came to any of the children in the documented cases—they arrived safely, often with fond family memories. Today, the idea seems bizarre (and impossible under modern regulations), but it remains a charming, if odd, footnote in postal history.
Note: Photos you sometimes see online of mailmen carrying babies in mailbags are staged or humorous recreations, not real deliveries. The actual “mailings” were far more low-key handoffs.