TX401

Stampless PAID cover "Capts Mill Texas Jan 20th / 62 Paid 5" (Hayes County) all in manuscript. Addressed to Miss Lizzie Johnson, Bethel PO, Texas. Orange paper cover with edge wear along the bottom and a sealed corner fault at the lower left. This cover is an incredibly scarce Texas use and was believed to be the only CSA use from this post office, but there is at least one more. I did as good a search as I could and found an 1860 pre-war cover from Capts Mill. I also found an 1863 Capts Mill CSA use but in terrible condition with missing stamps. Both covers were in different auctions some years ago. The cover offered here and the other two are all from the same correspondence addressed to Lizzie Johnson. Of the two confirmed CSA covers from Capts Mill, this is by far the better condition of the two. The other cover has not been seen in years. Capts Mill is a listed CSA post office in Hayes County but is not listed in the CSA Catalog. Capts Mill was founded in the 1850's by Luis Capt who built a dam and a grist mill there. The mill washed away in a flood in 1867, and the settlement was abandoned in the 1870's but was later developed as Bear Creek, the name by which the area is known today. Thomas Jefferson Johnson and his family settled at Capts Mill and established a school there in 1852 known as the Johnson Institute. The school closed in 1872. Their daughter was Lizzie Johnson (1840-1824), the addressee of this cover. Lizzie (Johnson) Williams  later became quite well-known as the "Cattle Queen of Texas."

$750.00

If you wish to order this cover, send me an E-mail or use my secure Confederate Order Form. Clicking on my Confederate Order Form link below will open the order form in a new window or tab which can be kept open while you browse the remainder of the listings. JLKCSA@aol.com -- Confederate Order Form --