Maj. Peter J. Burchell, St. Charles, Ill., postmaster 1840
St. Charles (Illinois) Review, Aug. 1, 1879
Forty Two Years of the St. Charles Post Office
(This is a very long article. I will post here only the information about Mr. Burchell):
Major Peter J. Burchell was appointed postmaster in the latter part of 1845 or the early part of 1846 under Polk's administration.
Major Burchell, who held his military title under the State of Illinois, as commander of the 19th odd battalion Illinois cavalry, was a native of Dryden, Thompkins Co., N.Y. For some years he was engaged in business in the city of Buffalo. Subsequently he removed to Detroit, where he was located during the "Patriot War" of 1836-7. He used to related an amusing account of how he and A.C. McCall, who died in St. Charles some years since, undertook to capture the British army in Canada, and how they valiantly fell back to a new base of operations, during which movement one or both of them swam the Detroit river. We believe the Major was afterward taken prisoner and held for a considerable time.
From Michigan, the Major removed to Illinois, stopping for a short period in Chicago, but eventually settling in this town where he remained to the time of his death.
Under Brooks and Burchell, mails were received from the east to or three times per week, by Frink and Walker's line of stages, which was famous throughout the North-west until the advent of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, which reached the river at St. Charles December 13th, 1849.
Burchell removed the office at first to the frame building, next east of the St. Charles Hotel, in which David Strader was then keeping a general store. He subsequently moved it into a small frame building which was erected by R.C. Leonard for a shoe shop or jewelry store.
In those days the business was neither very extensive nor profitable, and the Major was accustomed to lock up the office, and attend to other business, opening it only to accommodate customers. Major Burchell was very accommodating and always popular with the people for his inimitable bon homie and his excellent faculty of telling a story.
SWD (S.W. Durant)
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I am not related to nor researching these families and have no further information. This newspaper article posted as a courtesy.