The Limestone Post Office was located in Section 18 of Limestone Township. Anyone who has driven through western Jewell County on Highway 36 has driven by Section 18. It is between 80 Road and 70 Road on the north side of 36 Highway. Today there seems nothing to indicate a post office was there in the “early day.” The Limestone Post Office was also called the Esbon Post Office though it originally was not in the town of Esbon nor even in Esbon Township.
The post office was organized on Jan. 26, 1874. Discontinued and reestablished twice, it was discontinued a third time on June 15, 1882. On Sept. 3, 1887, the Esbon Post Office was reestablished for the fourth time in the town of Esbon in Esbon Township where it continues to serve patrons today.
To date, only one reference to the Limestone Post Office has been found. An item placed in the Oct. 20, 1880, Kansas Farmer by W. M. Allen, Jewell County clerk, advertises a heifer found near the “Limestone P.O.” There are five references to the “Esbon Post Office” or “Esbon P.O. during the period the Limestone-Esbon Post Office was active.
There were four postmasters serving the post office between Jan. 26, 1874, and June 15, 1882. Mathias Bright Appleman, Margaret Evelyn Wolters, William Andrews and Hannibal B. Helfenstine.
Matthias Appleman’s homestead was in Sections 20 and 21 of Limestone Township. The patent for the Appleman homestead was granted on March 30, 1880. He was the Limestone postmaster from Jan. 26, 1874, until May 7, 1879. It would seem likely the post office was actually located on the Appleman homestead instead of in Section 18.
Appleman had been born in Pennsylvania in 1834 and married Sarah Coleman there in 1860. They moved to Iowa and lived there until the early 1870s when they moved their family to Jewell County.
The Appleman family was only in Jewell County for about 10 years. They were found in Cherokee County, southeast Kansas, in the 1885 Kansas Census. They ended their lives in Jasper County, Mo. They made their home with a son until their deaths. Sarah died in 1900 and Matthias in 1925.
The second postmaster, postmistress Margaret E. Walters, served from May 7, 1879 to April 21, 1880. At that time, she was the “agent for Dr. Mor’s Indian Root Pills.” (Aug. 7, 1879, Jewell County Review.) Her appointment ended when the post office was discontinued.
Margaret Evelyn Pyles was born in Pennsylvania in 1841. She married Joseph S. Walters, a Civil War veteran from Illinois, on Sept. 21, 1865 in Fulton, Iowa. The couple came to Jewell County sometime in the 1870s. They, like the Applemans, did not stay in Jewell County.
The Walters family, with their five children, moved to Washington State sometime before 1900. They stayed the rest of their lives there. Margaret died in 1926 and Joseph in 1934.
When the Limestone Post Office was reorganized on May 31, 1880, the postmaster was William Andrews. Andrews was born in Pennsylvania. He had come to Jewell County with his wife, Mary Mariah Bennett, in 1877. They did not take a homestead but William’s father, David Andrews did. David’s homestead was in Section 19 of Limestone Township.
William Andrews lost his appointment when the Limestone Post Office was again discontinued June 21, 1881. The William Andrews family left Jewell County in 1882, moving to Nebraska where they lived until 1911. They returned to Kansas, living near Otego until their deaths. Mary died in 1925 and William in 1928. Both are buried in the Esbon Cemetery.
The fourth and final Limestone postmaster was Hannibal B. Helfinstine. He was appointed on July 19, 1881, and served until July 15, 1882, when the post office was discontinued for the third time. The mail was then routed out of Oakland Post Office.
Helfinstine had served in the 154th Ohio Infantry and was one of the many Civil War veterans who came west after the war. In 1867,he married Mary Texanna Morris in Iowa. They are found in Missouri in the 1870 U. S. Census. They were in Jewell County before 1877 because the Jan. 18, 1877 Jewell County Monitor contains election results stating Helfinstine was elected constable of Limestone Township.
No homestead has been found for him though the 1880 U. S Census gives “Farmer” as his occupation. The 1884 Jewell County Atlas does show H. B. Helfinstine owning land in Section 20 of Limestone Township. California was ultimately the home for the Helfinstine family. Hannibal died there in 1901 and Mary in 1912.
This post office in Limestone Township was not like other early post offices. There was no store or community developed around it. Many early post offices had a store the post master ran. At times there would be a blacksmith shop nearby. Not Limestone. Additionally, it was discontinued four times. There were few mentions about the post office in the newspapers of the day. A bit of Jewell County history with little documentation and easily forgotten.
Reader Comments(0)