Letter of retirement for John T. Jackson
Postmaster General James Farley congratulated Postmaster John T. Jackson in this letter for his over forty-eight years of service to the fourth-class post office in Alanthus, Virginia. Jackson had received his appointment as postmaster from Postmaster General John Wanamaker on March 23, 1891.
The Post Office Department had appointed few other African Americans as postmasters at the time the twenty-nine-year old Jackson took on the duties of a fourth-class post office. Jackson earned a commission determined by the amount of postage sold at his station. Along with this postal career, Jackson worked as a merchant, farmer, and sharecropper. Following his retirement as postmaster on January 31, 1940, Jackson’s wife Lille held the position until the post office closed seven months later.
