Indiana: from IA to IN and Early Postal Service in the State

If you’ve ever seen an old newspaper like the one pictured at the right and been thrown for a loop by the “IA” abbreviation for Indiana, you’re not alone.

The same is true if you’ve been confused by census records from the 19th Century that list a person’s place of birth as “Ia.,” which is then transcribed incorrectly as Iowa instead of Indiana. At one time, Indiana was “Ia” or “IA,” and for at least part of that time, Iowa didn’t even exist yet.

Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General of the United States.

Image Source: https://lccn.loc.gov/90709839

Map showing lands ceded by the British at the end of the Revolutionary War.

Image Source: https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/northwest-territory/

The first seal of the Post Office Department, featuring the Greek God Mercury, Messenger of the Gods.

Image Source: https://uspsblog.com/the-history-behind-the-usps-logo/

This is the first Wayne County Courthouse from Salisbury, Indiana, originally built in 1812 and reconstructed in Centerville, Indiana in 1952. This courthouse was the home of the Salisbury/Wayne County Post Office, established in 1813.

Image Source: https://www.waynet.org/nonprofit/courthouse-log.htm

Table showing the official abbreviations used by the Post Office Department/U.S. Postal Service for U.S. States and Territories between 1831 and present.

Image Source: https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/state-abbreviations.htm

It’s easy to get confused without a deeper understanding of U.S. history, and one of the most common mistakes novice family historians make is to not investigate the historical context of genealogical records. With that in mind, let’s take a brief stroll through Indiana history, with postal delivery as our guide.

Let’s begin at the beginning, before Indiana was Indiana and before the U.S. Postal Service was the U.S. Postal Service.

The Beginnings of the U.S. Postal Service

In 1775, as the American Revolution was ramping up, the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin Postmaster General, requiring him to establish and maintain consistent communications. With a long history in printing, publishing, and postal delivery service under his belt, Franklin was an obvious choice for the job.

Before and during the Revolutionary War, communications were delivered by messengers on horseback, a tradition that continued for well over a century in many areas. Today, horses and mules are used to deliver mail in only the most remote and otherwise inaccessible locations, like the Grand Canyon, where mules regularly carry mail to the Supai Post Office inside the canyon.

The Northwest and Indiana Territories

After the Revolutionary War, in 1783, the British ceded not just the original 13 colonies, but large sections of land that were still vast wildernesses. The Virginia lands that were “North-West of the River Ohio” are what became known as The Northwest Territory, and the future state of Indiana was part of this territory.

It was through the Ordinance of 1787, later known as the Northwest Ordinance, that Congress formally established The Northwest Territory and commissioned it’s survey. The intent was to sell land to individual farmers, thereby helping the young United States recoup its costs from the Revolution.

In just over a decade, Ohio was largely populated by U.S. settlers and well on its way to statehood, which it achieved in 1803. In 1800, the Northwest Territory was divided, becoming the Northwest Territory and the Indiana Territory. The Northwest Territory then only covered basically the same area as the modern state of Ohio and half of modern Michigan. The Indiana Territory however encompassed the remainder of the former Northwest Territory.

Subsequent divisions of the Indiana Territory happened quickly, as the map at right shows. Indiana was settled primarily from the south to the north, with the first permanent communities arising along the Wabash River. Vincennes was among the earliest and by 1800 had about 700 inhabitants.

Image Source: https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/northwest-territory/

Postal Service in the Indiana Territory

Although there were official routes established for the transportation and distribution of mail by the mid-1770s, it wasn’t until 1782 that the Post-Office of the United States was formalized by Congress. There were some 75 post offices and around 2,400 miles of post roads by 1789, but the establishment of new routes and offices in the territories took a bit longer.

Communication with the rest of the nation for the earliest white settlers in Indiana was complicated. There was no post road or regular mail route that ran to the modern area of Indiana in the late 1700s. Anyone who wanted to send an outgoing communication south or east had to get a letter to Louisville, Kentucky or Cincinnati, Ohio in order for it to be picked up by a contracted postal carrier. If the communication was going west, it had to get to Kaskasia, Illinois. In 1800 however, Congress approved the establishment of a postal route or post road from Louisville to Vincennes and Vincennes became the first community in Indiana to have a post office.

The contracted postal carrier that transported mail between Louisville and Vincennes was paid $600 per year for running the route. Very few letters made their way back and forth when Indiana was still a territory though. In fact, during the route’s first year in service, the postage revenue it generated was less than $85.00. It should come as no surprise then that there were minimal formal “addressing” rules for sending a post at the time. A letter might simply be addressed to a person and list the town or even just the county where he or she lived.

The number of post roads and post offices steadily increased between 1800 and 1816, when Indiana achieved statehood, but the mail being delivered in the territory was still minimal. This, too, should come as no surprise considering there were fewer than 3,000 whites living in Indiana in 1800, and only about 65,000 by 1816. The establishment of a new post office or post road was dependent upon population, so the number of post offices only increased as the population reached the appropriate levels. Before statehood, Indiana had about 20 post offices, and some of the earliest include Jeffersonville (1803), Corydon (1809), Salisbury (1813), and Brookville (1813).

When Indiana was “Ia” or “IA”

During the territorial period, Indiana was commonly abbreviated as “IA” or “Ia” in newspapers and in government communications and on postal mail. The Post Office Department (the precursor of the U.S. Postal Service) officially abbreviated Indiana as “Ia” between 1831 and 1874, when the abbreviation was changed to “Ind.”

The 1850 U.S. Federal Census was the first on which the birthplaces of residents were recorded. The “Ia” abbreviation frequently appears in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses as a result, though enumerators often wrote out the entire name of the state or territory instead. Even in later census records, the “Ia” is still occasionally found in reference to someone born in Indiana, as census takers sometimes continued to use the older and defunct abbreviation.

Letter sent from Kaskasia (located in modern day Illinois) on March 7, 1804. The letter’s return address appears on the top line and reads “Kaskasia March 7 Ia.” The “Ia” in the upper right hand corner stands for the Indiana Territory, of which Kaskasia and Illinois were a part in 1804.

Image Source: https://stampauctionnetwork.com/y/y115512.cfm

The Confusion of Indiana and Iowa in Old Records

Because we associate “Ia” with Iowa, older genealogical records for The Indiana Territory and the State of Indiana are often misunderstood. Transcriptionists frequently attribute the birthplace or residence for individuals as Iowa when, in fact, it’s Indiana.

In the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, The United States bought 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River from France, including the area of the modern state of Iowa. The first white settlers began arriving in the 1830s. By 1838, the Iowa Territory was established, and in 1846, Iowa achieved statehood. From the 1830s to the early 1960s, Iowa was recorded by its full name within government records, newspapers, and on postal mail. This is no doubt thanks to the brevity of the territory and state’s official name.

When Indiana became “IN” and Iowa became “IA”

The “Ind” abbreviation for Indiana remained in effect from 1874 until 1963, when the Post Office Department instituted the use of postal zip codes. Needing to make room on the bottom line of a mailing address, the Post Office designated two-letter abbreviations for all states and territories. Indiana became “IN” and Iowa became “IA” at this time.

Sources:

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[3] 9-mile mule train delivery | U.S. Postal Facts. Postal Facts - U.S. Postal Service. Retrieved 17 May 2021, from https://facts.usps.com/8-mile-mule-train-delivery/.

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[8] State Abbreviations - Who We Are - USPS. About.usps.com. Retrieved 18 May 2021, from https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/state-abbreviations.htm.

[9] Weiss Simins, J. (2017). Northwest Territory – The Indiana History Blog. The Indiana History Blog. Retrieved 19 May 2021, from https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/northwest-territory/.

[10] Old Northwest Territory – Legends of America. Legendsofamerica.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021, from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/old-northwest-territory/.

[11] Peckham, H. (1951). Mail Service in Indiana Territory. Indiana Magazine of History, 47(2), 155-164. Retrieved May 19, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27787941

[12] Indiana Territory - Wikipedia. En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Territory.

[13] State Abbreviations - Who We Are - USPS. About.usps.com. (2019). Retrieved 18 May 2021, from https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/state-abbreviations.htm.

[14] Louisiana Purchase | Definition, Date, Cost, History, Map, States, Significance, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 May 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase.