Editor’s note: The author, Steve Bailey, is outreach coordinator at the Anson County Historical Society. Research for this article was compiled by Timothy Guy Martin in September 2019. He collaborated with Kenneth David Martin, both being direct descendants of James Thomas Martin, on the family lore associated with the Florian post office. Contact Timothy G. Martin at tgmartin@yadtel.net for more information.
James Thomas Martin (Feb. 9, 1850, to Sept. 12, 1922) and his wife Alice Hendley Martin (June 2, 1856, to Feb. 10, 1926) owned land, farmed and raised their family – and operated a post office – in the Brown Creek Community just off N.C. 742 in Anson County in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
During the latter years of the 19th century the U. S. Postal Service was authorized by Congress to experiment with Rural Free Delivery, which took several years to fully implement due to concern about the cost of such a system. During this transition period small post offices were established in many rural communities until a nationwide Rural Free Delivery system was in place.
One such post office, named Florian, was located adjacent to the residence of James Thomas Martin. A map from 1904 clearly documents its existence as well as a list of N.C. post offices which states the Florian post office operated from Aug. 17, 1893, to Dec. 23, 1903, with James T. Martin as postmaster.
Family lore passed down through the Jasper H. Martin Sr. and the Henry C. Martin Sr. families identified the building where the post office was located. It was an unpainted wood structure near the public road on the left side of the driveway leading up to James Thomas Martin’s house. The structure is no longer there; however, I recall it standing in the 1960s. It served as the post office and a small store for miscellaneous dry goods purchased by the tenant farmers who lived on the farm of James Thomas Martin. The homeplace passed to Henry C. Martin Sr., son of James Thomas Martin, after his death. Henry used the old post office and store building as a barn for fuel storage for his farming operations.
Mail was delivered weekly on horseback from Wadesboro to the Florian post office. The mail was sorted into small wooden compartments in a desk to be picked up by the residents. Shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, with full implementation of Rural Free Delivery to individual residences, many of these small post offices were discontinued. In my opinion, post offices like Florian represented an important part of our rural history, as in those days the mail was a primary means of communication with the world beyond the farm.