Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/225

Rh Major Lewis, retained Mr. Wheeler for a short time as his assistant, and during this period the duties were performed by him in his own store. Shortly afterward Caleb Butler, Esq., was appointed the assistant, and he continued to hold the position for eight years. During this time the business was carried on in Mr. Butler's law office, and the revenue to the government reached the sum of fifty dollars a quarter. His office was then in a small building,—just south of Mr. Hoar's tavern,—which was moved away about the year 1820, and taken to the lot where Colonel Needham's house now stands, at the comer of Main and Hollis Streets. It was fitted up as a dwelling, and subsequently moved away again. At this time the old store of Mr. Brazer, who had previously died, was brought from over the way, and occupied by Mr. Butler, on the site of his former office.

On July 1, 1826, Mr. Butler, who had been Major Lewis's assistant for many years, and performed most of the duties of the office, was commissioned postmaster.

Mr. Butler was a native of Pelham, New Hampshire, where he was born on September 13, 1776, and a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1800. He had been the preceptor of Groton Academy for some years, and was widely known as a critical scholar. He had previously studied law with the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, though his subsequent practice was more in drawing up papers and settling estates than in attendance at courts. His name is now identified with the town as its historian. During his term of office as postmaster, the revenue rose from fifty dollars to one hundred and ten dollars a quarter. He held the position nearly thirteen years, to the entire satisfaction of the public; but for political heresy was removed on January 15, 1839, when Henry Woods was commissioned as his successor.

Mr. Woods held the office until his death, which occurred on January 12 1841; and he was followed by the Honorable George S. Boutwell, since the Governor of the Commonwealth and a member of the United States Senate. During the administration of Mr. Woods and Mr. Boutwell, the office was kept in the brick store, opposite to the present High School.

Upon the change in the administration of the National Government, Mr. Butler was reinstated in office, and commissioned on April 15, 1841. He continued to hold the position until December 21, 1846, when he was again removed for political reasons. Mr. Butler was a most obliging man, and his removal was received by the public with general regret. During his two terms he filled the office for more than eighteen years, a longer period than has fallen to the lot of any other postmaster of the town. Near the end of his service a material change was made in the rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus comments on it:—

The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon the