Ben Finn

In 1913, the US Post Office's Parcel Post began offering its services to deliver mail too heavy for normal letter post. Americans were now able to send packages that weighed up to eleven pounds. Within the first few weeks, a handful of parents had tried to send their children via post. The Times reported a small boy who was shipped by his grandmother from Stratford, Oklahoma, to an aunt living in Wellington, Kansas. The Times wrote, "Mrs. E. H. Staley of this city received her two-year-old nephew by parcel post today from his grandmother in Stratford, Okla., where he had been left for a visit three weeks ago. The boy wore a tag about his neck showing it had cost 18 cents to send him through the mails. He was transported 25 miles by rural route before reaching the railroad. He rode with the mail clerks, shared his lunch with them, and arrived here in good condition." "Vernon O. Lytle, mail carrier on rural route No. 5, is the first man to accept and deliver under parcel post conditions a live baby. The baby, a boy weighing 10-3/4 pounds, just within the 11-pound weight limit, is the child of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beagle of Glen Este. The boy was well wrapped and ready for "mailing" when the carrier received him today. Mr. Lytle delivered the boy safely at the address on the card attached, that of the boy's grandmother, Mrs. Louis Beagle, who lives about a mile distant. The postage was fifteen cents, and the parcel was insured for $50."