A Guide to the Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster, December 15, 1893 Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster MSS 06-85

A Guide to the Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster, December 15, 1893

A Collection in The Fairfax County Public Library

Record Group Number MSS 06-85


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Repository
Fairfax County Public Library
Record Group Number
MSS 06-85
Title
The Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster, December 15, 1893
Extent
2.5 linear feet
Creator
United States Post Office Department
Language
English
Abstract
The Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster is a certificate signed by Frank H. Jones, acting Postmaster General, on December 15, 1893 appointing Ernest L. Plaskett as Postmaster of the Lorton Valley Post Office on December 6th of that year.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None

Use Restrictions

Consult repository for information

Preferred Citation

Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster, MSS 06-85, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of Lorton Heritage Society through Irma Clifton on April 4, 2001.

Processing Information

Chris Barbuschak, June 2017
EAD generated by Ross Landis, 2024

Historical and Biographical Information

Ernest Leviticus Plaskett was born on October 13, 1873 to John and Mary Plaskett. He was the seventh of the family’s ten children. John Plaskett’s father, Joseph Plaskett, had emigrated from England with his family in 1853, and eventually settled down in what is today Lorton, Virginia.

Three generations of Plasketts served the Lorton Valley Post Office for its entire thirty-six year existence. Located in Joseph Plaskett’s crossroads country store, he named the new post office “Lorton Valley” after his old home in Cumberland, England. The United States Post Office Department appointed Joseph Plaskett postmaster of Lorton Valley on November 11, 1875, followed by his grandson James Plaskett on November 6, 1893. One month later, on December 6, 1893, the Post Office Department appointed 20-year old Ernest L. Plaskett as postmaster. His sister, Susan Annie Plaskett speculated that he was the youngest person to ever be appointed postmaster at that time. Ernest was replaced as postmaster in 1901 by his father, John Plaskett, who held that position until the post office was discontinued in 1911.

The Lorton Valley Post Office was located one mile from the Telegraph Road Railroad Station on the RF&P Railroad. The Plasketts would take the mail down to the station when a train passed through and pick up the incoming mail. As rail service grew, mail service increased from three times a week, to daily, and then twice daily.

In the early 1880s, Ernest Plasket’s sister Emma’s husband, Joseph M. Springman, opened a general store next to the Telegraph Road Railroad Station. Springman became the station’s first agent and first post master when the Springman Post Office was established there in 1884. In the 1890s, the railroad station changed its name to “Lorton Station” while the post office continued to be called Springman. It officially changed its name to Lorton Post Office on July 6, 1910. The nearby Lorton Valley Post Office, always located one mile away, closed on June 2, 1911. The country store it was located in burned in May 1915, but the Plasketts latter erected a new store on the site.

Ernest Plaskett continued to serve as a railway postal clerk for three more decades. On December 30, 1896, Ernest married Margaret E. Trice in Washington D.C. The couple had three daughters and a son. During World War I, he worked at the YMCA in Camp A.A. Humphreys, the future site of Fort Belvoir. He died on July 9, 1943 and was buried in the Cranford United Methodist Church cemetery.

Scope and Content

The Ernest L. Plaskett Certificate of Appointment as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster is a certificate signed by Frank H. Jones, acting Postmaster General, on December 15, 1893 appointing Ernest L. Plaskett as Postmaster of the Lorton Valley Post Office on December 6th of that year.


Index Terms

  • Lorton, (Va.) - History
  • Plaskett, Ernest L. (1873-1943)
  • Postal service - Employees
  • Postal service - United States - History
  • United States Post Office Department

Container List

Box 1 Folder 1: Certificate of appointment, Ernest L. Plaskett as Lorton Valley, Virginia Postmaster, 1893 December 15