Post Offices & PostmastersVerified to source

April 20, 1884

Cuzzart Post Office Is Proposed

On April 20, 1884, Albert Engle certified a federal application to establish a post office called Cuzzart in Preston County’s Pleasant District. Engle was named as the proposed postmaster and estimated that the office would serve about 100 people. The application proposed a special mail arrangement from Willey and identified nearby offices at Morgans Glade, Willey, and Grantsville. A companion hand-drawn map shows the proposed Cuzzart site, nearby roads, Muddy Creek, and surrounding post offices. Joseph N. Miller, postmaster at Morgans Glade, certified the application. The papers document the community’s request for a post office, not its final approval or opening.

Research status

This entry has been checked against its named source.

The timeline wording accurately reflects the source listed below. This status does not necessarily mean the event has been independently corroborated against additional records.

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Sources and further reading

Where this entry comes from

U.S. Post Office Department location paper and accompanying diagram for the proposed Cuzzart Post Office, certified April 20, 1884; National Archives and Records Administration

Research notes

What the evidence establishes

The application is evidence that a Cuzzart post office was proposed in 1884. It does not itself establish the date on which the Post Office Department approved or opened the office.

Albert Engle signed as the proposed postmaster. Joseph N. Miller, postmaster at Morgans Glade, certified the application. The associated hand-drawn diagram identifies the proposed Cuzzart site and nearby roads, streams, and post offices.

Lulu Ringer’s 1980 History of Cuzzart says that Ashbel Chidester’s wife secured the name Cuzzart for the post office. Engle’s 1884 application confirms that Cuzzart was the name submitted to the Post Office Department, but does not identify who chose it.

Albert Engle was later appointed postmaster at Cuzzart on January 5, 1886. That appointment is documented in the linked 1886 entry.

Primary source documents

Application and map for the proposed Cuzzart Post Office

National Archives and Records Administration record. These scanned pages are presented as the primary evidence for this entry.

Open either image for the full-size original. The first page names Albert Engle as proposed postmaster and Cuzzart as the proposed office; the second is its accompanying location diagram.

1884 U.S. Post Office Department application to establish the proposed Cuzzart Post Office, naming Albert Engle as proposed postmaster.
Application page, certified April 20, 1884. Open image in a new tab.
1884 hand-drawn diagram showing the proposed site of the Cuzzart Post Office and nearby communities, roads, and post offices.
Accompanying location diagram for the proposed Cuzzart Post Office. Open image in a new tab.

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