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| Brunswick County News Compiled by Natasha Miles Brunswick County, North Carolina  |
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State Port Pilot 25 September 1935 Uncle Jim Lewis Has Been in Local Post Office 25 Years During That Time He Has Served Under Six Different Postmasters; Has Handled Millions Of Pieces of Mail Old [Black Man] Has Numerous Duties Serves As Mail Dispatcher, Janitor and General Handy Man At Post Office; Is at Beck and Call of Southport Citizens Twenty-five years of unbroken service, over two and one-half million letters dispatched, more than 50,000 parcel post packages stamped and handled and fully fifty thousand special delivery letters delivered - that is the statistical record of Uncle Jim Lewis, highly respected [black] employee of the Southport post office. There is no way to check the number of times that Southport citizens have rushed around to the back door of the post office with a breathless plea to Uncle Jim to please get off their last minute letter, nor is there any way to figure the countless other little favors that he has granted; but these are the things that lave endeared him to patrons of the Southport post office. Six men who have served over him as postmaster appreciate better than anyone else Uncle Jim's value as a postal clerk. He began his work in the post office when R W Davis was postmaster. The others were: Howard Curtiss, Robert Newton, D O Daniels, S W Watts and L T Yaskell, the present postmaster. There is a table in the back of the post office which other post office workers recognize as Uncle Jim's work shop and they steer clear of this sector. There is where he performs his duties as mail dispatcher with uncanny speed and accuracy for a man his age - he is 69 years old. After the mail goes out, Uncle Jim sweeps, dusts and straightens up the post office. He is janitor at the Methodist church and the Episcopal church and is a pillar in his own. Note: North Carolina newspapers at this time were very racist. I have chosen to change their racist terms for this page. Instead of their words, I have used the words "black", "man" or "person". I have indicated that I have changed from the original wording with brackets such as this: [black]. |
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