"History of Lee County" Sand Fly Post Office
"History of Lee County" Sand Fly Post Office
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The following was taken from the "History of Lee County" Vol. II pages 56-57
Sandfly was a rural post-office established November 1853, in the home of the William Right Hobbs family, which at that time, was located in Bastrop county, Texas, about five miles east of Elgin. As the county lines were being established in 1858, Sandfly was changed to Burleson County. In 1867 Sandfly was changed back to Bastrop County, and when Lee County was formed in 1874, Sandfly was in far western Lee County, yet its location was always the same.
Postmaster HObbs, was a Texas Ranger, Master Mason, and Veteran of the Mexican-Indian War before being appointed Post master on 7 November. He served until 18 January 1867, when the post office closed having served fourteen years. On 21 March 1867 it reopened with Mary Hollander as post mistress. On 20 Mar 1871 Sandfly was moved to Post Oak Island and the name changed to Pontotoc. In 1871 the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came through and the town of Elgin, on the rail road became the new postal establishment in 1873.
The two story log house/post office, built in 1849 by William and Elenor Jane Smith Hobbs, was home to twenty-one children, and as the family grew, three other roooms were added at the back. The U.S. mail was delivered by stagecoach, horseback and on foot from Lexington, Texas, Lee county, and dropped throught a slot into a large box on the northwest corner wall in the front room. Local folk came here to send and receive their mail.
There were Indians in the area at that time. One day, Elenor Jane Smith was churning butter and looked out and noticed Indians approaching the house. She quickly fled upstairs, latching the door behind her, then peeking through a hole in the floor, she saw the Indians lift the lid and spit in her churn before they left.
Early every morning the postmaster would fill the two cedar water buckets and place them on the shelf on the front porch. Above the buckets hung the gourd dipper. He hauled the drinking water on a slide from the spring in a barrel. He kept the drinking water shaded by the salt-cedar tree that camed about when a lady from Georgetown was visiting Elenor Jane and had used the switch to drive her horse to Sandfly, but decided she wouldn't need it going home, so she dropped the switch near the back door. Elenor Jane noticed the branch and planted it to see if it would, and it grew and made a nice shade tree.
