Covers of Judge Caleb Valentine

by Robert Livingstone

Judge Caleb Hazen Valentine was my wife’s great-great-great-grandfather and the letters that I have are family pieces that make me feel more like a temporary custodian than the owner of some valuable postal history. The article that I wrote for the NJPHS was Vol. 34 No. 3 Whole number 163 Aug 2006.

For the most part, the letters are patronage correspondence that the Judge felt compelled to save. Some of the letters are more personal in nature but for the most part they are intended to sway the Judge on some matter or other before the courts or the state legislature of which Judge Valentine was a member for a time. Several of the letters demonstrate the earliest usage of certain postmarks. A few of the letters relate to Judge Valentine’s role as a surveyor.