53 Cents and a Kid: The Forgotten Time Americans Mailed Their Children

In the early 1900s, the U.S. Postal Service delivered more than just letters and packages — for a brief and bizarre moment in American history, it also delivered children.

Yes, really.

It all started in 1913, when the Postal Service launched Parcel Post, a new service allowing Americans to send packages weighing up to 11 pounds (later raised to 50). People immediately began pushing the limits of what counted as a “parcel,” and before long, some clever — and possibly cost-conscious — parents realized they could send their kids through the mail.

The first known case occurred just a month after the service launched. In January 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beauge of Glen Este, Ohio, mailed their 10-pound infant son to his grandmother’s home about a mile away. The trip cost them 15 cents in postage, and they insured him for $50.

Soon after, a few more cases made headlines. One child was sent over 70 miles. Another little boy was “mailed” from his grandmother’s house back home. But the most famous postal passenger was May Pierstorff, a 5-year-old girl from Idaho.

In February 1914, May’s parents decided it was cheaper to send her via parcel post to visit her grandmother than to buy a train ticket. They paid 53 cents in stamps — which were pinned to her coat — and entrusted her to a postal worker on the train. May made the 73-mile journey from Grangeville to Lewiston, Idaho safely, sitting with the mailbags. She was even officially “delivered” to her grandmother’s door by the mail carrier, who also happened to be a relative.

While no children were ever tossed in with the rest of the parcels or left on doorsteps unattended, the practice sparked public fascination and concern. By 1920, the Postmaster General had finally issued regulations explicitly banning the mailing of human beings.

The era of “baby by mail” was over.

But the stories remain a quirky, head-shaking footnote in American history — a time when postage was cheap, rules were vague, and apparently, if you were under 50 pounds, you were eligible for First Class.