The Superior Express -

The Ionia Post Office, the seventh post office in Jewell County, was organized on April 13, 1871. It served the Ionia area until it was discontinued on Aug. 6, 1982. Seneca Sumner was the first postmaster; 12 other men and women would follow him.

Sumner had been born in Ohio on March 7, 1846. He is found in the 1870 U.S. Census in Washington County, Kansas as an artist-photographer. He first appeared in Jewell County records when he was appointed postmaster on April 13, 1871.

The story goes that the early day Ionia postal customers needed to find Sumner if they wanted their mail. He ca...