12 Famous Postal Employees

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, served as a postmaster in New Salem, Ill. According to the Postal Service historian, Lincoln was appointed postmaster in 1833, when he was just 24. He served in that capacity for about three years, until May of 1836. 

According to the United States Official Register, published in odd-numbered years, Lincoln was paid $55.70 in 1835. Mail arrived once a week, and when addressees did not collect their mail at the post office, Lincoln was known to deliver it personally.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh, famous for making the first solo transatlantic flight, in 1927, in his Spirit of St. Louis, worked as an airmail pilot for the U.S. Postal Service.

Knute Rockne, considered one of the most famour college football coaches of all time, worked as Postal Service clerk in Chicago, according to the agency's historian. Rockne served as head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1918-1930, building that program into a national powerhouse.

American screen actor Rock Hudson, who appeared in films Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers, worked as a letter carrier in Winnetka, Ill.

Sherman Hemsley, a popular television actor whose most famous role was that of George Jefferson in The Jeffersons, worked as a Postal Service clerk in both Philadelphia and New York.

Novelist William Faulkner, the author of The Sound and the Fury in 1929 and As I Lay Dying in 1930, worked as a postmaster in University, Miss.

Inventor and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin served as the first postmaster general of the United States. Franklin reportedly contributed the money he earned as a postal employee to wounded soldiers of the Revolution.

Walt Disney, one of the most famous motion picture producers and entertainers in the world, worked as a substitute Postal Service carrier in Chicago.

Singer, actor and songwriter Bing Crosby worked as a Postal Service clerk in Spokane, Wash.

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, worked as postmaster in Grandview, Mo. While he held the position officially, he did not actually serve as postmaster, according to the Postal Service historian. Instead, he turned the position and its pay over to a widow, Ella Hall, who needed the money. 

American abolitionist John Brown, who led the ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry, W. Va., was was later executed on charges of treason and murder, worked as a postmaster in Randolph, Pa.

Lexicographer, translator and author Noah Webster, who published American dictionaries, worked as a special agent for the U.S. Postal Service.