Seattle, Washington Owney tag

Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. His owner was likely a postal clerk who let the dog walk him to work. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and when his master moved away, Owney stayed with his new mail clerk friends. He soon began to follow mailbags, first onto mail wagons and then mail trains. Owney began to ride with the bags on Railway Mail Service (RMS) trains across the state . . . and then the country! The Railway Mail Service clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot.

Postal workers and others began to mark Owney’s travels by placing tokens, tags, and medals on his collar. These items included baggage check and hotel room key tokens, dog licenses, and numerous items given to the dog by a variety of individuals and organizations.

Owney received this shield-shaped identification token from Victor E. Twedell of Seattle, Washington. Twedell spent time in the late 1880s and early 1890s as a waiter in Seattle restaurants. He does not seem to have any connection to the Post Office Department and may have left Seattle in the mid 1890s for California. There is no additional information on the identification token to indicate how he met Owney, or when he gave the tag to the dog.

Markings:
V.E. T. Wedell / Seattle. / Wash

Museum ID: 0.052985.417