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Private company

U.S. Mail Steamship Company

Historical overseas mail delivery service1

U.S. Mail Steamship Company was a company formed in 1848 by George Law, Marshall Owen Roberts and Bowes R. McIlvaine to assume the contract to carry the U. S. mails from New York City, with stops in New Orleans and Havana, to the Isthmus of Panama for delivery in California. The company had the SS Ohio and the SS Georgia built in 1848, and with the purchased SS Falcon in early 1849 carried the first passengers by steamship to Chagres, on the east coast of the Isthmus of Panama.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1848Founded1
  • Industrypacket trade1

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U.S. mail steam ship company's, ships LCCN2003671783
Photo: Popular Graphic Arts, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

U.S. Mail Steamship Company was a company formed in 1848 by George Law, Marshall Owen Roberts and Bowes R. McIlvaine to assume the contract to carry the U. S. mails from New York City, with stops in New Orleans and Havana, to the Isthmus of Panama for delivery in California. The company had the SS Ohio and the SS Georgia built in 1848, and with the purchased SS Falcon in early 1849 carried the first passengers by steamship to Chagres, on the east coast of the Isthmus of Panama.2

The story

Founded by Bowes R. McIlvaine, George Law and Marshall O. Roberts in 1848.1

Leadership

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Timeline

  1. 1848Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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