I also remember Jack as a great source on Bovina town history. Jack recalled that as a youngster, he had roller skated in the old Bovina Methodist church building, which was next to his boyhood home. This information helped me narrow down when the building was demolished - I finally found a newspaper article about the demolition in April 1926. Here's a picture of Jack and his older sister Louise in front of the church, probably not long before the church was torn down.When I started working on this entry, I checked out a brief biography of Jack's great grandfather, the first John Hilson, sometimes known as 'Old Jock.' This biography comes from the 1895 Biographical Review of Delaware County. I include it here partly because of the number of similarities between Jack and his great grandfather. Jack's ancestor was a farmer and a merchant, like Jack, and was actively involved in the community, also like Jack. They both were members of the Bovina United Presbyterian Church - Jack had recently been honored for his 76 years of membership.
"JOHN HILSON, one of the most successful businessmen of Bovina Centre, was born in Scotland on May 25, 1827, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Nesbit) Hilson. ... John lived at home with his parents until his twenty-third year, being educated in Scotland, and learning the plasterer's trade of his father. In 1850, at the age of twenty-three, he came to America landing in New York after a pleasant voyage of only thirty days in a sailing ship. He came directly to Delaware County, and settled in Bovina, where he followed his trade for more than four years. In 1855, the year after his marriage, Mr. Hilson bought a farm of a hundred acres, where he started a dairy, having fifteen cows to commence with, and increasing the number to twenty-five during his seventeen years of farming. He has owned three different farms in Bovina, and now has a splendid one of two hundred and six acres, besides his residence in Bovina Centre.
"In 1845 he married Hannah S. Hamilton, a daughter of Robert Hamilton, one of Bovina's hardy pioneers. He started a large general store in 1867; and, before retiring from business, in 1889, to return to Scotland for a summer's visit, he had built up a very good trade. Since his return Mr. Hilson has speculated somewhat in butter, but has engaged in no active work, leaving his son Alexander to take charge of the store, in partnership with Mr. Blair. Alexander Hilson, born in 1855, is the only child of his parents. He was married in 1880 to Isabell Archibald; and they have two children, John [Jack's dad] and Jane Hilson, born in 1881 and 1885 [I have 1888 and 1891 respectively as the birthdays of John and Jane].
"John Hilson has a large circle of friends, he and his wife being members of the United Presbyterian church, wherein he has held the position of Trustee for a number of years. He has also been town clerk for ten years, and Superintendent of the Poor three years, and now holds the office of Notary Public. The Hilsons have always been identified with the interests of the town, and are esteemed by all who know them.
"Well has it been said by a poetic philosopher of our own day, Dr. J. G. Holland: -- 'God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest. He does not unearth the good that the earth contains; but he puts it in our way, and gives us the means of getting it ourselves.'"
I think this quote equally refers to Jack. Jack was always working, whether as a farmer, merchant, a veteran of World War II or a conscientious citizen of his community. Jack did not let a stroke slow him down very much. He found the means to keep working. I used to see him tooling around town using a large three wheeled bicycle to run errands at the post office and store. And he continued to mow the front lawn of the church. He had the old Scottish toughness of his ancestors. They would have been proud of him.
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