Saturday, August 24, 2013

Stories from Bovina's Cemeteries - Lloyd Oliver

The August 29, 1924, the Andes Recorder reported the death of John Lloyd Oliver in the early hours of August 24.  Born in Bovina in 1902, he was the son of John and Stella (Dumond) Oliver.  His father died when he was only five years old.  The notice about his death was not his first appearance in the Andes Recorder.  In the July 4, 1919, issue, the following article appeared:

Lloyd Oliver had a narrow escape Tuesday [July 1, 1919] from going off the high wall at Alex Myers’ in his car.  Something was wrong with the car and Terry, the garage man, towed it backwards to the top of the pitch and he started to coast down.  In front of the Myers house a rod dropped down careering the car into the air so that only one wheel was on the ground and when it righted itself it was on the wall and less than a foot from the edge.  Mr. Oliver who had no brakes, succeeded in guiding the car along the wall and it was stopped in front of Elliott Thomson’s.  

This incident happened going down the hill from where Jardine's is located.


At the time of his death, he had been working as a hired hand on the farm of John Burns (now the Goggins farm at the end of Crescent Valley Road).  The Recorder noted that "he had not been in the best of health but ... had been out Saturday night and was heard to come in about 2 o’clock Sabbath morning."  Mr. Burns went to awaken him in the morning but got no response when he knocked on the door.  He went into the room and tried to arouse Lloyd but could not awaken him.  Mrs. Burns joined him and they determined that he had passed away.  The newspaper went on to note that "Mrs. Burns heard a groan about 5 o’clock and there was a sound like a gasp following it, but thought nothing of it."

His funeral was on the 26th and was largely attended.  His mother, a brother and two sisters survived him.


 

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Seventy Five Years Ago - the 20th Coulter Family Reunion

The descendants of Francis Coulter (1771-1846) and Nancy Glendenning (1766-1843) held their 20th reunion on August 17, 1938, seventy-five years ago.  It was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Gladstone, with 107 people attended.  In the minutes of the reunion, the treasurer reported a balance of $12.16.  An additional $11.95 was collected.  Officers for the following year were elected: President, Marshal Adee; Vice President: W.G. Coulter; Secretary, Helen McDivitt; Treasurer, Mrs. Thomas McGowan.  Mrs. John Hilson was made the dinner committee chair.  The Wilbur family of Arena offered their home for the 1939 reunion.  Talks were given by Re. Peter McKenzie, Rev. Donald Brush and Rev. David Murray.  The formal meeting ended with the taking of a family picture, which is below.  With the exception of the years during World War II, the Coulter reunions continued until 1967, when they were discontinued.


The people who attended in 1938:
Mrs. Marshall Adee, George Adee, William Armstrong, Frank Brown, Mrs. Nancy Brown, Mrs. Everett Brown, Edwin Burgin, Mrs. Edwin Burgin, Clifford Burgin, Mrs. John Bostwick, Russell Boggs, Mrs. Russell Boggs, William Boggs, Norris Boggs, Agnes Boggs, Margaret Boggs, May Boggs, Grace Coulter Roberts, Walter Coulter, Elmer Coulter, Mrs. Elmer Coulter, William Coulter, Mrs. William Coulter, Leroy Coulter, Mrs. Leroy Coulter, Jean Coulter, Mrs. James R. Coulter, Alvin Coulter, Mrs. Addie Cowan, Francis Decker, Virigina Decker, Frank Dickson, Belle Dickson, Howard Dickson, Mrs. H. Dickson, Robert Boggs Dickson, James Dickson, David Draffen, Mrs. D. (Aggie) Draffen, Christopher Gladstone, Mrs. Christopher Gladstone, Mrs. Helena Hilson, Jane Hilson, Lourhannah Jocelyn, Mrs. Mary Kelly, Malcolm Kelly, Mrs. Martena Kellam, Duane Kellam, Benson LaFever, Mrs. Benson (Anna Bell) LaFever, Howard LaFever, Charles LaFever, George LaFever, Mary D. McNaught, Mrs. Ruth McGowan, Robert McGowan, Elizabeth McGowan, Grant Maxwell, Mrs. G. Maxwell, Arthur Maxwell, Janet Maxwell, Henry Monroe, Mrs. Ruth Monroe, Frances Monroe, Isabel Monroe, Elinor Monroe, Lauren Monroe, James W. Monroe, Evelyn Monroe, Lawrence Monroe, Philip Monroe, Mrs. W. McDivitt, Helen McDivitt, Elizabeth Mabon, Valerie E. Mabon, Margaret A. Mabon, David Murray, Mrs. D. Marray, Alfed Neale, Mrs. Emma Neale, Ruth Parsons, Herbert Parsons, Jean Parsons, David Roberts, Anna Saxsour, Harold Schrier, Mrs. Mildred Schrier, Bruce H. Schrier, Henry Schrier, Carolyn Schrier, James Wilbur, Mrs. J. Wilbur.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

August 1913 - 100 Years Ago in "That Thriving Town"

August 1, 1913
•    Mrs. Estella Oliver had the misfortune to have a horse die last week.
•    Miss Jennie Miller, has returned after spending a few weeks with Delancey and Walton friends.
•    Mr. and Mrs. D.C. Worden have issued invitations for the marriage of their daughter, Ethel Worden, and Clifford McMullin on August 12.  [Wordens lived at what is now Jason and Lisa Stanton's.]
•    Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gordon and two children leave Friday for Lynn Haven, Florida, and expect to be absent about a month.  Mr. Gordon goes to inspect land which he owns in the St. Andrew’s Bay Colony, and if suited with the place may later remove there.
•    Rev. and Mrs. J.A. Mahaffey, Mr. and Mrs. Thos. C. Strangeway, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew T. Doig, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Doig and J. Alex Stott made a trip to the Ashokan dam on Tuesday, going by auto. Mr. Mahaffey says there is no more water running in the Esopus creek than in Coulter brook.

August 8, 1913
•    During the thunder storm that passed over Bovina last Friday lightning killed a cow belonging to Eugene Storie and a span of horses owned by Marshall Scott. James Archibald in New Kingston also has a span of horses killed. [Storie's farm was on the now abandoned part of current day Reagan Road, heading toward Scutt Mountain Road.]
•    Kester Signor, who has been working for Charles McPherson was assaulted by an unknown man near the Walton depot, shortly after the arrival of the Utica flyer, beaten with a black-jack, and robbed of his pocketbook containing $45.
•    Guests at S.R. Seacord’s, Mountain Farm, Southern Bovina, are Mr. and Mrs. Richard Foreman, Mrs. Alfred Hage and two sons, Alfred and Kenneth, Misses Mary and Minnie Mulrey, Miss Rose Donohue, Hugh Brown and John A. Street, Long Island, Arthur Randell, Robert Malone, Paul Equire, Miss Kittie Keen, New York.
•    Friday while Robert G. Thomson was at Robert Gerry’s new house in southern Bovina, one of the wheels of his wagon, which he had left standing near the road, was smashed.  Ernest Jackson left his team standing and they were frightened by a clap of thunder and ran, colliding with Thomson’s wagon.  The team went down the bank and damaged the harness, but were not injured. 

August 15, 1913
•    The Boyd house, adjoining the old Hilson property, has been purchased by John Hilson.  The purchase price is $1,000.  [This is where Tom and Betty Hilson's house stands.]
•    Mrs. John M. Miller left last week to visit her son in St. Paul, Minnesota and relatives in Wisconsin, and will be absent about a month. [The Millers lived on Pink Street.]
•    Will Irvine, son of John A. Irvine, left Saturday on his return to Seattle, Washington.  His brother, Clifton Irvine, accompanied him. [These are two brothers of Isabell Russell.]
•    Rev. John H. Lee, of Philadelphia, and Mr. and Mrs. Duncan C. Lee and son and dauter, of London, England, were guests of their father, Rev. J. B. Lee last week.
•    Friday an auto truck from Albany brought a 10,100 pound load of feed from Delhi to Bovina up Bramley Mountain, making the trip in an hour and a half.  The truck is making the trips for demonstration purposes and will haul feed by the hundred for Bovina dealers.


August 22, 1913
•    Born to Mr. and Mrs. A. Thomas Archibald, in upper Bovina, August 12, a son.  [Herman]
•    A bake and ice cream sale will be held on the U.P. Church lawn Saturday afternoon.
•    W. C. Brine, of Downsville, is the new man employed by Gideon Miller in his blacksmith shop.
•    William J. Archibald, on the R.C. Scott farm is raising up the wing part of his residence and making it two story.  [This is now the Frank McPherson farm]
•    The directors of Bovina Co-Op Fire Insurance company have made assessment of $2.30 on the thousand to pay loss on J.D. Burns’ house. [See the August 12, 2013 blog entry about this fire.]
•    J.D. Burns was at Delhi on Monday.  He is preparing to build a new house to replace the one burned last week.  At present the family is living in the sap house.

August 29, 1913
•    James G. Seath recently had a finger nearly bitten off by a horse. 
•    Elmer Isham has rented and moved into the house on the Margaret Hoy farm.
•    From the bake sale last Saturday on the lawn at the United Presbyterian church $25 was realized.
•    Reuben Thompson and Frank Elliott of Delhi, have the contract to build J.D. Burn’s new house.
•    Miss Florence Hulbert, of Hobart, has been hired as the second teacher in the Bovina Center school.
•    The concrete abutments are in for the new iron bridge on the road leading to Christopher S. Gladstone’s [now Bob Hall Road].
•    A Village Improvement Society has been organized with the following officers: Mrs. John Hilson, president; Mrs. Robert Hunt, vice-president; Mrs. Robert G. Thomson, secretary, and Miss Vera Davidson, treasurer.

Monday, August 12, 2013

100 Years Ago Today - House of J.D. Burns Destroyed by Fire

One hundred years ago today, on August 12, 1913, the home of J. Douglas Burns was completely destroyed by fire.  Here's how it was reported in the Andes Recorder's August 15, 1913 issue:

Bovina Farm House Burned

Residence of J. Douglas Burns Entirely Destroyed Tuesday

The farm house of J. Douglas Burns a mile and a half from Bovina Center, on the Lake Delaware-Bloomville road, was entirely destroyed about 6 o’clock Tuesday evening, August 12, by a fire of uncertain origin.  Nearly all of the contents were also lost.

Mr. and Mrs. Burns were visiting at Milton McFarland’s, near Delhi, and Will Burns was at home alone.  Just before going to the barn to milk he started a fire in the kitchen and had been out some time, when A.P. Lee, a neighbor living half a mile away, who discovered the fire, arrived and told him the house was burning.  This was the first intimation that young Burns had that there was anything wrong.  The flames by that time had gained such headway that nothing could be done to check them.  A little of the furniture was saved from the parlor and from a bedroom, which were on the opposite end of the house from where the fire started, but everything else burned.

The fire probably either started from a spark or from the stove pipe or chimney becoming over-heated.  While the house was an old one, having probably been built from 60 to 70 years, it was in good repair and within a year had been painted and otherwise improved.  There was an insurance in the town company of $700 on the building ad $300 on the contents. 


This farm was located where the Rhea Silber farm is located on Bramley Mountain Road near Miller Avenue. 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Pink Street Views, 1940

The Delaware County Historical Association's Bob Wyer Collection continues to come forth with great shots of interest to me as Bovina Town Historian.  These three photos from Pink Street were taken in August 1940 in the vicinity of the Inman Farm, now owned and farmed by Mollie Brannen-Spangenberg.  At the time of the photos, the farm was owned by Gustav Lifgren.  The farm was owned in the 19th century by William Thomson (I'm still working out which William this was).