A Week with Bovina People - April 1899 - 125 Years ago from the Andes Recorder

Here’s what was happening in Bovina 125 years ago, April 1899, from the pages of the Andes Recorder.

April 7, 1899

• Albert Butts was over at Bloomville Saturday.

• Rev. H.F. Brown started for conference Monday.

• John S. Hobbie was at the County Seat Thursday.

• David A. Oliver, of Delancey, was in town Monday.

• Rev. Slater expects to be absent two or three months.

• Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Hastings visited Delhi Friday.

• Arthur Hoy smiles all over these days. It is a boy. [The boy was Clarence Hoy, born March 22. His mother was Janet Currie. Clarence died in 1981.]

• Last Thursday John Roney was in town from Andes.

• J.K. McDivitt, of Andes, was in this place Tuesday evening.

• Henry Thomson and daughter were up from Delhi Monday.

• Earley Eckart has hired to William L. White for the season.

• Misses Jennie and Emma Campbell were home over Sabbath.

• Dr. Huyck, of Treadwell, passed through this place on Sabbath.

• J. Barker, the new mail carrier, commenced to carry the mail Saturday.

• Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Miller were at G.D. Miller’s last week from Oneonta.

• Rev. W.L.C. Samson attended the meeting of Presbytery at Rock Rift on Tuesday.

• Rev. and Mrs. J.B. Pollock, of New Kingston, were visitors here the fore part of the week.

• A Missionary sociable was held on Wednesday evening in the United Presbyterian church parlors. The features of the sociable were addresses, recitations, singing, etc., and an enjoyable evening was spent. A collection was taken and the receipts amounted about $37.

• The United Presbyterian church in this place probably stands at the head in the amount of money given for missions. From the envelopes sent out to the members in which to return their offerings, $679 was received. Besides this some was raised last fall and the Sabbath School raised far more than do many churches.

April 14, 1899

• David Oliver was at Delancey Friday.

• John Ferguson, of Delhi, was in this place Monday.

• Alfred Strong and wife were in town Friday from Delhi.

• Mr. [Charles] Archer, the ex mail carrier is going to move into the village.

• Alex. Hilson has sold his cream separator and engine to Frank Graham.

• Henry Irvine is seriously ill at the home of his son in law, W.T. Black.

• Thomas C. Strangeway was a guest at Malcolm McNaught’s at Delancey last week.

• D.L. Thompson fell on the sidewalk Friday night and put his shoulder out of joint.

• Mrs. John G. Russell, Mrs. Duncan Campbell and Mrs. Richard Smith have been visiting at Walton.

• William A. Liddle, wife and daughter, of Andes, renewed old acquaintances in town last Friday.

• During this season John B. Lee will draw the milk from the Ludington hollow and vicinity to Delhi.

• Andrew Doig moved his family and household goods back to this place last week from Bellefontaine, Ohio.

• We are informed that the Reformed Presbyterian church is to undergo repairs during the next two months.

• Miss Louise Dennis and Mrs. G.D. Miller went to New York city Monday on the Ontario & Western excursion.

• Mrs. David Ferguson was buried in Bovina cemetery Wednesday.  She formerly lived at Livingston’s Lake, where her husband ran a grist mill. 

• Mrs. Rachael Rutherford, widow of the late William Rutherford, who lived in the upper part of this town, died last week at the home of her brother, Jonathan White, in Bettys Brook.

• The selection of Frank McPherson, of this town, as bookkeeper in the bank at Delhi is a deserved compliment and shows the wisdom of those in charge.

April 21, 1899

• Thomas Dennis was at Delhi on Friday.

• Monday, William L. Ruff was down at Delhi.

• Everett McPherson visited Delhi on Tuesday.

• Robert Biggar was over at Andes on Thursday.

• Thomas Gordon was at the County Seat on Saturday.

• Rev. Brown arrived home the latter part of last week.

• The school in the Centre re-opened again on Monday.

• Mrs. Richard Smith arrived home on Saturday from Walton.

• There will be preaching at Lake Delaware Sabbath evening.

• Miss Jennie E. Miller has returned from a visit to Oil City, Pa.

• School Commissioner Hugh Adair was in this place last Wednesday.

• Francis Graham was guest of Captain Hymers at Delancey recently.

• George Elliott and Clifford Benjamin were in town Saturday from Andes.

• Miss Louisa Dennis and Mrs. G.D. Miller returned from New York City Friday.

• David Sloan, who went West about eight years ago, arrived home again on Saturday.

• William C. Russell arrived home last Friday from court. He was the one of the jurors on the Meredith suit.

• M.V. Teller, who instructed the Bovina Band when it was organized, has been taken to the Binghamton asylum. [Martin V. Teller was active organizing the band in the early 1890s, but started having mental issues later in the decade. He first went to the asylum in 1897. It seems the problem was related, in part, to alcohol. He likely stayed in the asylum the rest of his life – he died in Binghamton in 1904.]

• By the will of the late Mrs. William Rutherford, Mrs. William Ruff receives $1,000 and the two children, Minnie and Lula Ruff, $500 each. [Mrs. Rutherford was the former Rachel White. Mrs. Ruff was the former Anna M. White. If the two women were related, I haven’t yet worked out how.]

• William Mason has been appointed [sentence missing] E.T. Gerry will pay him $50 extra, or that much more than the office yields, out of his own pocket. 

April 28, 1899

• James Monroe was at Delhi on Monday.

• William L. White was at Walton on Friday.

• John Dennis was down at Delhi on Friday.

• Thomas Rich was in this vicinity last Thursday.

• David Ballantine, of Andes was in town on Friday.

• Walter McDivitt and Charles Thomson visited Andes on Sabbath.

• Bert Armstrong and sister were in this place last Thursday from Andes.

• David Oliver, Albert Butts and William J. Doig were all at Andes Tuesday.

• William T. Black and Dr. Andrew C. Seacord were over at Andes the first of the week.

• Among those over at Andes on Saturday were, James Russell, James A. Liddle and William Palmer.

• John Lunn, of Margaretville, arrived in town Friday to visit his daughters, Mrs. Forrest and Mrs. Storie. 

• The carpenters are pushing the work right along on John McCune’s new house and will soon have it completed.

• The Misses Chisholm are having some alterations made to their house.  E. George Gladstone and Thomas Miller are doing the job. [This is now the home of Roger Robson in the hamlet, next to Brushland Eating House.]

• Archie Maynard has been staking out the ground for his new carriage house, which is be built next fall and James. L. Coulter will be the boss carpenter.

• David Finkle, of Lake Delaware, has been suffering for several months with sciatic rheumatism and through the kindness of Mr. Gerry he will receive treatment in a New York hospital.

• The annual convention of the W.C.T.U. [Woman’s Christian Temperance Union] of Delaware county will be held at Bovina Centre, May 8 and 9. Mrs. Ella Boole, state president, will be the speaker of the convention. Mrs. Thos. Miller is chairman of the entertainment committee. [Mrs. Boole was a major player in the temperance movement. She later became head of the National W.C.T.U., serving from 1931 until 1947. She also ran on the Prohibition Party line for the U.S. Senate seat from New York in 1920, getting 7% of the vote. She died at the age of 93 in 1952. Mrs. Miller likely was Jane Elliott, the third wife of Thomas Miller (1826-1911).]

Eclipses in Bovina

    The recent eclipse in the U.S. got me curious about past eclipses in Bovina. I remember a partial one on March 7, 1970. And we had a partial in 2017, as well as the one on April 8, 2024. And there have been other partials, I'm sure. Since, we didn’t get a total eclipse in Bovina on the 8^th, I traveled to the Thousand Islands to see my first ever total eclipse. [This photo was taken by a friend of the friends I visited to see the eclipse.]

    So, did Bovina ever have a total eclipse? Yes it did - a little over 99 years ago. It took place on a bitterly cold but clear morning on January 24, 1925. There were no newspaper reports directly from Bovina about it, but here's an article from the Andes Recorder for January 30, 1925 about the event in Andes.

    Several Bovina diarists reported the phenomenon (and several for some reason left the last letter off the word eclipse).

    Isabell Russell’s mother, Elizabeth Irvine, reported in her diary: “Cold. See the eclips on Sun this morning (beautiful) total right in path of eclips.”

    Thanks to Dianne Rabeler Abele’s work to transcribe some ancestral diaries, we have two firsthand reports from her family. A. Dixon Thomson, her paternal great grandfather, lived in Bovina Center next to what is now the Brushland Eating House. He reported: “I was home the Eclips was on the sun I finished the chair it was cold in the morning 10 below zero.”

    Her maternal great grandparents, John and Ida Nichols, were living with their daughter and son-in-law, Ina and John Thomson on their Pink Street farm (still owned by Dianne’s family). John reported in his diary: “pleasent but cold 6 below zero John went over to Campbells to draw got two loads at night Frank [Schbloski] drew one load for him I done Chores Saw the Total Eclips of the Sun this morning...”

    Another diarist on Pink Street was John Storie, living at the old Jim Burns farm. After reporting on his chores, he finished with “Eclipse of the sun this morning. Total. A fine view of it here.”

    By the way, the next total eclipse in Bovina will be May 1, 2079. Since I likely will not be around for it, I do hope the younger readers of this blog will remember who it was that reminded them of it! Get it on your calendars. 

April 1924 - 100 Years Ago in "That Thriving Town"

 

Here's what the Andes Recorder was reporting from the Town of Bovina 100 years ago this month. 

April 4, 1924

• Mrs. William Storie was a visitor at the County Seat last Thursday.

• Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert D. Miller spent Saturday with relatives at Andes.

• Pat Fay has finished his work as a fireman at the Bovina Center creamery.

• Mrs. Anna Heyart left Saturday for Hackensack, N.J., with her three children.

• Bovina real estate transfers recorded are Joshua Kennedy Russell and wife to Edward C. Dean, $1.

• Mrs. Fred Thomson entertained the King’s Daughters Sabbath School class at her home Tuesday evening.

• Miss Elizabeth Saxoure, of Andes, a former teacher in the village school, spent over the weekend at Fred Thomson’s. 

• George Shaver moved into the Hilson house, adjoining the store, this week, and will work for Hilson Bros. on their farm.

• Miss Jane Hilson, who teaches at South Orange, N.J., has been with her mother, Mrs. Alex Hilson, during the past week.

• Clarence Becker, of Delhi, has rented the blacksmith shop at the Pink Street brook bridge and has taken possession.  He is boarding with Mrs. Everett Joslin

Settlement Reached

A settlement was reached Thursday in the mortgage foreclosure case of Charles A. McPherson, of Bovina, agst Jean Muller and Joseph Arnold. By its terms the Arnolds give up possession of the farm (S.G. Bramley place) on which they have paid down some $1,600 and Muller undertakes to pay to McPherson all defaults and costs down to $8,000 and McPherson is to give a deed and take a mortgage for that amount. If the agreement is not fulfilled by April 28, foreclosure proceedings will be started. 

April 11, 1924

• Wilbur Archibald spent the past week in town.

• The Bovina Center skating rink is closed for repairs. [I don't know where this was located.]

• Kenneth Kaufman has been with relatives in town.

• Mrs. Ella Telford was up from Delhi on Saturday.

• The Bovina Center school is closed for Easter vacation.

• Mrs. Lancelot Thomson is ill with an attack of the grip.

• Frank VanDuesen has moved to the Dickson property up Pink Street. 

• Miss Anna Dickson returned Wednesday to Cornell University at Ithaca.

• Miss Calena Stewart has gone to Binghamton to spend the summer with her aunt.

• Attorney and Mrs. Ernest Bergman, of New York, spent the past week with relatives in town.

• Mr. Berger of Hackensack, N.J., who owns the Armstrong farm, was in town a few days the past week.

• Communion services were held last Sabbath at the U.P. church and there was an accession of two to the membership. 

• Rev. F.N. Crawford and Elder Frank Coulter attended the meeting of Delaware Presbytery Tuesday at Gilchrist Memorial church.

• Miss Jane Hilson returned to her school at South Orange, N.J. on Monday. She was accompanied by her niece, Miss Louise Hilson.

• Mrs. Lucy Coulter was at Colchester Station last Saturday to see her brother, John Ward, who is ill with pneumonia at the home of Will Ward. 

• W.J. Howland, of Andes, was here Saturday surveying the lot of Mrs. Alex Hilson, preparatory to building a new house.  The carpenters in charge of Howard Currie, of Delhi, commenced moving the old house Tuesday. [This is now the home of Mike and Christine Batey.]

• John Blair had the misfortune to have one of his big horses die Friday morning. The animal had gotten one leg fast in the partition of the stall during the night and in its struggles had evidently ruptured a blood vessel. It only lived a short time after it was released. 

Dart-Todd

Edna Todd, daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Urion Todd, of Bovina, was united in marriage with Charles Dart, of Roxbury, April 2, by Rev. VanWoert, pastor of the Gould Reformed Church. They will reside on the Morse farm in West Settlement, Roxbury. 

Bovina Man Dead

Eli D. Felton, who since 1916 had lived in upper Bovina, died April 1, at the home of B.L. Robinson is Walton, from heart and kidney trouble aged 56 years. His early life was spent at Downsville and for a number of years he lived at Walton. He leaves a wife and one son. Rev. F.N. Crawford officiated at the funeral on Friday and burial was in Walton. 

April 18, 1924

• Mrs. Patrick Doig, of Walton, was a recent guest of her brother, George Gladstone.

• Mr. and Mrs. Millard Gow, of New York, spent the past week with his parents here.

• Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Gerry have spent the past week at their summer home in southern Bovina.

• The town board has appointed Thos C. Strangeway justice of the peace in place of Andrew T. Doig, deceased.

• William C. Russell commenced the cellar for his new house adjoining the residence of Thos. C. Strangeway on Tuesday. 

• Mr. and Mrs. William MacPherson, of Syracuse, were recent guests of his mother, Mrs. I.C. MacPherson, in upper Bovina. 

• James A. Boggs has rented the Maynard farm and moves from his father’s farm to the big house.  Benson LaFever and wife will live in the tenant house and work for them.

• The death of Frieland Morehouse occurred at his home in the upper end of Bovina township Friday, April 11, at the age of 71 years. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. 

April 25, 1924

• Hugh Galland has purchased a new Ford coupe.

• Mrs. Lancelot Thomson, who has been on the doctor’s care, is now improving.

• Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Miller, Miss Bell Miller and Mrs. Benson LaFever were Delhi visitors Friday.  [W.T. Miller and Bell Miller were uncle and aunt of Mrs. LaFever, the former Anna Bell Barnhart.]

• Born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Barnhart, up Pink Street, April 9, a daughter – Dorothy Marguerite. [Dot was later married to John Hinckley and passed away in 2020 at the age of 96.]

• Mr. and Mrs. Fred Smith and Miss Evelyn Cameron were recent guests of their aunt, Mrs. George H. Miller. 

• Mrs. Gideon Miller and son, Reginald, and Lulu Miller, of Hamden, were guests of Mrs. Andrew Doig on Saturday.

• Donald Lee, son of John B. Lee in Tuttle Hollow, who recently completed an agricultural course at Ithaca, has taken a position at Utica.

• Mr. Hitchcock, who has been at the uptown creamery, will have charge of the Dry Milk plant at the Bovina Center creamery.  Mr. Bright succeeds him at the Bovina creamery.

• Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Boggs in upper Bovina, were taken suddenly ill last Wednesday and their daughter, Miss Calla Boggs, had to be called from Walton, where she had been helping care for measles in the family of her sister, Mrs. Robert Forman.

Remembered on Birthday

The neighbors of Mrs. Samuel A. Bouton at Lake Delaware, made her a surprise visit recently on her 78th birthday, April 10. She was presented with a handsome rug and other tokens. [Mrs. Bouton was the former Mary Ann Gillie. Born in 1846, she would live to celebrate her 91st birthday before her death in 1937.]

Altar 600 Years Old

An altar, the gift of Miss Angelica Gerry, has been installed in the chancel of the St. James Church at Lake Delaware. This altar is of especial interest and is among the oldest in America. It was painted in the year 1320 – 172 years before the discovery of America.