Thursday, May 16, 2024

Bovina Memories Program

I'm sharing with everyone the images that we used at the May 11, 2024 program held at the community hall. Several long-time residents of Bovina shared their memories of growing up in Bovina, spurred on by these images. Participants were Marian Jardine, Patricia Thomas Parsons Miele, Marie Reinertsen Burns, Jack Burns, Jim Hilson, Chuck McIntosh and Lauren Monroe.

For the zoom presentation, the images should have been included but for some reason they do not appear. So I've created this blog entry so people who watched via zoom or want to watch the recording posted on You Tube [https://youtu.be/xJfxmsua72A] can see the images being discussed. 

The images are here in order by their presentation in the program. We started with images of each of the participants from their childhood. 

Jack Burns, photo by Bob Wyer

Jim Hilson, photo by Bob Wyer

Marian Jardine, with her brother Richard and sister Martha, photo by Bob Wyer


Chuck McIntosh, with his sister Carol, photo by Bob Wyer


Pat Thomas Parsons Miele (right) with her sister Marge Thomas Rockefeller, photo by Bob Wyer



Lauren Monroe (on the right) with his sisters and parents, photo by Bob Wyer


Marie Reinertsen Burns (left) with her father, mother and sister June Burns, photo by Bob Wyer.


The group recalled their memories of the August 1953 flood in Bovina Center, triggered by these images, all taken by Bob Wyer.
That's Chuck McIntosh inside this tipped over playhouse, talking to Bill Aitkens.


These two images show the damage to Clayton Thomas's garage after the flood. 






And this image shows the Scott Bridge at the lower end of the Bovina Center hamlet. 


The program participants noted that they never referred to it as the Scott Bridge but as the Crooked Bridge. More about this bridge is at Bovina (NY) History: Bridging Bovina (bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com)

Image of the bridge from the 1940s taken by Bob Wyer.

These next two images both feature Pat Miele. 
This was some performance done by the Bovina Happy Hearts 4H Club. That's Pat in the front left. Going clockwise, the next girl has not been id'ed. The girl with the pigtails is Lois Miller, daughter of the Bovina minister. Then we see Norma Burns, Edna Reinertsen and the blond girl in the front right is Patty Boggs.

This image was taken by Jim Hilson, showing Pat, Tommy Schall, Bobby Boggs and Marge Thomas (Pat's sister). In the background standing next to the house on the left is Bobby's sister Barbara. 

This next image is also from the 4H. The club did a play recreating an incident in the early days of the Bovina church. The story was that when the church was one day holding services in a barn, a chicken wouldn't stop clucking until a gentleman sat on it, solving the problem. They recreated it for a 4-H festival in Walton in May 1949.

Front row: George Hall, Marie Reinertsen Burns, Marian Jardine, Sandra McPherson Cole, Jack Burns, Bobbie Boggs, Bill Aitkens, XXX Lyons, Marg Hilson Olsner, Marcelle Vogel. Back row: Ron Russell, Wayne Spear, George LaFever, Bob Burns, Wendell Spear, Dick Roberts. The chicken is Jim Hoy. Photo by Bob Wyer.


These two images come from the same event held in May 1957.
Easter Parade: Marie Renner, Carolyn Keefer, Helen Thomson, Emily Archibald, Jen Thomson, Ina Thomson, Ruth Monroe, Eva McIntosh, xxx Olsener, Betty Hall

Tom Thumb Wedding: left to right - Linda Graham, Mary Ann LaFever, Ruth Ann McPherson, Jack Robson, John LaFever, June Burns, Richard Damgaard, Richard McIntosh, Jamie McKeefer, John Hilson, Tom Hilson, Marg Hilson, Roger McIntosh, Christine Hilson, Marianne Hilson, Joan Damgaard, Nancy Hilson, Tanya Lay, Judy Hammond, Janice Vandenbord, Shirley Hammond, Marie Burns, Tom Hoy, Norma Reinertsen.

This image was a party given for Vera Storie by her Beacon Lights Sunday school class in honor of her 25 years of teaching the class. [I would love to find a better version of this image!] 

I then shared a few images of people known by and/or related to our program participants.

Charles N. McIntosh, 1943, photo by Bob Wyer.

Raymond Jardine, 1943, photo by Bob Wyer.


Andrew and Sophie Reinertsen, 1946, photo by Bob Wyer.


Floyd "Steve" Aitken, 1947, photo by Bob Wyer.


Therese "Que" Aitken, 1947, photo by Bob Wyer.


This image is from the 1956 Bovina Old Home Day. I've been told that this is Bobby Boggs. 

This final image is a Bovina Center baseball player. We have not been able to identify him. We're hoping someone recognizes him. 


Tuesday, May 7, 2024

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



May 2, 1924

C.S. Gladstone is driving a new Buick car.

James Ackerley is moving into his new house this week.

Albert Seaber left for Hackensack, N.J., the first of the week.

Lester Henderson, son of Fred Henderson, is ill with the measles. [Lester would survive his attack, dying in 1970. He was the father of Laverne Henderson, long time biology teacher at Delaware Academy.]

The Delhi students started again Tuesday morning for their school duties.

The sale of J.K. Russell at Lake Delaware on Tuesday was largely attended.

A son was born April 23, to Mr. and Mrs. John Hewitt, of Margaretville, formerly of Bovina. [This was Stanley 'Stub' Hewitt, who died in 2017.]

Mrs. George Decker and Mrs. Arthur Decker and daughter, Virginia, were at Delhi on Monday. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy Warren, of Delhi, were visitors at Lancelot Thomson’s on Sabbath.

Harold Aitkens entertained 32 of his young friends last Friday evening on his sixteenth birthday.

Miss Mary Flansburg, of East Orange, N.J., who had been at Mrs. Alex Hilson’s, returned home Friday.

Mrs. Everett Joslin, who has been in New York with her daughter, Mrs. Charles Hyatt, is expected home this week.

Mr. and Mrs. Galie Hafele were called to Walton the first of the week by the illness of her brother, Archibald Thomson.

Edith, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Erkson, who has been very ill with pneumonia, is reported to be improving.

Miss Angelica L. Gerry has returned to her home in New York City. Miss Mabel Gerry is expected at the Gerry summer home this week.

Mr. and Mrs. Otis McCumber and two grandchildren, of Andes, called on her sisters, the Misses Kate and Freda Muller, on Monday evening. 


May 9, 1924

It is reported that Pat Fay has gone to Wisconsin.

Linn Bruce jr., of Andes, was in town Tuesday.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Myers were with his parents here several days last week.

Miss Marjorie Forman, of Delhi, spent over the week end with relatives in town.

Edith Erkson, daughter of Claude Erkson, is still very ill and two nurses are in attendance. [Edith would recover from this illness. She was married in 1928 and passed away in 1974, survived by a son and five grandchildren, and is buried in Vestal in Broome County.]

Mrs. Thomas Ormiston has spent the past week with her son, Wendel Ormiston at Goshen.

Mrs. John M. Miller and two daughters, of Walton, renewed acquaintances in town the past week. [Mrs. Miller was the former Bertha Anderson. She and her late husband John owned what later became Suits-Us Farm. The two daughters were Shirley and Leila Miller.]

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Decker were at Walton on Sabbath afternoon to see Mrs. Frank C. Armstrong, who is ill. [Mrs. Frank Armstrong was the former Mary E. Neisch. She was Frank’s third and last wife. She would pass away in July. Frank also was Mrs. Decker’s, the former Beulah Armstrong, grandfather.]

Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Thomson have gone to Manhasset, Long Island, where he was a superintendency of a farm. 

At school meeting Tuesday evening, Howard McPherson was elected trustee in the village district to succeed John Hilson.

Mrs. Hull, housekeeper for F.W. Hyatt, returned Saturday from spending a few weeks with relatives in New York City.

Mr. and Mrs. Lancelot Thomson and Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Thomson were at Bloomville on Saturday to attend the funeral of their niece, Mrs. Arthur Dibble. [Mrs. Dibble was Barbara Jane Thomson, daughter of Thomas Thompson and Elizabeth Grant.] 

Mr. and Mrs. Chas F. McPherson, Mrs. Thos Ormiston and Mrs. Alex Myers were at Oneonta on Monday to see Mrs. James Ormiston, who is very ill. She is a sister of the last named. [Mrs. Myers was formerly Isabelle Laing, Mrs. Ormiston was Margaret Laing. They were the daughters of John B. Laing and Margaret Gladstone. Mrs. Ormiston would pass away in June.]


Enlisted in Signal Corps


Joseph Arnold jr. has enlisted in the Signal corps of the United States army. He will be stationed in Panama and will sail on May 15, on the army transport Argonne. Stops enroute will be made at southern ports and at Porto Rico. The Arnolds have lived for the past three or four years on the S.G. Bramley farm in Bovina. 


Mrs. James Liddle Passed way in Upper Bovina on May 3


Mrs. James A. Liddle died at her home at Bovina at 2 o’clock Saturday morning, May 3, after a long illness from heart trouble. She was born in New Kingston 68 years age, her maiden name being Thomson. The greater part of her life had been spent in the town of Bovina. The funeral was held Tuesday. 


Deceased is survived by her husband and two sons and two daughters, viz: Frank Liddle in Bovina; Harry Liddle in Pennsylvania; Mrs. Olmstead of Illion, and Mrs. Titsworth at Lake Delaware. Also two sisters, viz: Miss Mary Thomson at Hobart, and Mrs. Ann Whitlock in Davenport, and two brothers, Elliott Thomson, of Bovina Center, and John Thomson, of Downsville. [Mrs. Liddle was Margaret E. Thomson, the daughter of Walter E. Thomson and Jane Murray.]


May 16, 1924

Robert Boggs is ill with the measles.

The Home Bureau met Tuesday with Mrs. George H. Miller.

Mrs. Alex Hilson is having her new house wired for electric lights. [This is the home of Mike and Christine Batey.]

Rev. F.N. Crawford has been absent the past week at Pittsburg.

George Stanton spent a few days the past week with his son, Robert Stanton at Bloomville.

Arnold H. Bellows, who is teaching at Lake Delaware, will teach next year at the Butt End.

Mr. Thomson, the buttermaker on the Gerry estate at Lake Delaware, has completed his work.

Mr. and Mrs. William Irvine, of Seattle, Washington, arrived this week to visit his mother, Mrs. John Irvine.

W.C. Russell has the cellar completed for his new house and James T. Aitken and son, of Andes, commenced the carpenter work this week.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Homer Burgin on Wednesday, May 14, at the home of his mother, Mrs. Ida Burgin, a son. 

Frank McPherson, the youngest son of Charles McPherson, fell Monday while on his way to school and broke his arm.

Albert Seaber returned on Sabbath from Hackensack, N.J., and is working on the State road for Patrolman Howard McPherson.

At the annual school meeting at Lake Delaware, William Mabon was elected trustee; Mrs. Earl Fisk, clerk, and Alex B. Jardine, collector. 

Rev. W.R. Sawhill, of Seattle, Washington, who is Moderator of the United Presbyterian General Assembly preached in the U.P. church last Sabbath.  


Caught Under Auto


While Mr. and Mrs. Rema Hobbie, of upper Bovina, were returning home from Delhi one day last week the radius rod of his Ford broke, when they were near the Delhi village limits and the car landed bottom up in the ditch. Mr. Hobbie sustained two cracked ribs and his wife had a sprained ankle. Two others in the car were severely bruised. 


May 23, 1924

Frank Miller is driving a new Ford coupe.

Donald and Norris Boggs, sons of Russell Boggs, are ill with the measles.

Mrs. Eli Felton, whose husband died a few weeks ago, moved her household goods to Walton this week.

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Ackerley, of South Gilboa, called on Nelson Tompkins at George Decker’s on Sabbath.

Captain Billings, who for several years has been superintendent of the Gerry farms at Lake Delaware, has resigned and will return to the state of Maine.

Mr. and Mrs. William Armstrong, and Mr. and Mrs. John Armstrong and family spent Sabbath with F.C. Armstrong, father of the first named, at Walton. 

The teachers in the town of Bovina for the next school year are: Arnold Bellows, Butt End; Lillian McNair, Maynard district; Beatrice Hoy, Coulter Brook; Ruth Coulter, Coulter district; Helen Davis, Pink Street; Mariona McPherson, Armstrong district; Elizabeth Strangeway, Miller avenue; Christina Dean, Lake Delaware; Gladys Worden, principal and Edith Liddle, primary, Bovina Center School


Married at Lake Delaware


Miss Marjorie Lee, daughter of John B. Lee, of Lake Delaware, was married Saturday, May 17, at the St. James Episcopal church at Lake Delaware, to Merrill Meighan, an electrical engineer of Chicago, in which city they will reside. The ceremony was performed by the rector Rev. O. Edgelow.


May 30, 1924

Beatrice Hoy is driving a new Chevrolet car.

Mrs. John Close visited her parents at Arena recently.

Frank Miller, of Union Grove, was a caller in town Monday.

Chas. E. Hulbert, of Downsville, was in town on Tuesday.

Elmer Doig in grading about the residence of Fred Thomson.

Carpenters have commenced work on remodelling the barn of J.D. Burns.

Robert Low, of Brooklyn, was a recent guest of his cousin, Mrs. Lancelot Thomson.

Mrs. and Mrs. James Ackerley, and Mrs. G.J. Dickson attended services at Delhi on Sabbath.

Mrs. and Mrs. Homer Burgin will commence housekeeping in part of G.D. Miller’s house. 

E.J. Thomson, of Walton, has been spending a few days with his sister, Mrs. A.T. Doig.

Mrs. Mary A. Russell underwent an operation last week at the hospital in Oneonta for the removal of a cataract from her eye.

Mrs. George Shaver, who has been at the home of her son, Freeman Shaver in Terry Clove, for sometime helping care for measle cases, returned on Sabbath. 


BOVINA HAS RUNAWAY

Team of John Storie Furnish Excitement Monday  


The team of John Storie, attached to a lumber wagon, ran away Monday from the creamery. As they came out onto the street they swung down and caught the rear of the milk wagon of F.W. Hyatt, standing in front of Hilson Bros. Store, and turned it bottom up. The tongue of the Storie wagon was broken but they continued to run and just below the big Dickson house they got free from it by the double whiffletree breaking and the wagon swung and went head-on down the steep bank into the river below. The team stopped at W.J. Archibald’s at the stone bridge and went to eating grass. One horse had its leg injured by a sharp point of the wagon tongue running into it.