May 1914 - 100 Years Ago in "That Thriving Town"

More progress reported on the hamlet's new water system

May 1, 1914
• Town Superintendent McPherson has gangs of men working on the town highways.
• Charles R. Lee lies in a semi-unconscious condition and when roused does not appear to know anyone.
• Stewart Mullinex has moved from Colchester into the John R. Hoy house in the lower part of the village.
• The Italian who was to take the Arthur Bergman farm has not showed up and Mr. Bergman has the $250 forfeit. [The Bergman Farm was located in the area of New Road.]
• Mr. Mead of Margaretville, has moved into the small Hoy house opposite the Campbell place in the lower part of Bovina Center.
• T.A. Archibald is the Bovina member of the Delaware County farm bureau. County Agent Avery plans to visit each member of the bureau once a month.
• The Italian workmen on the Bovina Center Water Works have now commenced digging on the ditch at the lower end.  The hydrants 22 in number arrived this week.

May 8, 1914
• Thomas H. Elliott, of Andes, moved into the John R. Hoy house. He has secured employment in the Bovina Center Cemetery.
• Walter G. Coulter was at Binghamton last Friday and his wife who for some time had been a patient at the state hospital, came home with him. [Walter’s wife was Margaret Strangeway Coulter (1873-1953) and was the mother of Ruth Coulter Parsons and Celia Coulter.]
• State Road men were here this week and forbid the Bovina Center Water company digging any more ditch thru the street until a permit was procured from the state.
• Charles R. Lee died at his home in Bovina Center, at 3 o’clock Sabbath morning, May 3, at the age of 86 years and 4 months. We believe that he was born in the village where he died and practically all his life and had been passed in the town. He was 4 times married. His first and third wives were sisters named Loughren [Margery Loughran (1829-1854) and Helen Elizabeth Loughran (1842-1876)]; his second a Bouton [Sarah Ann Bouton (1827-1871) from Roxbury, and his fourth, a Washburn [Keziah Washburn (1834-1905)], of Union Grove. Six children survive him, viz: Mrs. Charles Arbuckle, of Newark, N.J., Mrs. Ella Signor, of Scranton, Chas. A., John B. and Alphonso P. in Bovina, and William in Delhi. The funeral was held Tuesday in the U.P. church, with interment in the Center cemetery.

May 15, 1914
• Frank T. Miller is having a varanda put on his house.
• The first length of the pipe for the Bovina Center Water company was laid Monday.
• Ward Baker, the violinist, and wife will spend the summer at their home here. Prof. Baker has just finished a tour of the United States for the Keith circuit in the east and Orpheum circuit in the west.  He now retires from vaudeville and will go in the concert field. [See the Bovina NY History blog entry for March 26, 2014 for more about Ward Baker.]

May 22, 1914
• Telford & Archibald have installed a Sharpless Milking machine for James E. Hastings.
• Archibald Thompson has purchased a Ford runabout and R.E. Thompson a Ford touring car.
• Charles Tuttle has purchased a new automobile – the Franklin.  Arthur Bergman has a Ford touring car.  Will Thomson, the liveryman, also has a car.
• The deaths of two Bovina residents, both in their 40s was reported in the Recorder. Mrs. Fred Bramley died May 12 at the age of 44. She was Lucy Elizabeth Jackson, the daughter of Charles M. Jackson and Hannah Worden. She married Fred Bramley in 1900. They had five children, four of whom were living at the time of their mother’s death. Walter McCune died three days later on May 15 at the age of 47.

May 29, 1914
• Dr. Scott was taken ill Saturday but is now able to be about again.
• Commodore and Mrs. Elbridge T. Gerry with several servants arrived at their summer home at Lake Delaware on Tuesday.
• The little child of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hewitt was brought here this week from Margaretville for burial in the Center cemetery. [This is Wesley Hewitt, son of John and Laura Hewitt, who died March 22, 1914. His death date on the family stone is incorrect, given as 1913.]
• Robert G. Thomson will move about June 1, from the Gow house to Jas. B. Thomson’s house on Maple avenue.  Mrs. Ella Telford will move into the rooms that he vacates.
• The residents in the lower part of the village, as far as the ditch is dug, are connecting with the main pipe of the new water system.  The workmen of E.J. Turnbull, of Andes, are doing the work.
• William M. Armstrong has received the appointment of patrolman on the Andes-Delhi State road, having the section from T.C. Strangeway’s to Delhi. He succeeds John Quinn who had a temporary appointment. [William was the son of Francis and Jennette (Burns) Armstrong. Born in 1870, he died in 1943.]
• Miss Louise Muller, who for a number of years had been in charge of the dining room of the Hotel Churchill in New York, has given up the position owing to the condition of her health, and arrived home Tuesday. [Louise died in Bovina three years later in 1917. See this blog for January 31, 1913 for more information on the Muller family.]