This Day in Bovina for July

115 years ago today, on July 1, 1899, Ettie Haynes Archibald, the wife of James W. Archibald, died at the age of 28 years, 2 months and 25 days.

Ninety six years ago today, on July 2, 1918, the Bovina Town Board resolved "to lease a Ford one ton truck of the value of $775 from the dealer … and pay for it at the rate not to exceed $10 a day for every day that it is used…"

Eighty five years ago today, the July 3, 1929 issue of the Delaware Republican in its Bovina column reported that "work at the saw mill will close down for haying." The haying was challenging, however. The same column reported that "A few of the farmers have begun haying but, on account of rain, do not gain much."

141 years ago today, on July 4, 1873, Bovina Celebrated the Fourth with an oration, "an excellent dinner", and an ice-cream and strawberry festival to benefit the Methodist Church. Here's the news clipping from the July 1, 1873 Stamford Mirror announcing the celebration. Thanks to Samantha Misa for discovering this and sending it on to me.

103 years ago today, on July 5, 1911, as later reported in the Andes Recorder, "Daniel Calhoun, in southern Bovina, had three cows killed by lightning…."

100 years ago, July 6, 1914, as recorded in the town board minutes:  "The Supt of Highways was authorized to build and maintain a watering-trough at the spring on Mrs. Jane E. Miller’s lot and pay her two dollars a year for the use of the water. She having agreed to this arrangement." Jane Elliott Miller was the widow of Thomas Miller (1826-1911). She died in 1918. Her house likely is now the home of Wayne Morris and Victoria Scott (42.26°N 74.7762°W)

131 years ago today on July 7, 1883, as later reported in the Stamford Mirror, George Cable won the Bovina glass ball shooting match. "This badge is a gold one of beautiful design, and is contended for at each meeting by members of the club." Glass ball shooting originated in the mid 1860s.

135 years ago today, on July 8, 1879, Jesse Palmer, the son of Charles Palmer and Mary Ann Gladstone, was born. He would be fated to have a short life, dying of diphtheria on August 2, 1884 when he was five years old.

Eighty-seven years ago today, on July 9, 1927, as later reported in the Andes Recorder, "The Ford car of Ralph Hafele and the Overland of Wilford Barnhart collided … at the Dennis corner in Bovina Center." This corner is where Bramley Mountain Road comes out onto County Route 6. The newspaper went on toe reported that "the corner is a dangerous one." Hafele, traveling with his wife and child, were driving down the main street while Barnhart and his family were coming down the steep pitch at the end of Bramley Mountain Road. The paper noted that while both cars were badly damaged, with "the Ford getting the worst of it." There were no injuries other than "slight bruises."

Eighty-nine years ago today, July 10, 1925, as later reported in the Stamford Mirror, "The Whitcomb Circle gave an entertainment entitled "Breezy Point" in the Hillis Hall on Friday night. $44 was taken in." Hillis Hall was known for years as Strangeway's Hall and later was known as Thomas's Garage.

One hundred and fifty six years ago today, on July 11, 1858, Isabella Aitkin Archibald was born, the daughter of George and Jane (Anderson) Archibald. She married Alexander A. Hilson on February 9, 1887 and was the mother of six children, including John Hamilton Hilson, the ancestor of the Hilson family in Bovina. Isabella was widowed in 1923 and died in 1934.

133 years ago, on July 12, 1881, the Delaware County Clerk sent a letter to Bovina's Town Supervisor, David Black, concerning a mistake made in establishing a trial jury list for the town. 1881-07-12 from co clerk

Ninety three years ago today, on the morning of July 13, 1921, as later reported in the Andes Recorder, "Charles A. McPherson was coming to the creamery" when "the hold back strap broke on the Myers pitch and let the wagon onto the horse." He was able to stop the horse near Hilson's store. The paper noted that he did this "without colliding with any of the numerous teams and no damage was done."

The Andes Recorder Bovina correspondent reported 103 years ago today, July 14, 1911, that "the general complaint is that the hay crop is less than last year."

Ninety-six years ago today, July 15, 1918, as later reported in the Andes Recorder, "Herbert White, of Delhi, was here … making repairs to a machine at the Dry Milk plant."

Catherine McNaught McCune died 140 years ago today on July 16, 1874. Born in Scotland in 1796, she married John McCune, who died in 1850. She had ten children, including Sarah Ann (Sally) McCune, who was my great great grandmother. Catherine is buried in the Bovina cemetery (her husband's grave is in South Kortright).

Ninety-nine years ago, on July 17, 1915, Herbert Olmstead, a Bovina farmer, was injured when he was cut by a mower machine. The accident was later reported by the Otsego Farmer (Cooperstown) newspapers: "Herbert Olmstead, a Bovina farmer, was taken to the hospital at Delhi Saturday night by Drs. Scott and Whitcomb of Bovina Center suffering from severe cuts on both lower legs. While mowing with a machine late in the afternoon Mr. Olmstead backed his team to turn a corner, when one of the horses caught a reign under its tail and without thinking of the danger Mr. Olmstead stepped in front of the cutbar to loosen the rein. At that instant the horses started and the sharp knives caught him near the ankles, cutting into the bones of the left foot and making a bad gash in the right foot."

167 years ago today, on July 18, 1847, Robert Scott died at the age of 3. There is a memorial stone to him in the Old Associate Presbyterian Church cemetery that states that he 'Died at Sea.' Little else is known about him. His parents were Robert and J. Ellen Scott, but determining which Robert was his father is proving almost impossible. His death at sea indicates that the family was likely emigrating in 1847.

Sixty three years ago today, on July 19, 1951, as later reported in the Catskill Mountain News, Bovina firemen were hosts to the Tri-County firemans association annual meeting…." The meeting took place at the Fish and Game club on Coulter Brook Road.

The Andes Recorder reported on "Suicide in Brushland" that took place 136 years ago today, July 20, 1878: "A sad case of suicide occurred at Brushland at an early hour on Saturday morning last, the facts as near as we can learn them are as follows:  Mrs. Alex. Kinmouth, a lady aged about seventy years, had been in feeble health for some time, having for a year or so past been a cripple, as the result of a fall by which her hip was broken, also a subsequent fall by which her wrists was broken.  During this period she has been subject to fits of depression of mind, and had given expression to thoughts of a morbid nature.  On the morning mentioned she arose very early, and after ministering to her husband who was also unwell, she left the house.  Being missed soon after search was made and her body was found in the stream near by in water about ten inches deep.  Life was extinct. An inquest was held the same day, and the funeral took place on the Sabbath." Mrs. Kinmouth was Janet Reed, who was born in 1803. Her tombstone gives a death date of July 3, conflicting with the newspaper report. Her husband survived her by 4 years, dying in 1882.

Forty seven years ago today, July 21, 1967, a cloud burst caused considerable damage to the roads on Bramley Mountain. As later reported in the Walton Reporter, "Clark Lay, Bovina highway superintendent and his men, had a big job of replacing water courses along the road and restoring driveways, but early this week he was pretty much on top of the job with a big assist from county highway workers who turned out to help him Monday."

134 years ago today, on July 22, 1880, the Stamford Mirror reported the following in its Bovina column: "A young man, known among his intimate friends by the name of 'Beecher,' proposed to go to 'Bragg Hollow' a few evenings ago, but was seriously annoyed by some wicked fellows who hid his sulky, and also threw a pail of water upon him, wetting his good clothes." Bragg Hollow is now known as Crescent Valley Road. A sulky two wheeled cart.

Seventy five years ago today, on July 23, 1939, as later reported bya the Delaware Republican, "Craig Banuat and sister, Miss Mary and Mrs. W.J. Storie and daughter, Rae, left….on a motor trip to California. They expected to spend Monday night with Mr. and Mrs. Milton Hoy in Oil City, PA.

100 years ago today, on July 24, 1914, Jane Maynard died. Born in 1849, she was the daughter of Hector and Esther Cowan. She married Archibald Maynard in 1875. She would have four children, but only one, her son William H. Maynard, would survive to adulthood. Jane was widowed in 1900.

Seventy three years ago today, July 25, 1941, Mrs. Martha Russell died. Here is her obituary, as published in the August 5, 1941 issue of the Delaware Republican.  1943-08-05 Del Rep Martha Russell obit

Eighty five years ago today, the Delaware Express for July 26, 1929 reported that "Andrew Franklin of Delhi has been in charge of the Bovina Center creamery while Frank Miller has been doing his haying."

120 years ago today, the July 27, 1894 Andes Recorder noted in its Bovina column that "If the pathmaster of the road from the village to the turnpike would cause the stones to be thrown out, he would receive the thanks of the public."

103 years ago today, July 28, 1911, the Bovina correspondent of the Andes Recorder, reported that "G.D. Miller is exhibiting a ripe tomato, picked in his garden, that weights 1 1/2 pounds."

127 years ago today, on July 29, 1887, Charles Loughran Dickson, better known as Loughran Dickson, was born, the son of Dr. Gilbert Dickson and Jane Loughran Dickson. He was 25 when his father died in 1912. Loughran was appointed the postmaster for Bovina Center in 1915. He continued to be the postmaster even after he left Bovina to go to Yale Law School. He was living in Binghamton working as an attorney when he died suddenly in October 1927. His mother was appointed as acting postmaster the day after his death. Loughran is buried in the Bovina Cemetery.

Sixty years ago, on July 30, 1954, as later reported in the Catskill Mountain News, "The Ladies Auxiliary of the Bovina Fire department, who marched for the first time wearing their new uniforms at the Old Home day in Unadilla July 30, were honored by receiving first prize in appearance."

Wilson B. Russell was born 158 years ago today, July 31, 1857, the son of James Gilmore Russell and Eleanor Hamilton.  He would only live about two and a half years, dying in April 1859.  He is buried in the Reformed Presbyterian Cemetery in the Mountain Brook area.

Centennial of the St. James' Episcopal Church

On July 26, 2014, St. James' Church at Lake Delaware will be observing its 100th anniversary. The establishment of the church was spearheaded by the Gerry Family at Lake Delaware. A story is told that the reason the church was established was due to the tardiness of the Gerry children in getting ready to go to church in Delhi. Commodore Gerry, frustrated by the challenge of getting his children out the door, is supposed to have said once at the foot of Lake Road "I wish there was a Church here, then perhaps you children could get to Sunday School on time."

Years later, during the summer of 1913, Miss Mabel Gerry began a series of missionary meetings in "The Hook." They were held in the homes of Earl and Amy Fisk and of Roscoe Brown. In the spring of 1914, a small house in "The Hook" was leased and converted for use as a house of worship. The first service was held in the chapel on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1914 by the Rev. William A. Long.

In the early 1920s, Miss Angelica Gerry secured the services of the Boston church architect, Ralph Adams Cram, to design a new church and rectory for the congregation. Work was begun in the Spring of 1922, with the cornerstone laid on Saint James' Day, July 25th, 1922. St. James’ Church is constructed of brown shale taken from the area’s stone walls, along with Indiana limestone and slate for the roof.  The spire was added at the request of Miss Gerry.

A year and a half after the laying of the cornerstone, on Christmas Day, 1923, the first service was held in the new Church building by the Rev. Octavius Edgelow. Two years after the laying of the cornerstone, the church was consecrated on Saint James' Day, 1924. Miss Angelica Gerry took an active part in the life of the congregation until her death in 1960.

Here are a series of pictures of from the cornerstone ceremony, courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association.

Note the original chapel established 100 years ago. The building no longer exists.

Procession to the old church on Route 28.

Another view of the procession to the site of the old church.

Cornerstone ceremony.

NOTE: The procession photos are showing them processing to the old church, not the new one. So it is likely that these are in the wrong order, but I will check to be sure. I'm sorry for this error. I assumed they went from the old chapel to the corner stone ceremony, but it appears they went to the new church site first and then to the old chapel. Thanks to Ed Davidson for catching this mistake.

Stories from Bovina's Cemeteries - The Stott Family

Walter Stott was the son of Walter Stott and Jennet Ormiston, born in Scotland in 1800. His future wife Mary Neish was the daughter of Alexander Neish and Jennette Drummond, also a native of Scotland, born in 1821. They were married in 1841 and would have nine children but most of these did not make it to adulthood. When Walter died, two children survived, and by the time of his widow’s death at the age of 90, only one child survived her.

The first Robert, died 1846

Alexander died in 1847

The Stotts lost two children in the 1840s. Robert died in 1846 just after turning a year old. His brother Alexander died a year later when he was 27 months old. Walter and Mary would lose five more children during the 1860s. They lost three children in a week in 1861. Their second son named Robert died on March 30, 1861 when he was 10. Brothers James and Samuel died within the week, James being three and Samuel just past one. These deaths took place just as the United States Civil War started (see this blog for April 12, 2011 for more information about this time in Bovina).

The second Robert died March 30, 1861

James died April 2, 1861

Samuel died April 5, 1861

At the start of the war, the Walter and Mary still had their eldest son, William Henry, as well as sons Walter and John. Their last child and only daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1863. In August 1861, William would enlist in Company F of the 3rd NY Cavalry. On May 14, 1864, during the battle of Chala Bridge, William was killed in action and his body was never recovered. The grieving parents erected this monument to their son in the Bovina Cemetery.

Memorial stone for William H. Stott, who was killed in action in the Civil War in 1864

Less than two years later, Walter and Mary faced yet another sorrow in the loss of their 11 year old son, John in 1866.

Amazingly, given the string of sorrows that Walter and Mary suffered, they both lived into old age. They had moved to Hamden by 1870. Walter was 72 at his death in 1872, survived by his son Walter and daughter Elizabeth. Mary survived her husband by almost 40 years, dying in 1911 at the age of 90. Poor Mary also would outlive her daughter. Elizabeth was married in 1891 to William McPherson but died 9 years later in 1900, after having three children. Mary was survived only by her son Walter, who was living in Kansas, and three grandchildren.

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An interesting footnote to this story about the Stott family concerns the last surviving child. Walter Elliott Stott was living in Hamden when his father died. About a year after his father’s death he was appointed the Delancey postmaster. In April 1874, he renounced his appointment as executor of his father’s will and at around the same time had resigned as Delancey postmaster. The cause of these resignations was his arrest in late March for using forged notes to buy out his partner. When his case opened in June 1874 he pled not guilty but about ten days later, he changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to two years hard labor at Auburn prison. He was back in the Delhi jail before the end of his sentence in February 1876 to answer another forgery charge, but he never went to trial. In early morning hours of April 3 he escaped from the jail, with the help of someone who got into the jail and opened the cell where Stott and another prisoner, Coonrad Marble were housed. Whether that person was trying to release Stott or Marble or both has not been determined. Marble was recaptured in May, but Stott disappeared.

When Mary Stott’s will was probated after her 1911 death, we find that Walter is still alive, listed in her estate file. He is no longer in New York, however, and has changed his name. Walter is listed in his mother’s probate record as her son, Walter Elliott, living in Belleville, Kansas. A search of various census records does turn up a Walter Elliott living in Kansas, starting with the 1880 census. The information provided in the census about him closely matches the Walter Stott who escaped from the Delhi jail, including his age and the fact that his parents were Scottish born and he was born in New York. The 1910 Federal census provides the most solid clue because a Walter Elliott shows up in the census in Belleville, Kansas. This Walter very likely is the one listed in Mary Stott’s will as her son and is the Walter Stott who left the area in 1876.

Walter did some moving around during his time west, starting Logan County, Kansas. Around 1885, he married a woman from Missouri named Malvina. They had three children, two daughters and a son, all born in Kansas. It appears the son died young. In 1892, Walter was appointed the postmaster of Oakley, Logan County, Kansas. It is not clear how long he held the appointment – the record is hard to read – but it appears it was not much more than a year. In 1900, Walter and Malvina are living in Phelps County, Missouri, where Walter is a farmer and Malvina a teacher, but by 1910, as noted before, they are back in Kansas in Belleville in Republic County. Walter’s occupation that year is listed as agent for sewing machines. The couple shows up in Concordia in Cloud County, Kansas (which borders south of Republic County) in 1920, the last time Walter shows up on the census. He has no occupation but his wife, who was 59, is listed as a milliner. When Walter or Malvina died I have yet to find out.

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

From the Andes Recorder

Rev. J. B. Lee died on July 8, after an illness of a few months. The funeral was largely attended and the status of Lee’s widow was reported by the Bovina correspondent in the weeks that followed. It was a month of accidents – Mrs. Doig was in a buggy accident and Andrew Coulter’s car went over a bank in Bovina Center.

The Andes Recorder also reported on an assassination in Europe that led to the start of World War I.


July 3, 1914
• The old hotel building at Lake Delaware is being re-painted
• A child of George Foreman is recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia.
• Mrs. Mary Phinney, widow of Dr. Phinney a former physician here, is a visitor in town.
• The condition of Mrs. Jas Monroe, who recently had a shock, is considerably improved. [Margaret Storie Coulter Monroe did not recover and died on July 28, aged only 47. She was the grandmother of Frances Burns and Lauren Monroe.]
• The Methodist congregation has graded along the front of the church and parsonage and laid a sidewalk.
• Alex Hilson and John Hilson were at Delhi on Tuesday attending the meeting of the feed dealers association.
• Mr. and Mrs. Fred Thomson, Mrs. Estella Oliver and Mrs. Harry Martin attended the Dumond reunion held at Walton last Friday.
• Professor Leon Taggart, of Potsdam Normal, and family are spending the summer with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thos C. Strangeway.
• The Reformed Presbyterian congregation has extended a call to Rev. Graham. The call was moderated by Rev. Sampson, of New York.

Gerry Camp For Boys Opened - Eighty-two Boys Arrived Wednesday at Camp Maintained by R.L. Gerry
The Boys Camp maintained by Robert L. Gerry on the Wight farm in southern Bovina, opened Wednesday and will remain open for two months.
Wednesday evening 82 boys arrived at Andes and were conveyed to the Camp. They will remain for two weeks and then a new group will take their place. Any whose health may require it will remain more than the two weeks.
The Camp Officers are: Governor James L. Whitcomb; Captains Donald H. Morse, Gregory Prout and Linn Bruce, jr.  The chaplain is the Rev. Phoenix.

Heir to Throne Assassinated
The heir to the Austro Hungarian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdnand and his morganatic wife, the Duchess Hohenberg, were shot to death Sunday while driving through the streets of Sarayevo, the Bosnia capital.  A youthful student fired the shot that ended their lives, and added another to the long list of terrible tragedies that have darkened the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph.

July 10, 1914
• During June there was not birth, marriage or death in the town of Bovina.
• Brundage Erkson, who is unable to work, recently applied for admission to the County Alms House and is now at that place.

July 17, 1914
• County Superintendent of the Poor, Jas F. Foreman, was here Wednesday.
• Professor and Mrs. Archie Coulter, of Belleville, N.Y., are guests of his mother in town.
• Mrs. Thomas Scott, of Staten Island is visiting her brother, Thos Ormiston, and other relatives in town.
• Brundage Erkson, who has been at the County Farm for a few weeks, returned to Bovina on Tuesday.
• Mrs. Mary Phinney has sold her house and lot in Bovina Center to Dixon Thomson, a farmer residing up Pink street. (This property is the Virga home next to the Brushland Eating House - 1915 County Highway 6 - 42.2623°N 74.7842°W)
• Mrs. William Rogers and daughter, Mrs. John L. Gordon and two sons, of New York, are at their summer home at Lake Delaware.
• It is stated that the widow of the late Dr. Lee will return to her old home in Scotland as soon as she can settle up business affairs here.
• Miss Jennie Hoy, who for several months has been keeping house for her brother, Milton Hoy, at Oil City, Penn, is here on a visit.  Two nephews, John R. and Nevin Hoy came with her.
• Rev. Joseph Dysart, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, preached in the United Presbyterian church on Sabbath.  Rev. Dysart is a native of Bovina and made the trip of one thousand miles to be present at the funeral of Dr. Lee. He is stopping with William T. .Russell, who resides on the old Dysart farm.

July 24, 1914
• Milton Liddle and Sloan Archibald are under the doctor’s care.
• Mrs. Edna Henderson, daughter of D.C. Worden, has gone to Colorado.
• Center creamery 34 cents/pound butterfat.  Uptown 35 cents
• Robert Gray, of Delhi, who has the contract to construct the reservoir on Coulter Brook for the Bovina Center Water Works, commenced work on Tuesday, with a force of about a dozen men.

Bovina Woman Breaks Both Legs - Mrs. Robert Doig at Tunis Lake Meets With Bad Accident Thursday
Mrs. Robert Doig is confined to her home on the shore of Tunis Lake, in the town of Bovina with both legs broken below the knee.
Last Thursday afternoon Mrs. Doig with two small daughters and son Wilber, a lad of 12, started to come to Andes village. One horse was attached to a two-seated buckboard and Wilber was driving.  When about 30 rods from the house Mrs. Doig asked the boy to give her the umbrella which was in the front seat as he did so the top end of the handle hit against the spokes of the wheel making a clicking noise and this caused the horse to jump. Mrs. Doig was frightened and without waiting to see whether or not the horse was going to run, she jumped.  Just how it happened is now known, but when she was picked up it was found that both legs were broken.
Dr. Whitcomb of Bovina, and Dr. Ormiston, of Delhi, were called, and Dr. Mendal also accompanied the later.  It was found that one leg had both bones broken below the knee, and in the other the large bone was broken just above the ankle.  Miss Beatrice Forbes is the nurse in charge.

July 31, 1914
• There are a few cases of measles in town.
• The work of putting in the concrete for the reservoir for the water works was commenced Tuesday.
• The young team of Mable and Gill, the Andes meat men, took a lively run about William Crosier’s flat at the rear of the hotel, on a recent trip here.
• William H. Maynard, County Clerk, has purchased six thoroughbred Holstein calves, of E.E. Risley, of Walton, and put them on his farm in upper Bovina.  The price paid was about $1,000.
• Mrs. J.B. Lee held a sale of her household goods Thursday. Saturday she will accompany Mrs. Jennie Lee Thompson to her home in Yonkers and sometime in August will sail for her old home in Scotland. [Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell Lee was the widow of Rev. J. B. Lee, who had passed away earlier in the month. She was Lee’s second wife – they had met in Scotland when Lee was vacationing there. Elizabeth passed away in Comrie, Scotland in March 1921.]

Auto Over The Bank in Bovina - Car of Andrew Coulter Takes Plunge on Sabbath and Turns Turtle
Sabbath afternoon the automobile of Andrew Coulter swept over the steep bank near the residence of Alex Myers* in Bovina Center and Mr. Coulter was caught beneath the car.
The car which was driven by Mr. Coulter, and with Tony Gabriel was a passenger, came down the street at a good clip and when at the top of the pitch opposite Lancelot Thom’s at the Chas F. Smith place, the car turned to the left and when it struck the shoulder at the die of the road the rear end went up in the air and remained upright for an instant with wheels spinning and then went over down the bank and turned over again and turned end for end and was stopped in its mad flight by landing right side up against a tree.
As the car left the road Mr. Gabriel jumped and landed on his feet, but was hurled in a complete summersault and again landed on his feet and was only prevented making another by grabbing a small tree or he would have landed at the bottom of the embankment. He escaped with bruises and cuts about the knees. Mr. Coulter was thrown from the car when it made the plunge and when the car landed he was beneath it.  That he escaped serious injury is due to the fact that he landed between the wheels.  He is able to be around but is very sore.

*42.2619°N 74.7875°W

The Succession of Physicians - Bovina Doctors – Part II

Before looking at Bovina physicians in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries, there is the story of the Drs. McCune, a married couple who offered the "Fish Lake Water Cure" in the early 1860s. Dr. William S. McCune would not have a long career, dying at the age of 36. Born in Bovina in 1829, he was the son of James McCune and Phoebe Ann Nichols. He was married to Olive Frisbee, the daughter of Daniel Frisbee and Elizabeth Lee. Olive has the distinction of being one of the first female doctors in the area. In the late 1850s, William and Olive were living in what is now the Lake Delaware area of Bovina and advertising their water cure. Water cures or hydrotherapy was popular in the 18th and 19th century, with its origins in Europe. (For more information, here's the wikipedia article on water cures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cure_(therapy))

From July 1863 ‘The Herald of Health’

Dr. William McCune died in East Delhi in 1865 of small pox. Dr. Olive McCune continued in the medical profession, living at one point in the 1880s in Brooklyn with her daughter and son. She died in Binghamton in 1907 at the age of 78.

It is not clear whether either Drs. McCune provided regular medical services in Bovina. When Dr. Calhoun, who had been a doctor in Bovina for over 20 years, left in 1864 to become Delaware County Sheriff, one doctor who came in to fill the void was Charles Frisbee. Munsell's History of Delaware County noted that he “was a prominent doctor here quite recently, and occupied the present Methodist Episcopal parsonage.” Frisbee was born in Meredith in 1838. He was an assistant surgeon during the Civil War. When he left service at the war’s end, he came to Bovina and was a physician there from 1865 to 1871, when he moved to Bainbridge. Dr. Frisbee gave up the practice of medicine, instead engaging in running a drug store in Bainbridge until 1901 when he retired. He was 88 at his death in 1926 in Binghamton.

Dr. William Telford practiced in Bovina from around 1871 to his death in 1884, the son of the Dr. John Telford mentioned in the previous blog entry on Bovina physicians. He studied with his father, then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the City of New York, graduating in 1871. William married Agnes Hastings in 1880 and died four years later from blood poisoning, caused by being bitten by a hog. He left his widow and three children as survivors. His son died a year later in the town’s diphtheria epidemic. His daughter Wilma, born after his death, died of TB in 1892. Agnes survived her husband by 61 years, dying in 1945.

Gilbert Dickson was a Bovina native, the son of Michael Dickson. Born in 1854, he attended the Albany Medical College of Union University, graduating in 1879. While serving as a physician, he built the building that is now Brushland Eating House in 1880, running a store and a pharmacy. He and his brother James also had a drug store in Oneonta under the name of Dickson Brothers. Dickson died suddenly of a stroke in January 1912, while tending to chores in his barn. He was survived by his wife, the former Jane Laughren and their five children. Jane and the children continued to run the store and at one point the post office in the building he built in the 1880s.

Active around the same time as Dr. Dickson was Leman Phinney. Phinney came from Greene County, NY specifically to succeed Dr. Telford. He graduated in 1879 from the New York Medical University. Like at least two of his predecessors, his practice was cut short by his early death at the age of 51 in 1901. He left a widow and two children. His mother died on the same day as he did. Dr. Phinney is buried in the Bovina Cemetery. His widow died in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1927. She is buried with her husband in Bovina.