June 1917 - 100 Years Ago "In That Thriving Town"

With the U.S. Entry into World War I, Bovina started to see military related activity, including an enlistment and a state military census. 

June 1, 1917

·         Mrs. G.D. Miller is under the doctor’s care.

·         Clark Miller went to Newburg Tuesday to enlist. [This is Clark Lay's uncle. Miller went to France where he died in action in April 1918.]

·         Miss Louise Dennis, who has spent the winter with her brother, John P. Dennis in Virginia, has arrived home.

·         The basement of the U.P. church will be fixed over so as to provide Sabbath School class rooms for the junior department.

·         Clark Gray, of Delhi, who has the contract to build the receiving vault at the Bovina Center cemetery, was here Wednesday to stake out the site.  The vault will be located in the embankment and directly facing the entrance.

June 8, 1917

·         James Archibald has leased and moved into the Methodist parsonage.

·         Herbert Olmstead has moved into the John R. Hoy house in the lower part of the village.

·         Robert G. Thomson has leased the residence of his father, Elliott Thomson, for the summer.

·         Sixty-four registered in Bovina on Tuesday under the selective draft law requiring all between 21 and 31 years to register.

·         Thos Tidd, of Shavertown, is repairing lines and putting the phones on the Bovina Center Telephone Co. lines in working order.

·         Mrs. H.A. Ayres fell Monday evening as she was getting out of John McCune’s auto and sustained numerous bruises about the head.

June 15, 1917

·         Dr. Norris B. Whitcomb returned Monday from New York.

·         Mrs. Thomas Gordon has been ill the past week with an ulcerated tooth.

·         Miss Grove, missionary from Egypt, spoke at the U.P. church on Sabbath evening.

·         The State military census of men and women between 16 and 21 is being taken by volunteers at Firemen’s hall.

·         Herman S. Russell and family, of Keldron, South Dakota, are visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Russell, in upper Bovina. [Herman was a brother of Cecil H. Russell.]

·         John McCune went to Binghamton on Saturday, taking Mrs. Raymond McNair to her home there by auto. His mother-in-law, Mrs. E.F. McNair, returned home with him.

Fire Discovered in Time

            The house of William T. Forrest in southern Bovina, caught fire Saturday around the kitchen stove pipe, where it passed thru the roof.  The family were away from home and the hired man had started the fire to get his dinner. He discovered the blaze in time to put it out with practically no damage.

June 22, 1917

·         Miss Freda Muller, who has been ill for several weeks, is improving slowly.

·         An auxillary of the Red Cross has been organized here and has about 75 members.

·         Marshall McNaught has purchased a Saxton roadster which he expects to convert into a truck.

·         For the month of May patrons of the Bovina Center Co-Operative Creamery received 56 cents per pound for butter fat or $2.58 per hundred for 4.6 milk.

·         Mrs. Thos E. Graham and little son who have been with her people at Pittsburg, arrived home Thursday last.  She was accompanied home by her cousin.

·         Frank Gowanlock was taken suddenly ill about 1 o’clock Saturday morning and for a time his condition was considered serious, but his condition is somewhat improved at present. [Frank would live a little over six months after this, dying New Year's Day 1918.]

June 29, 1917

·         Sheriff Austin was in town Tuesday

·         Fred Bramly has traded his Dodge car for a Cadillac.

·         Jenny Heller, the little daughter of Charles Heller got a fish hook in her finger and Dr. Whitcomb had to be called to cut it out.

·         The total registration of the state military census in Bovina was 395 between the ages of 16 and 51, or 105 less than the state authorities said resided in the town between those ages.