This Day in Bovina for April 2019

These are the daily Facebook entries for April.

111 years ago today, on April 1, 1908, William Telford died.  The Andes Recorder provided the details: "William Telford, who lived on the Alex Johnson farm in upper Bovina, died suddenly Wednesday morning, April 1.  He was in the barn milking and had milked two cows when his wife noticed that he was very pale.  He sat down on his milking stool in the driveway and in a few minutes fell on his face on the floor and expired instantly.  He had been suffering with neuralgia and it is supposed that it went to the heart. Mr. Telford, who was a son of Rev. Walter Telford, was 48 years old and most of his life has been spent in Bovina.  He is survived by his wife who was Miss Ella Winter, of New Kingston.”  Ella survived her husband by 35 years, dying in 1943.

113 years ago today, on April 2, 1906, Thomas Gordon and his wife and son William went to New York city by train, “taking advantage of the Ontario & Western excursion.”  They went to visit his son, John L. Gordon, who is on the police force. More on John Gordon and his tragic end can be found on the Bovina NY History Blog at https://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/stories-from-bovina-cemeteries.html

Seventy years ago today, on April 3, 1949, a small plane crashed in Bovina. A Beechcraft plane piloted by George P. Kingsley landed on Frank McPherson's flat at the lower end of Bovina Center. There was little damage to the airplane and none to the pilot, nor the dog that was traveling with him. The Catskill Mountain News reported the crash: 

126 years ago, the April 4, 1893 Stamford Mirror reported the following: "At a meeting of the village school district, Bovina Centre, it was voted to purchase, at a cost of $300, a site on the Hasting's farm, recently purchased by Wm. Hoy, upon which to erect a new district school house. A new street will be laid out. A one-story building with two departments, to be built after one of the most approved modern plans, to cost $1,500, will be erected as soon as possible." Construction took place later that year. The building still stands today and is the Bovina Public Library.

The Andes Recorder reported that 118 years ago on April 5, 1901, “Mrs. G.J. Dickson went to New York City…to buy her stock of millinery goods.”

Two-hundred years ago today, on April 6, 1819, a vote was taken in Stamford for annexing a part of the town, with a part of Delhi and Middletown, for the purpose of forming a new Town. Seventy-one voted in favor, sixty-four against. The town which was created the following February was Bovina.

139 years ago today, on April 7, 1880, Nancy Bailey Hoy died. Born in Ireland in 1795, she was the daughter of Alexander Bailey and Nancy Forsythe. She married Robert J. Hoy Sr and would have five children before she was widowed in 1865.

Ninety-four years ago today, the April 8, 1925 Stamford Mirror-Recorder reported that “George Decker commenced work on the state road as patrolman, from Chas. McPherson's to Margaretville. His assistants are John Aitken and George Shaver.”

Fifty-four years ago today, as later reported in the Delaware Republican Express, "The Space Age Jets held a 4-H meeting at the Bovina Center Community Hall on April 9, 1965. At the meeting, under new business, each person is going to sell light bulbs. Each bag costs $100. J. Howard, our 4-H leader, showed us how to make a net to catch insects for our club project. After the meeting Andy Hewitt served refreshments.

123 years ago today, the Bovina correspondent for the Andes Recorder in its April 10, 1896, reported that "They are just whooping it up at Lake Delaware.  Nearly all the students who attended school there have the whooping cough."

137 years ago today, the April 11, 1882 issue of the Stamford Mirror reported in its Bovina column that "It is expected that a telegraph line to Brushland will be built within three weeks."

100 years ago today, on April 12, 1919, Helen Anderson Hastings died in Saranac Lake. The Delaware Republican reported that she had been in the Adirondacks eight or nine years "battling…to overcome the inroads of consumption."  She was the daughter of Andrew and Margaret Anderson and was 49 years old at her death. She, her husband Elmer and her daughters Lulu Jean and Pauline moved together from Bovina to Saranac for her health. The paper reported that "the change evidently prolonged her life, but the end came all too soon for those who loved her, and the number was legion."  She was buried in Bovina. Her husband survived her by over 20 years, dying in 1945.

102 years ago today, the April 13, 1917 issue of the Andes Recorder in its Bovina column reported that "Frank Miller has sold his farm on the hill above the old cemetery to a Norwegian named Jenson.  He retains 40 acres below the road. The farm was formerly the Andrew Thomson place and by him was called 'paradise.'" This is the old Reinertsen farm at the end of Reinertsen Hill road.  It appears that this news item is reporting the purchase by Andrew Reinertsen and while they got the nationality right, they got the name wrong.

Ninety-seven years ago today, the Delaware Express for April 14, 1922 reported on the death of Clarence Lee of Lake Delaware. Lee had served in World War One. He was gassed in the war and never totally recovered from this, dying at a tuberculosis sanitarium. Here's the full article from the newspaper. 

129 years ago, the April 15, 1890 issue of the Stamford Mirror reported in its Bovina column that Robert F. Thomson lost quite a valuable horse a few days ago. Rob F. seems to be very unfortunate this spring, as he lost a good cow a few weeks ago."

Seventy years ago, on the evening of April 16, 1949, as later reported in the Bovina Center column of the Catskill Mountain News, "Lillian Happy was taken by ambulance to the Delhi hospital…suffering from double pneumonia." The paper went on to note that "She responded to the wonder drug penicillin and is well on the way to recovery. This seems a miracle in her advanced years." Lillie was just shy of 86 when she became ill. She apparently recovered, but about a year later became ill again and spent the last four months of her life at the Delaware County sanatorium, where she died in October 1951. She was the daughter of William and Nancy Dumond Happy and for many years was a servant for the Hastings family.

123 years ago today, April 17, 1896, as later reported in the Andes Recorder, "The thermometer registered over eighty in the shade…  How is that for April weather."

137 years ago today, the April 18, 1882 issue of the Stamford Mirror reported that "Jehiel Dibble, at the 'Hook' sent us last Saturday a pullet's egg that measured 7 x 8 1/2 inches, the weight of which was nearly 4 1/2 ounces."

Seventy-nine years ago today, on April 19, 1940, as later reported in the Delaware Republican, "Postmaster and Mrs. Thompson and Mr. and Mrs. David Draffin attended the show "Gone With the Wind" in Delhi.

Thirty-five years ago today, on April 20, 1984, James Archibald Hilson died at the age of 89. He was the son of Alexander Hilson and Isabella Archibald. Jim was one of the six children born to Alex and Isabella. Only three of those children survived to adulthood - John (1888-1956), Jane (1891-1967) and Jim. "Uncle Jim" was the last of their family to pass away. He was the uncle of Alex, Louise (Mole), Jack and Jane (Hoy) Hilson, the children of his brother John.

108 years ago today, the April 21, 1911 Andes Recorder's Bovina column reported that "for some time the machinery at the Dry Milk plant has been causing considerable trouble, and a machinist is now here from Philadelphia to put it in working order."

Seventy-six years ago today, the April 22, 1943 Bovina Column in the Delaware Republican Express reported that "Rev. and Mrs. Charles A. Lay have received word from their son, Pvt. Clark G. Lay, that he has completed his basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was transferred to a northern camp on April 10th. He has been assigned to the Coast Artillery and after a four week's study of Anti-aircraft guns will be stationed at Hartford, Conn.

Seventy-nine years ago today, on April 23, 1940, Elizabeth Fowler McNair died in Binghamton. The Catskill Mountain News reported that "she was 86 years of age, the widow of the late Peter McNair." The paper went on to note that "she has many friends here who extend to the family their sympathy to the loss of a good mother and friend."

170 years ago today, on April 24, 1849, Leman Phinney was born in Greene County, NY. He married Mary Archibald in 1881 in New Kingston and came to Bovina shortly after to become Bovina's resident physician, a position he held until his death from pneumonia in 1901 at the age of 51. More information on Dr. Phinney can be found on the Bovina NY History Blog at http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-succession-of-physicians-bovina.html

144 years ago today, on April 25, 1875, Lester T. Hoy was born. The son of Thomas Hoy and Julia Tuttle Hoy, he would die in 1897 at the age of 22. When his brother William's wife had her third child, a son, in 1899, he would be named for his deceased uncle. This Lester lived in Bovina in what is now Tim and Tamara McIntosh's home. He died in 1978.

This is the 'first' Lester Hoy who died in 1897.

Fifty-six years ago today, on April 26, 1963, Robert Russell Boggs 3rd was born in Georgia. When later reported in the Delaware Republic Express, the paper noted that his father "Robert is a former Bovina boy and has just been away from Bovina about two years."

139 years ago today, the April 27, 1880 issue of the Stamford Mirror reported in its Bovina column that "Thomas McNee has returned from Andes and started a cooper shop in the building owned by Rev. J. Kennedy. There are four cooper shops in Brushland giving employment to eight workmen."

108 years ago today, the April 28, 1911 Andes Recorder Bovina column reported that "The surveyors are at work making the survey for a State road from the Turnpike up to and thru the Center. The preliminary survey was made in 1909, and the present survey is for the setting of grade stakes and defining of limits of highway so that the contractors may submit bids."

121 years ago today, April 29, 1898, readers of the Bovina column of the Andes Recorder learned that "The United Presbyterian church is to be recarpeted. It takes 260 yards." The same column also reported that "Several of our farmers have their oats sown and a few have some potatoes in."

Sixty-four years ago today, on April 30, 1955, the Bovina Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary held a bake sale and skating party. The Catskill Mountain News reported that thirty-five dollars was realized from the sale. The money was given to the Red Cross blood bank at Delhi.