Here's the compilation of the May 2022 entries from the Town of Bovina Facebook page:
Sixty-seven years ago today, on
May 1, 1955, as later reported in the Stamford Mirror-Recorder, "Mr. and
Mrs. Merle Galusha and sons of Scotia attended church services [in Bovina] and
were dinner guests of his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Craig Banuat.
Other callers at the Banuat home on Sunday were Mr. and Mrs. Walter Spraig and
son, Willard of Andes." Merle would die in the crash of Mohawk Airlines
Flight 450 in 1972.
170 years ago today, on May 2,
1842, the town of Bovina issued several liquor licenses, including this one for
John Seacord and Thomas Secord, "to sell strong and spirituous liquors and
wines to be drunk in his present dwelling house.." The 'dwelling house'
likely was the Secord hotel, which stood across from the end of what is now
Maple Avenue.
140 years ago today, the May 3,
1882 Delaware Gazette carried this notice for an interest meeting for a
railroad that would have come gone through Bovina. Nothing came of this
particular idea - at least as far as Bovina was concerned.
Eighty-eight years ago today, the
May 4, 1934 Delaware Republican carried this Bovina column. I'm not 100% sure where the baseball diamond
mentioned in the column was located but seems very likely it was on the field
next to the Bovina Center school (now the Bovina Public Library).
Fifty-one years ago today, on May
5, 1971, Mary Burns Lounsbury died at the age of 57. Born in Bovina in 1913,
she was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Burns and the sister of Agnes Burns.
She married Harold Lounsbury in 1938. They lived for many years on the Burns
family farm at the end of Crescent Valley Road.
Seventy-two years ago today, the
May 6, 1970 Stamford Mirror Recorder in its Bovina column reported that
"The Bovina Library has moved to the Social House Building this past
weekend and will be open Tuesday and Thursday as before." Took me a bit to
realize that "Social House" should have read "School
House!"
192 years ago today, on May 7,
1832, a Bovina storekeeper created this page in his ledger for various sales to
Bovina citizens. Items included tobacco, hayseed, silk, tea and calico. Morgan
Livingston, who owned a chunk of Bovina as landlord, bought an axe. The 'Dr'
after each name means debtor. Most of the payments are by cash but it looks
like Sopher Peleg was making a payment (the 'Cr' after his name probably means
credit) in butter. We do not know where this store was located because we
cannot determine who kept the ledger - we only know that it was in Bovina. It
possibly was a store kept by James Cowan, which stood where Russell's Store now
stands.
Ellen McBurney was born 196 years
ago today, May 8, 1826, the daughter of Francis McBurney and Margaret Boyd. She
married Andrew Boyd and would have 11 children, most of whom made it to
adulthood. She was widowed in 1879 and died in February 1893. She is buried in
the Bovina Cemetery.
125 years ago today, in its May 9,
1897 edition, it was noted by the Andes Recorder that five brothers were seen
at the same church in Bovina. What made this so remarkable was that the
youngest was over fifty years old. The paper did not note what family this was,
though it could be the Miller family. At this time, the six sons of William
Miller still were alive, all older than 50 and living locally. Here is a
picture of the six brothers. What five attended church we don't know, but
William lived in Walton, Walter in Delhi and Berry Shaw in Andes. Thomas,
Michael and Gilbert all lived in Bovina.
200 years ago today, on May 10,
1822, a survey was made of a road that went from Thomson Hollow Road to
Mountain Brook. Here's the survey document.
Seventy-eight years ago today, the
May 11, 1944 Delaware Republican Express carried this Bovina column.
111 years ago today, on May 12,
1911, the Bovina column of the Andes Recorder reported that "A child was
recently born to Rev. and Mrs. Robb, in China, where he is a missionary. The
mother was formerly Jennie J. Campbell of Bovina."
Fifty-seven years ago today,
Bovina column in the May 13, 1965 Delaware Republican-Express reported that
"The prize fisherman of the season is John Robson who caught a six
pound-12 ounce trout over the week-end."
Sixty-one years ago, on May 14,
1961, as later reported in the Bovina column of the Delaware Republican
Express, "We were all pleased to see Mrs. Lena Lounsbury at Church Sabbath
Day, she has been in Schenectady the past few months helping care for an
invalid."
142 years ago today, the May 15, 1880
issue of the Delaware Republican reported on an article they had published
called "Woman's Work in the Church," by "Mrs. Knox of New York
City. The paper pointed out that the article "will attract especial
attention from the fact that Mrs. Knox was a Delaware county woman, daughter of
Rev. James Douglas, for many years pastor of the Bovina Associate Reformed
Church, (whose doctrines were not in accordance with the views there
announced,)…Mrs. Knox has also taken a very prominent part in works for
temperance reform, and in many other ways practically exemplified the benefits
arising from the course she advocates."
Eighty-two years ago today, the
Bovina column of the May 16, 1940 Delaware Republican reported that “Little
Nancy Brooks spent the week-end with her great-aunt, Mrs. John Hilson and
family.”
135 years ago today, on May 17,
1887, the Stamford Mirror reported in its Bovina column that "John Hilson
is improving his house by removing the old sash from the windows, and replacing
them with a more modern style, each sash containing two large panes of
glass."
142 years ago today, the Bovina
column in the May 18, 1880 Stamford Mirror reported that "A horse
belonging to J.W. Bramley ran away a few days ago, destroying a seed sower which
Mr. Bramley was using."
The Andes Recorder reported 111
years ago today in its May 19, 1911 Bovina column that "There is some talk
of putting in a pond on John Blair's farm on the Oliver brook and stocking it
with trout."
Seventy-three years ago today, on
May 20, 1949, as later reported in the Catskill Mountain News Bovina column,
"The latest to buy a new car is George Storie with a Dodge sedan. Vincent
Rosa is taking over the car recently owned by Storie."
Seventy-four years ago today, on
May 21, 1948, the Bovina column of the Catskill Mountain News reported that
Mrs. Mary Gordon, who received a bad fall down a flight of stairs at her home
last week, is slowly recovering. She is still lame and sore." Mary was the
widow of Thomas Gordon, who died in 1921, and the mother of Delhi social
studies teacher Margaret Gordon.
126 years ago today, May 22, 1896,
the Otsego Farmer (Cooperstown) carried the following item: "An exchange
has it that in the town of Bovina, Delaware county, there are more abandoned
farms than there were in all Delaware County ten years ago. This fact is
interesting for the reason that Bovina has been called the leading dairy town
in the county."
Sixty-four years ago today, the
May 23, 1958 issue of the Catskill Mountain News published an article under the
headline "Bovina WAC Earns Recruiting Citation." The WAC was
"Sgt/1c Helen I. Johnston, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. George Johnston of
Bovina Center." She was enrolled in a "Women's Army Corps enlisted
recruiting course at For Benjamin Harrison, Ind." The paper went on to
report "Sgt Johnston was in competition with 38 of the recruiters
stationed through the United States. She earned the award by achieving an
average of 85 percent for the course." More on Helen may be found in the
Bovina NY History blog at: Bovina
(NY) History: Bovina Ex-Pats: Command Sergeant Major Helen Isabelle Johnston
(bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com)
129 years ago today, the May 24,
1893 Delaware Gazette reported that "Work has commenced for the foundation
for the new school house in Bovina Centre." This is the building that is
now the Bovina Public Library.
Eighty-four years ago today, on
May 25, 1938, as later reported in the Delaware Republican, "Mrs. George
Miller died…at her home [in Bovina]." Born Ida Kinch, she was married to
George Miller and had three children, daughters Maude and Nellie and son Clark.
Clark was killed in World War I. She was survived by her husband and two
daughters. George is the maternal grandfather of Clark Lay.
The Andes Recorder reported 129
years ago today in its May 26, 1893 issue that "Richard Johnson of Bovina
this season made 318 gallons of heavy maple syrup from 700 trees. This is equal
to 2,544 pounds of sugar."
Seventy-two years ago today, the
Bovina column in the May 27, 1949 Catskill Mountain News reported that
"Paul Rosa is moving this week to his new home on Pink street road which
he recently purchased of Gene Vandenbord."
Eighty years ago today, the Bovina
column in the May 28, 1942 Delaware Republican reported that "Guy Hafele
of Coulter Brook is having his house painted. Fred Thomson and Fred Henderson
are doing the job."
Angelica D. Gerry, the daughter of
Elbridge Gerry and Louisa Livingston, was born 151 years ago today on May 29,
1871. She built a summer home at Lake Delaware known as Ancrum. She also was
instrumental in the building of St. James Church.
117 years ago, on May 30, 1905, as
later reported in the Andes Recorder, baseball teams from "Lake Delaware
and the Hook battled for supremacy on diamond Tuesday at the Centre and the
score was 12 to 4 in favor of the former."
127 years ago today, the May 31,
1895 issue of the Andes Recorder in its Bovina column included the following
item: "Sylvester McFarland, who left this town over twenty years ago, and
who had not been heard from since, suddenly made his appearance in town a few
days ago." McFarland was born in Wisconsin in 1843 and died in Somerville,
Massachusetts in 1914. He was a prison officer when in Massachusetts. It is not
clear when he lived in Bovina. His father, James McFarland, was a Bovina
native.
