Here's what life was like in Bovina 100 years ago this month – October 1924
October 3, 1924
• Adam Cunningham spent the weekend with his family at Treadwell.
• Calvin Russell and sister, of Syracuse, are visiting their mother here.
• Miss Kate and Freda Muller spent over the week-end visiting at Bainbridge.
• Mr. and Mrs. G.D. Miller attended the funeral of her brother, A.S. Banker, at Andes on Monday.
• Mrs. and Mrs. John Blair are visiting their daughter, Mrs. Marshall Thomson, on Long Island.
• Mrs. Arthur D. Hoy will hold a sale next week and will move to William Hoy’s tenant house in Bovina Center.
• Edward Gladstone, who recently sold his farm in Gladstone Hollow, has moved into G.D. Miller’s house.
• Mr. and Mrs. George H. Miller have gone to Washington D.C. to be present at the unveiling of a monument to world war veterans.
• Mr. and Mrs. G.D. Miller, who are past the four score mark, will spend the winter with their sister-in-law, Mrs. A.S. Banker, at Andes. [Mrs. Miller, the former Mary Jane Banker, would die at here sister-in-law’s in early December.]
• Bovina was visited by a flood Tuesday and much damage was done to roads. The tenant house of W.A. Hoy was surrounded by water and Mrs. Hitchcock had to be carried out. The water pipe of Will Burns, below the village, crosses the stream about 10 feet above the bed and this was damaged.
October 10, 1924
• Misses Kate and Freda Muller spent Saturday at Walton.
• Gerdon [sic] Coulter and family, of Delhi, were callers in town on Sabbath.
• Miss Calla Boggs has been at Walton visiting her sister, Mrs. Robert Forman.
• Mrs. Ray Thomson, of upper Bovina, had her tonsils removed recently at the Fox hospital in Oneonta.
• Miss Edna Russell, daughter of W.T. Russell, recently underwent an operation at Oneonta for the removal of tonsils.
• Mr. and Mrs. William T. Russell, Mrs. Jas W. Thomson and Mrs. Fred Thomson were Oneonta visitors last Saturday.
• Mrs. Thomas Ormiston has been on the sick list the past week. It was feared that she might have to submit to an operation. [This likely is the former Margaret E. Boggs. She would survive this crisis and live for almost 42 more years, dying in July 1966 three months shy of 100.]
• A number of our young people attended a birthday party at Watagua Falls for Miss Helen Gladstone on Tuesday evening.
• Mrs. Peter McNair, who has been here for some time, returned to Binghamton on Saturday. Her daughter, Mrs. John McCune, accompanied her and remained over Sabbath.
• Mrs. and Mrs. Burnett, of Syracuse, and Mrs. Walter McDivitt, South Kortright, were visitors here on Sabbath. Mrs. Burnett will be remembered as Bell Thomson.
• Miss Susan Campbell, who has been spending the summer in Andes, has been with Bovina relatives the past week. She expects to return to California the last of the month. [Miss Campbell was the daughter of Alexander Campbell and Agnes Miller. She would die in California in 1942 at the age of 77.]
October 17, 1924
• Mrs. John Burns, in upper Bovina, is on the sick list.
• Miss Mary Kelley, of Delhi, was a visitor here Saturday.
• F.W. Hyatt went to New York City on Thursday for a visit.
• Mrs. Otis Todd has been visiting her daughter at Roxbury.
• The Doig reunion was held at the home of Howard McPherson last Saturday.
• Mrs. Fred Thomson spent a few days last week with Miss Mary Thomson at South Kortright.
• DeWight Hitchcock, who has been occupying Will Hoy’s tenant house, moved to South Kortright this week.
• Bovina real estate transfers recorded are Bovian Cemetery Association to Robert A. Thomson and another $35.
• Mr. and Mrs. G.D. Miller went to Andes on Thursday and will spend some time with their sister-in-law, Mrs. A.S. Banker.
• William Burns, who owns what is known as the David Miller place below the village, is having the main part of the house raised up and made two story.
• Rev. T.N. McQuoid, of Schenectady, is preaching at the United Presbyterian church each evening this week. Communion services will be held on Sabbath.
• Otis Todd, who has been employed by Mr. Berger on the Armstrong farm for the past fifteen months, has completed his work. Edward York has taken his place.
• Sheffield Smith applied the brakes on his car too suddenly Tuesday while coming up the road above Will Storie’s and the car was thrown into the fence. The car was somewhat damaged.
Chevrolet and Cow Collide – From Our Bovina Correspondent
Clarence LaFevre [sic] at South Kortright on Sabbath with his car collided with a cow belonging to Will Nesbitt. The cow was little injured, but the Chevrolet had to be towed home.
October 24, 1924
• There was a snow squall Tuesday afternoon.
• Mr. and Mrs. Everett Joslin spent the past week with their daughter, Mrs. Charles Hyatt, in New York.
• Ralph Hillis, George Storie and Benson LaFevre [sic] have returned from the North Woods, but failed to get a deer.
• The burning out of the chimney on George Russell’s house Monday created a little excitement, but aside from blackened paper no damage was done.
• Communion services were held at the United Presbyterian church last Sabbath, bringing to a close the series of meetings. There was an accession of ten to the membership, nine by profession and one by certificate.
• Herman Weiss, aged 78 years, died at his home up Coulter Brook on October 20. He was a native of Germany and about three years ago came to Bovina and purchased a farm from Walter McDivitt – the Robert Biggar place. The burial was in Bovina Center cemetery.
• William McCune, who is employed by Fred Bramley, was stricken Friday morning while milking, with what is believed to have been a shock. He had just gotten up from a cow when [he] fell over unconscious. He was carried to the house and a physician summoned. He remained unconscious for several hours.
• George Burgin, the five month’s old son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Burgin, died in the hospital in New York on Friday, October 17, following an operation for the removal of a tumor at the outlet of the stomach. The funeral was held on Monday with Rev. Edgelow officiating. Burial was in Bovina Center cemetery.
Midnight Fire in Bovina
Large Barn on Former Ed Scott Farm Destroyed Thursday Night
The large barn on the former Edwin Scott farm near the Butt End in the Town of Bovina was destroyed by a fire about midnight last Thursday night.
The farm is now owned and occupied by Eugene Chase and the family knew nothing of the fire until aroused by the insistent ringing of the telephone. At about the same time J.H. Johnson’s saw the reflection on the sky and gave the alarm in that section. When first discovered the entire roof was in flames and when Mr. Chase got to the barn he could not save even the team of horses and two cows that were in the barn. The only thing that the large crowd that soon gathered could do was to see that the house close by did not get on fire.
The cause of the fire is a mystery. Fortunately, his dairy of cows were in the pasture. The two burned would not stay out of his cauliflower patch.
The loss is a heavy one. It is stated that there was an insurance of $3000 in the town company.
October 31, 1924
• A.P. Lee was an Andes visitor the first of the week.
• Born to Mr. and Mrs. Millard Russell, October 21, a son.
• A concrete floor is being put in the Up-Town Co-Operative
• A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Tittsworth on October 15.
• Bishop Nelson recently confirmed a class of twelve at the St. James church at Lake Delaware.
• Mrs. L.B. Hilton, of Walton, was a guest of her cousin, Mrs. G.J. Dickson, on Sabbath.
• Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Archibald, of Warren, Penn, are visiting her mother, Mrs. G.J. Dickson.
• Ed Kinch and family and Harvey Kinch, of Walton, were guests at Geo H. Miller’s on Sabbath.
• Mrs. Samuel Copeland and son, of Pittsburg, Penn., and Mrs. Wilson McFarland, of Delhi, were visitors in town on Monday.
• Miss Mary Thomson, who was injured in an automobile accident at Oenonta last week, is still in the hospital and unable to walk yet.
• Mrs. and Mrs. Fred Thomson spent over the weekend with Mr. and Mrs. Harry Martin at Cannonsville. The two women were sisters.
• Courtney Currie, who underwent an operation for appendicitis at Delhi a few weeks ago, has so far recovered as to be able to come home.
• Mrs. Charles Fleasch, of Unadilla, was a caller here Monday. She is the daughter of the late James A. Scott, who was a native of Bovina.
• In order to pay fire loses the directors of the Bovina Co-Operative Fire Insurance Company have made an assessment of $4.60 on the thousand.
• Mrs. Thomas Ormiston was operated on last week at the home of her brother-in-law, Dr. Ormiston, at Delhi for appendicitis, and is making good recovery.
• Mr. and Mrs. Edward Gladstone and two daughters and Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Gladstone motored to Walton on Saturday and spent the day with their brother Walter L. Gladstone.
• The Bovina Cow Testing Association has been organized with the following officers, viz: James Boggs, president; John S. Burns, vice-president; Frank A. Coulter, secretary and treasurer.
Bovina Woman Has Operation – From Our Bovina Correspondent
Mrs. D.C. Worden, who for some time has bene suffering from a growth on her neck, making breathing difficult, was taken to the hospital of Dr. William Thomson at Delhi, Wednesday, for an operation Thursday morning. [Mrs. Worden would die a few months later in March 1925.]
Bovina Concert
On November 7th at 8 pm, there is to be a first class concert by a chorus of forty-eight voices given in the Town Hall in Bovina Center. This chorus work was given recently in Margaretville in the Galli-Churci Theatre to a full house. It is given by the Margaretville Methodist church folk. The admission is 50 and 35 cents. It will pay everyone to attend who can possibly do so. You are invited to come, enjoy a good chorus and a number of selections by the orchestra that is to be with the chorus.
