This Day in Bovina for November 2025

Ninety-six years ago today, the Catskill Mountain News on the front page of its November 1, 1929 issue printed an article that originally appeared in the Delaware Republican with the headline "CITY ENGINEERS PLAN DAM ON THE LITTLE DELAWARE." The paper noted that if the plans reached fruition, "properties at the 'Hook' including the beautiful St. James' chapel and community house erected by Miss Angelica Gerry…" would be flooded. The article went on to note that "nothing may come of all this…." but noted that "there may be 'more truth than fiction' in the rumors of the Little Delaware dam project; the fact may be nearer than we think."

166 years ago today, on November 2, 1859, Robert J. Forrest, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Forrest, died at the age of 4 years, 6 months and 19 days. He died as the result of being scalded. The hired girl had left a pail of water on the floor while getting more. The little boy was playing with the water in the pail when he heard the girl coming back. He was afraid he would be scolded and backed away from the pail, falling against a pot of boiling water which proceeded to spill on him. He lived for a couple of days after the accident.

167 years ago today, November 3, 1858, Edward O’Connor signed this document submitting his claim for expenses as commissioner of highways.  O’Connor is noted in history as one of the two men sentenced to hang for the killing of Undersheriff Osman Steele during the Anti-Rent War in 1845.  O’Connor’s sentence was commuted to life in prison, and he was released from prison within about a year.  He had been a town official before going to prison and resumed participating in town government after his release. 

This image of Edwin LaFever taken by Delhi photographer Harold McMurdy in 1940. My great uncle Ed was born in 1914, the son of Sylvan A. LaFever and his second wife, Alice Smith. He married Thelma Reinertsen in Bovina the year this photo was taken. Ed and Thelma would have five children and were married until Ed's death in 1975 at the age of 61. Image courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association. 

About 100 of the 212 women voters in Bovina voted 107 years ago today, November 5, 1918.  As reported later by the Andes Recorder, “Their votes did not change results in the town except to swell the Prohibition vote by about 40.”  Women in New York gained the right to vote in the November 1917.  This was the first time in New York that women were able to vote.  Women suffrage became nationwide in 1920.

117 years ago today, the Bovina column of the November 6, 1908 Andes Recorder reported that "A monument has been erected in the Center cemetery to memory of John and Barbara Lewis." Here's the stone today. 

These two images are of the Bovina Center creamery in the 1910s. They come from Chuck McIntosh's postcard collection. 

142 years ago today, on November 8, 1883, James R. Shackelton was paid $1 for taking a quarantine notice to E.L. Dean. 

These passport images of Mrs. Henry Menke were taken by Delhi photographer Bob Wyer in 1960. Mrs. Menke was born Frieda Petsche and married Henry Menke in 1952. She was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1921 and came to the U.S. after World War II. She was widowed in 2000 and died in 2012 at the age of 90. Image courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association. 

161 years ago today, on November 10, 1864, tavern keeper Dorcas Aitkin presented this bill for various services to the town, including lodging four recruits likely receiving town bounty to help Bovina meet its quota (who these men were we do not know).  Her hotel/tavern was located where the Jardine house is now located. 

Gordon Coulter entered the blacksmith shop of Gideon Miller to learn the trade 118 years ago today, November 11, 1907.  Gordon probably is Elton Gordon Coulter (1891-1945), the son of David and Lucy Coulter and an uncle to Grace Coulter Roberts.

This image of the Francis Coulter family was in the collection of images from Martena Monroe Kellem. Francis was a grandson and namesake of the original Coulter settler. Born in 1831, he married Loruhama Henderson in 1857. They had five children, all of whom made it to adulthood. This image shows the five children. Hannah (1870-1933) and Walter (1862-1900) are in the back row, James (1872-1900) is in the middle and Margaret (1868-1915) and Elizabeth (1860-1937) are in front. Martena was the daughter of Margaret Coulter, who married James Monroe in 1893.  Sadly, the two brothers, Walter and James, died 11 days apart in March 1900, both of pneumonia. James' wife, Minnie Miller, died a few days after her husband and two days before her brother-in-law, also of pneumonia. Loruhama died in January 1909 and her husband followed her to the grave six months later, after an illness of over 10 years. 

128 years ago today, November 13, 1897, as later reported in the Delaware Republican: "Lester Hoy, son of Thomas Hoy of Bovina, died of consumption Sunday, aged 22. Mr. Hoy was a very exemplary young man and had a wide circle of friends who will mourn his early death." Two years later, his brother William’s wife Robena gave birth to a son who was named for his uncle Lester. This later Lester Hoy is the one who lived in the Hoy family home, now the home of Tim and Tamara McIntosh.

In 1946, Delhi photographer Bob Wyer took a series of aerial pictures around Bovina in a plane piloted by Eddie Davidson. This is an image of Lake Delaware at the Gerry estate. The Lake House is partially hidden by trees. Lee Hollow is at the upper right. Image courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association. Wyer Aerials 058 Gerry Estate

Thirty years ago today, the November 15, 1995 Walton Reporter carried this Bovina column by Ann Cairns: 

Eighty-six years ago today, the Bovina column of the November 16, 1939 Delaware Republican reported that "Mrs. Elizabeth McNair has returned to Binghamton to spend the winter with her son, Raymond, and family after spending the summer with her daughter Mrs. J.W. McCune." She would die at her son's home a few months later in April 1940. Mrs. McNair was born in 1852, the daughter of James and Jane Crosier. She married Peter McNair in 1869 and would have four children. Peter died in 1908. She is buried in the Bovina Cemetery.

104 years ago today, on November 17, 1921, Mina Wilson signed this oath of office as the Tax Collector for the town of Bovina. She was the town's first female office holder. More about Mina can be found on the Bovina NY History blog at http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/11/bovinas-first-female-office-holder.html

Sunset View Farm on Russell Hill Road was one of the earliest boarding establishments. Run by Martha Bergman Russell, she started the business in the 1920s. The late Dorothy Ryder was introduced to Bovina by spending summers at Mrs. Russell’s. The rate was $12.50 per week for adults and children over ten years old. Children aged five to ten were $8.00 a week; children under five were charged $5.00 per week. Today it is a private residence. 

146 years ago today, November 19, 1879 Alexander Meyers was married to Isabelle Laing.  The couple would be married for almost 68 years.  In 1939, the couple celebrated their 60th anniversary with a party given for them in the Bovina UP Church parlors.  Bob Wyer photographed the event. Alex died in 1947 at the age of 91.  His wife Isabelle died 4 years later in 1951, when she was 90 years old.  

In 1946, Delhi photographer Bob Wyer took a series of aerial pictures around Bovina in a plane piloted by Eddie Davidson. This is a view of Tunis Lake when the Tunis Lake Camp was still in existence. Established by Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Mirski in 1922, they sold it in 1944. The camp, originally a boys’ camp, became co-ed in the 60s. It operated until 1970. Image courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association. 

205 years ago today, on November 21, 1820, William Murray was born in Bovina, the son of William Murray and Jean Black. He married Rachel Merwin in 1850 and died in Delhi in 1887 at the age of 66.

 

148 years ago today, the Andes Recorder, November 22, 1877, reported that "A number of cases of typhoid fever and other diseases, thirteen cases in all, are reported from Bovina.”

124 years ago today, the November 23, 1901 Walton Reporter carried this article about the new Bovina Center Creamery: "The Bovina Center Cooperative creamery building is completed and

the company will open it for business on January 1, 1902. The buildings are all first class and satisfactory and the outlook is very good. The officers are Wm. A. Hoy. president; Douglas Davidson, vice president; Jas. A. Thompson. secretary and treasurer. The directors are, W. A. Hoy. Alex Hilson, Silas T. Rockefeller, Douglas Davidson and James A. Thompson.

132 years ago today, the Andes Recorder's November 24, 1893 issue, reported that "A son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Gow, and a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Barnhart, all of Bovina." Sadly, the son of James and Willamina Gow died a couple of days after this was reported. The Barnhart daughter was my grandmother, Anna Bell, who died in 1980 at the age of 86. 

Earl Harold Miller, son of John M. Miller of Bovina, and Miss Rachel Mary Sullivan, of St. Paul, Minnesota, were married 111 years ago today, November 25, 1914, in Minnesota. Miller was living in Minnesota by then, but had grown up on Pink Street, the son of John and Bertha Miller, at the farm that later became Suits Us Farm. He was a lawyer in St. Paul and ran for congress there (unsuccessfully) in 1920. Earl died in 1955 in Walton and is buried in Bovina.

Eighty-eight years ago today, the November 26, 1937 Otsego Farmer (published in Cooperstown), carried this item on its front page: "Residents of the upper end of Delaware county are looking forward to uninterrupted, sleep following the arrest of Walfred Hansen, aged twenty-four of Bovina, picked up by Corp. Harold Bentley and Trooper Russell Coons of the Stamford outpost of Troop C, State Police, who charged him with having a siren on his private car. Arraigned before Justice of the Peace Omar Edwards at Stamford, Hansen pleaded guilty, paid a five-dollar fine and promised to remove the noise-maker from his car."

142 years ago today, the Bovina column in the November 27, 1883 issue of the Stamford Mirror reported that "D.L. Thomson has finished his job of tinning the roof of the R.P. Church." This church stood where the playground and fire hall now stand. It was taken down in 1943. 

Charles F. Smith was married to Christina Lamont 169 years ago today, November 28, 1856.  This was his second marriage.  Born in Scotland in 1824, he first married Annie Williamson, by whom he had two children before her death in November 1855.  There were no children from the second marriage.  Charles was widowed again in 1898 and he died 10 years later in 1908.  He ran the hotel at what is now Jardine's for many years.

107 years ago today, on November 29, 1918, John Elliot moved from his house on Maple Avenue "to the Thomas Miller house."  The following Monday, Mrs. John Irvine, the mother of Isabell Russell, moved into the Elliott house (now the home of Tony and Norma Gabriele).  Note: I’m still trying to figure out which house was the "Thomas Miller house."

Eighty-one years ago today, the Bovina column in the November 30, 1944 Delaware Republican Express had this item: "Mr. and Mrs. Alex Hilson have a son, born on November 24th; his name is James Alexander." This is Jim on the left with his parents and siblings, taken in 1952.