A Week with Bovina People - July 1901 - 125 Years ago from the Andes Recorder

The pages of the Andes Recorder from 125 years ago reported the following happenings in the town of Bovina in July 1901.

July 5, 1901

• John W. Blair was at Andes Saturday.

• John K. Russell was up from Delhi Monday.

• Milton Doig began carrying the mail Monday.

• William Ruff was down at Delhi on Monday.

• R.P. Cormack was here from Delhi Thursday.

• Rev. M.P. Williams was a Delhi visitor Thursday.

• Miss Lillian Miller was here from Andes Monday.

• G.D. Miller and wife went to Walton Wednesday.

• Mrs. Duncan Campbell has been visiting Walton this week.

• Jacob Pintoff has been in town delivering enlarged pictures. [Pintoff was a photographer from Philadelphia.]

• Otis McCumber and family were here celebrating the Fourth.

• Mrs. (Rev.) W.P. Miller, of Dayton, Ohio, is visiting in this vicinity. [Mrs. Miller was the former Ada Gertrude Chipman, a native of Ohio. Rev. Miller was the grandson of early Bovina settler David Miller. He died in Arizona in 1905. His widow survived him for 35 years, dying in Ohio in 1940.]

• Miss Mary Phinney visited relatives at New Kingston, the past week.

• George Hunger and family, of Colchester were in town Wednesday

• Floyd, the creameryman was in town the first of the week, also Charles Broughton and Mr. Peck.

• Mr. and Mrs. James H. McMurray, of Ginnell, Iowa, are visiting in town. It is 25 years since he visited the east. [James was from the Kortright area.]

• The coming fall George D. Robertson will move to New Kingston, having rented the Matthew Stanley farm at the head of that valley.

• Alex Hilson was at Walton Tuesday to meet Mrs. Hilson and son, James, who have been in New York for two or three weeks, where the boy was operated upon for a gathering back of the ear. [A gathering was essentially a lump. James worked with his brother John and later nephews Alex and John Hilson at Hilson Brothers. He was seven when he went to New York. James died in 1984 when he was 89.]

• Among those at Hobart last Thursday to attend the funeral of Mrs. J.S. McNaught were, Mrs. John R. Hoy, and daughter Jennie, Mr. and Mrs. Milton R. Hoy, Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Maynard and Edwin Scott and daughter. [See obituary notice below.]

• Miss Jennie Hastings is home from the Oneonta Normal; Miss Jennie Campbell from teaching at Hobart; Miss Anna Phyfe from teaching at Dolgeville and Miss Bertha Phyfe from Delaware Academy.

• Mrs. Robert B. Jardine died Saturday at her home near the head of Glenburnie, aged about 48 years. Five years ago she was taken with creeping paralysis which gradually grew worse and the past two years she has been unable to help herself nor speak above a whisper and for some time past has been unable to even whisper and finally could not swallow and virtually starved to death. The funeral was held Tuesday, Rev. T.M. Slater officiating, and interment was made in the Bovina Cemetery. 

Mrs. J.S. McNaught Dead

June 25 occurred the death of Mrs. J. S. McNaught, at Hobart after an illness lasting over a year. Helen Hoy was born in Washington county in 1824 and soon afterwards her parents moved to Bovina, where she lived until her marriage to Dr. J.S. McNaught in 1847, and they soon afterwards moved to Hobart. She leaves besides her husband, two sons and a daughter – Frank, a doctor at Denver, Colorado; D.M. of Kingston, and Miss Elizabeth, who lived at home. The funeral was held Thursday and the interment made in the Locust Hill cemetery at Hobart.

July 12, 1901

• H.J. Hewitt, of Delhi, was in town Monday.

• James Arbuckle was up from Delhi Saturday.

• John W. Blair and wife were at Delhi Saturday.

• J.D. Burns was over at Margaretville on Wednesday.

• Born to Mr. and Mrs. Gideon Miller, Thursday, July 4, a son.

• John Scott, of Fall Clove, was a visitor in this place Saturday.

• John A. Kemp, of Delhi, was among those in town on Tuesday.

• Jack Davidson and wife and Will Bill, of Delhi were in town on Saturday.

• A brother and two sisters of Mrs. Rabuck have been visiting them this week.

• W.E. Hastings and bride returned Saturday from the Pan American Exposition.

• Walter Phyfe’s son, of Delhi, who has been visiting in town returned to his home Saturday. [The son likely was Granger Phyfe. Sadly, he died in 1905 in Millerton, NY, where the Phyfe’s were living. He was 17. Walter was born in Bovina. He became a doctor and settled in Columbia County. Widowed in 1923, he died in 1929.]

• Will Crosier and wife, Mrs. Belle Hendrix and Miss Etta Hendrix were at Delhi Thursday.

• Frank Graham left Wednesday to visit the Pan American Exposition at Buffalo.  He will also spend some time visiting relatives in Canada before his return.

• A meeting was held Wednesday evening [July 10] and it was decided to build a cooperative creamery at the Centre, and it is expected that it will be in running order by September 1st.  Douglas Davidson, W.A. Hoy and Robert Thompson were elected trustees for the first year.  

• The Fourth passed off without mishap last Thursday [July 4] as advertised only the pig would not run.  R.E. Bergman gave an excellent address and held the close attention of the audience.  Some of the contests were close and exciting.  A number from out of town were here to witness the events. The following are some of the winners: 440 yard dash. Will Thompson, 1st; e. Redman 2d; J.K. McDivitt 3d; Bicycle race, Claud E. Erkson 1st; Robert Hunt 2d; Will Maynard 3d. Boys bicycle race, James McNee 1st; John Gladstone 2d; Running Jump, J.K. McDivitt 1st; Charles Thompson 2nd; Milton Hastings 3d. Shot put: Milton Hastings 1st; George Elliott 2d; E. Bergman 3d. 100 yard dash, Milton Hastings 1st: ---- Blackman 2d; J. K. McDivitt 3d. Sack race, --- Blackman 1st; Will Thompson 2d; James McNee 3d. Smoking contest, Peter Robson 1st; Will Armstrong 2d.

July 19, 1901

• Rev M.P. Williams was at Delhi last Thursday.

• William Smith, of Walton, was in town Sabbath.

• Ad Maxwell and the agent for the Osborne mowers were here Tuesday.

• Mrs. James L. Ormiston and children arrived in town on Friday for a visit.

• Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Worden, of Andes, were among visitors in town Wednesday.

• Henry Thompson and wife visited his parents Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Thompson Saturday.

• Alex Johnson, of Delancey, brother of the late Thomas H. Johnson, has been in town.

• The new creamery will be located on Alex Hilson’s flat and will be 28 x 60 feet and two story.

• Jennie Miller has been having part of her house in this village reshingled. M. and G.D. Miller did the work.

• Rev. Robb, former pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church here, and family are stopping at D.J. Miller’s.

• Mrs. Martha Gillie, widow of “Sandy” Gillie, for many years court crier, died at her home at Lake Delaware Friday July 12, at the age of 90 years.  She was the oldest resident of the town.  The funeral was held at the house Monday at 11 o’clock, Rev. Samson officiating.  Interment in the Bovina Centre cemetery. [Martha was born Martha Lewis in 1810. Married to Alexander Gillie in 1838, she had four children. Her son William was a fatality of the Civil War, dying in Washington, DC in 1863. She was widowed in 1873.]

• John Phyfe died Wednesday morning, July 17, in the 83d year of his life.  He was born in Scotland, and had been a resident of this town for over half a century.  He was a tailor by trade and for many years held the office of Justice of Peace in this town.  The funeral will be held Friday at 11 o’clock.  His birthplace was at Foffar, Scotland and he came to Bovina in the year 1843.

July 26, 1901

• Alex Thompson was at Delhi Monday.

• David Currie was up from Delhi Saturday.

• W.T. Black was seen in town Saturday.

• Mrs. W.T. Black was up from Delhi Tuesday. [Mrs. Black was the former Isabella Irvine, aunt to Isabell Russell.]

• DeForrest’s Medicine show is here this week.

• Miss Jennie Campbell visited at Walton this week.

• Dr. Seacord and family were at Delhi Tuesday.

• Mrs. William Wight, or Delhi was in this place Monday.

• A number of farmers are going to put on lightning rods.

• John Blair and son and B.S. Miller visited Delhi Saturday.

• Mrs. John A. Irvine went to Walton Wednesday on a visit.

• Smith Hillis and wife, of Delhi were visitors in town Saturday.

• William B. Thompson is spending a week visiting at Walton.

• Henry Hogaboon had his pockets picked recently while at Coney Island.

• The first load of lumber was drawn for the creamery at the Centre on Tuesday [July 23].

• James H. McMurray and wife went to New York city on Monday for a visit.

• The foundation of the uptown creamery is completed and work has commenced on the building.

• John Thompson, wife and children, of Downsville, visited his brother, Elliott, the first of the week. 

• The creamery at the Centre will soon be commenced.  A well will be used to furnish the water supply.  

• Mrs. Copeland and Miss Grabin from the West are visiting Mrs. Copeland’s daughter Mrs. W.L.C. Samson. [Mrs. Samson was the wife of the Bovina U.P. Church pastor.]

• J.B. Hastings for three years principal at Davenport school has accepted a position as principal at High Falls.

• John P. Mabon, who for the past three years has held the principalship of a school at Woodhull has accepted a position as principal at Limestone.

• Sabbath evening while James Monroe was using the separator his little two-year-old child got one finger in the machine and the flesh was torn from it.  Dr. Rebuck was called and dressed it and hopes to save the finger. [This child probably was Martena Monroe. She later married Arthur Kellam and died in 1988.]

• Mrs. John Ogilvie, well known in these parts, died at her home in Nebraska, July 14, aged about 81 years.  Her maiden name was Phyfe and she was born in Scotland, but the greater part of her life was spent on a farm near Lake Delaware.  Several years ago with her husband she went west, where she has since resided. [Mrs. Ogilvie was the former Elizabeth Phyfe, daughter of David and Helen Phyfe. She was married to John Ogilvie in 1844. Her husband died in Imperial, Nebraska in 1892.]

July 1926 - 100 Years Ago in "That Thriving Town"

Life in Bovina 100 years ago this month, as reported in the pages of the Andes Recorder:

July 2, 1926

• Mrs. Newton and Benj Graham of Arkville, were callers here Monday.

• William Armstrong has had the lawn grade in front of his residence.

• Mrs. Charles Hyatt and children, of New York, are with relatives in town.

• Mrs. James A. Gow has returned home from a visit with her sister, Mrs. Forman, at the County home.

• Paul Furhman is making improvements and repairs to his residence – the former William McCune house.

• Miss Beatrice Hoy has returned home from Bainbridge, accompanied by her sister, Mrs. Harold Robinson.

• William Archibald is having a cellar dug for a new house on the site of the Methodist church, recently torn down.

• In the estate of Julia Lee, late of Bovina, the estimate is $4,000 personal. Husband, brother, nephews and nieces the heirs.

• Miss Mable Thomson, who teaches at Winsted, Connecticut, is home for the summer. Miss Jane Hilson is home from South Orange, N.J.

• Misses Carrie Dumond and Margaret Gordon went to Arkville on Thursday to take employment at the Pakatakan Country Club for the boarding season.

• Ralph Hillis, who has the former Strangeway store for a garage, has torn out the floor and filled the cellar to the street level and is putting in a concrete floor.

• Mrs. C.H. Dayton, of Peekskill, has been visiting her father, Jas W. Thomson. Two daughters of Charles, of Katona, N.Y. also were at the Thomson home.

• Several will leave next Tuesday for summer school. Professor and Mrs. Wilber Archibald and Caroline Dickson go to Albany Teachers College and principal Gilbert Banker and Mrs. Edna Tolley to the Oneonta Normal. 

Bovina Farm Sold

J. Douglas Burns, who recently sold his farm, has purchased the David J. Miller farm, which adjoins the one he sold. The farm formerly kept over 80 cows but is badly run down and the past year has been vacant. The price reported ranges from $1,500 to $2,500.

Former Bovina Doctor Dead

Dr. Charles Fisher, who was born in Meredith in 1838, died recently in a sanitorium at Bingham. During the Civil War he served as surgeon in the 70th Regiment and later with the third Brigade which was in the Wilderness campaign. After the war he practiced medicine in Bovina and in 1871 went to Bainbridge, where he conducted a pharmacy. For the past 25 years he had been an invalid. [Note, I think this is Charles Frisbee.]

July 9, 1926

• Miss Katherine Martin is visiting her aunt, Mrs. Fred Thomson.

• Lyman LaFever and sons, of Illion, are visiting his son, Benson LaFever [this should be Sylvan, not Lyman]

• Arthur Burns and family, of Kingston, were visitors here the first of the week.

• Miss Jane Archibald is home from New York, where she is employed in an office.

• Wendal Ormiston, of Hudson, has been visiting his mother, Mrs. Thos Ormiston.

• Herman Coulter, of Stamford, visited at Russell Boggs’ from Tuesday until Friday. 

• Howard Kaufman and wife, from Pennsylvania, are visiting his brother Kenneth Kaufman.

• Frank Myers and wife, and William Thomson and wife, of Endicott, were here over the Fourth.

• Miss Ruth Coulter will go to State of Washington as a delegate from Young Peoples’ Union.

• Lauren Dickson, William Gordon and Ledger Myers were at Binghamton on Wednesday and Thursday.

• Mrs. F.W. Hyatt, of Yonkers and Clarence Smith and family, from Connecticut, are stopping at John Northrup’s.

• Rev. A.M. Thomson, pastor of the Church of the Covenanters, will be absent for a month attending a Bible school.

• Mrs. and Mrs. George Archibald and daughter and his mother, Mrs. Bell Archibald, of Buffalo, have been visiting in town.

• Bovina real estate transfers recorded are James B. Lee and wife to Andrew T. Strangeway, $675; Margaret Strangeway Coulter and another; Frank T. Miller, $1; Alex Hilson, executors of, to Everett DeSilva, $1.

Burned by Firecracker

Floyd Aitkins was burned about the mouth Monday evening by a cannon firecracker. The firecracker had been lighted but only gave a puff. Young Aitkens picked it up and blew into it and the remainder of the powder flashed and struck him in the mouth. 

Will Marry July 13

Helen Gallaway, a daughter of Reb. H.K. Gallaway, a former pastor of the United Presbyterian church at Bovina, is to be married on July 13, to Raymond Walker of Jersey City at the North Hill United Presbyterian church, Akron, Ohio, of which her father is pastor. 

July 16, 1926

• Mrs. Marshall Scott, of Oneonta was a caller in town Saturday.

• Estate of A.W. Baker, late of Bovina, is estimated at $500 personal. The four children each get $100 and wife the residue.

• Dr. and Mrs. N.B. Whitcomb and children, missionaries to Egypt, who are home on a furlough, are spending the week in town.

• Mrs. A.T. Doig who was called to Walton by the death of her sister-in-law, Mrs. E.F. Thomson, will remain with her brother for a time.

• Howard Currie, the Delhi contractor is moving his crusher and mixer and preparing to put in the cellar for William Archibald’s new house.

• The over storing of milk powder at the Bovina Center plant nearly caused the collapse of the building. Fortunately it was discovered in time and the building propped.

• The old cemetery in Bovina center, in which are buried some of the earliest residents of the town, is being cleaned up. The wall has been removed and the old apple trees taken out. 

• Miss Marion McPherson of Bovina, and Miss Margaret Doig, of Delhi, went to Akron, Ohio, to be bridesmaids at the marriage of Miss Helen Galloway to Raymond Walker on July 13. 

• The following Bovina people left on Thursday for a western trip, viz: Mrs. Alex Hilson and daughter, Miss Jane, who will visit relatives in Oakland, California; Miss Ruth Coulter and her aunt, Miss Elizabeth Strangeway, whose destination is Seattle, Washington. Miss Coulter is a delegate to the Young People’s convention. 

Death in Bovina

John W. Elliott died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. William C. Burns, below Bovina Center, Tuesday morning, July 13, after a long illness. He was born in the New Kingston valley over 80 years ago and the great part of his life was spent there. A few years ago his son took the farm and he moved to Bovina, and since the death of his wife he had made his home with the daughter at whose home he died. 

July 23, 1926

• Professor and Mrs. Leon Taggart, of Oneonta, were visitors here over the week end.

• A heavy electric storm here Sabbath afternoon was accompanied by considerable hail.

• Miss Anna McFarland, daughter of Chauncey McFarland, and had her tonsils removed last week.

• Mrs. Thomas Gordon and son motored to Arkville on Sabbath afternoon to see her daughter.

• Milton Hoy and daughter, Eleanor, of Oil City, Pennsylvania, is visiting his sisters, Mrs. Davidson and Mrs. Archibald.

• The funeral of John W. Elliott was held from the U.P. church on Friday and interment made in the Bovina Center cemetery.

• Mr. and Mrs. John Armstrong and Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hoy were at the Canada Hollow Falls on Sabbath and enjoyed a lunch.

• Miss Jane Archibald, who had been spending her vacation here, returned to New York this week, spending a few days at Binghamton enroute.

• The car of Albert Lifgren was damaged Tuesday night and his leg was injured when his car collided with the bank near the foot of the Russell Road.

• Mrs. Thomas Cowan is at the home of her son, Millard Russell. After haying she and her youngest son will move to her house, the former Richard Smith place, in Bovina Center.

• In the Bovina real estate transfers is Elliott Thomson and wife to W.J. Archibald $1. This is for the building used for many years as a blacksmith shop. It was built 45 years ago and one half was used as a wagon shop by Jacob Detrick and the family lived upstairs.

A Bovina Estate

The estate of John W. Elliott, late of Bovina, is estimated at $5,000 personal. To Hale Elliott and Emily C. Burns, son and daughter, is willed each personal articles, $500 and equal share of residue, to William J. Elliott and James T. Elliott each an equal share of residue. 

July 30, 1926

• Mildred Brown, of Delhi, is visiting in town. 

• Alex Thomson was an Andes Visitor last Friday.

• Norton Forrest was a County Seat visitor Monday.

• Miss Mary Fay, of Andes, is visiting her sister, Mrs. Hugh Galland.

• Mrs. A.S. Banker and son, Gilbert, spent Saturday with her people at Pine Hill.

• The Y.P.S. of the P.P. church held a good time social at Adam Laidlaw’s Friday night.

• E.F. Thomson and Mrs. and Mrs. Archibald Thomson, of Walton, were in town on Sabbath.

• Rev. F.N. Crawford and family are on an auto trip to Ohio and will spend two weeks visiting relatives.

• Attorney C.L. Dickson, William S. Gordon and Ledger Myers were in New York City the first of the week.

• Mrs. Elliott Thomson and granddaughter, Jean Robinson, have been visiting at Delhi and Bainbridge.

• D.C. Worden has purchased what is known as the Hastings and Fuller parcels of land from Charles Russell.

• Lightning struck the house of Harry Robinson in the lower part of the village during the severe storm last Thursday and a short piece of corner board was torn off, but fortunately the building was not fired.

High Wind in Bovina – Much Damage Done Last Thursday Roofs Torn Off and Trees Uprooted

Bovina was visited by a hurricane last Thursday afternoon and much damage was done by the tearing off of roofs and blowing down of trees. Part of the roof was torn off the cheese room at the Center creamery; shingles were torn from piece of roof on barn of James Mabon. At Robert Robinson’s up Coulter Brook the entire roof was torn off his wagon house, rafters included, and the roof of his bar was damaged. Threes were torn up by the roots all over town. Loads of hay were overturned and at Alex Thomson’s his hay loader was moved some 20 rods across the field and landed right side up with no damage.

Bovina Has Fire Scare

The was considerable excitement in Bovina last Friday afternoon when the word was flashed over the telephone that the residence of Fred Bramley up Pink street was on fire. In a remarkably short time a large crowd had gathered at the Bramley home. Fortunately the house was not on fire. Mr. Bramley had been cleaning up rubbish and had put it into his furnace and set it on fire. This caused a dense smoke which settled down and enveloped the house. This was seen by a neighbor, Mrs. Lifgren, and she turned in the fire alarm to central. 

Brown-Downie

Miss Dorothy Downie and Gould Brown, both, of Oneonta, were married July 24. The bride is a daughter of James Downie, who is a native of Bovina.