Bovina Place Names - Bovina Center/Brushland/Bovina Centre/Bovina Center

I am often asked when did Bovina Center become Brushland and then become Bovina Center again?

First, a clarification.  The Town of Bovina has always been known as the Town of Bovina.  Brushland is the name applied to what is now the hamlet of Bovina Center.  Sometimes referred to as a village, it never was a village in the legal sense (with a mayor, etc).

When the town was created in 1820, the Bovina Center area was often referred to as “The Huddle.”  When the post office was established, it was called "Bovina Centre," but written references to the term in any records is hard to find. In November 1849, the post office was changed to Brushland.

Brushland was named for Alexander Brush, the first settler in what is now Bovina Center.  He owned quite a bit of the land in the area and sold off parcels to people in the center.  Brush lived in the house now owned by Tim and Tamara McIntosh. He died in 1840 at the age of 81.

The use of the name Brushland is not consistent in records, however. The earliest published reference that I could find to Brushland shows up in the 1851 Bloomville Mirror.  It does not show up in the Bovina UP Church minutes until 1857 and not in the town board minutes until 1862.   It appears that Bovina Center/Centre and Brushland were used interchangeably.  The 1856 Gould Map, in its map of the whole town of Bovina, refers to the Huddle as Brushland, but in the inset map, it is called Bovina Center.  The 1869 Beers Atlas is more consistent, but also somewhat confusing.  In both the main map of the town and the map of Brushland, it calls it “Bovina or Brushland P.O.”

Into the 1870s and 80s, use of the term Brushland began to fade.  The last reference in the Bovina Town Board minutes was around 1884.  The UP Church session stopped using the term in their minutes in 1875.  The last published reference I could find to Brushland was in 1886 in the Andes Recorder.  The post office name was officially changed from Brushland back to Bovina Centre on October 1, 1886.

In the town clerk files, there is a claim submitted for a sheep killed by dogs in November 1886 where it appears that the person making the claim wrote Brushland, then crossed it out in favor of Bovina.

A few days later Thomas Gordon, submitting his expenses as Town Supervisor, uses the term Bovina Centre.

Billhead references to Brushland continue for a few years, however. These merchants were not going to throw away perfectly good invoices just because of the name change – they were Scottish, after all.

The post office saw its final change to Bovina Center in December 1893. An 1895 map of Delaware County uses “Bovina Center” with “Brushland” in smaller letters underneath.

The confusion between ‘er’ and ‘re’ in Center continued into the 20th century, despite the official post office name change.

A 1903 bill from J. Dennis clearly calls it Bovina Center Steam Mills – and it has a pre-printed date of 189_.

But a pre-printed postcard sent to all road commissioners in Bovina in 1903 clearly has Centre. By around 1910, the use of Bovina Center as opposed to Bovina Centre appears to predominate.

The unofficial use of Bovina Centre continued for some time, however, appearing as late as May 1945 in the Delaware Republican-Express’s heading for the weekly Bovina column.

Bovina Place Names - Describing Bovina in French's 1860 Gazetteer

I will be doing two or three entries related to Bovina place names, starting with the earliest published reference to how Bovina got its name. In 1860, a gentleman named J.H. French published the Gazetteer of the State of New York: Embracing a Comprehensive View of the Geography, Geology, and General History of the State, and A Complete History and Description of Every County, City, Town, Village and Locality. With Full Tables of Statistics. This book has been an invaluable tool for researchers looking at a snapshot of New York State a year before the Civil War. A main section of the book is a description of every county and every town within the county. Below is the entry for the Town of Bovina. It provides the earliest written reference as to how Bovina came by its name and probably the earliest published history of the town, albeit brief. I was able to download the images below using Google Books. The Bovina entry started on page 259 of the book and continued on 260. That is why the first footnote is '9' and the rest start back with '1.' The item in parentheses (p.v.) stands for postal village (thanks Gabrielle Pierce for clarifying this). Click on the image to see a larger size of the text (you can also see the transcription at the end of this entry).

The reference to Bush Creek could be a typo and might refer to Brush's Brook, which runs through the hamlet coming down off Pink Street.  Given the way it is written, however, it might be referring to the outlet of Tunis Lake. I have not figured out yet where Grants Brooks is located.  I cannot find any reference to anyone named Grant in Bovina for whom it would have been named.  And it doesn't show up in the 1869 Beers Atlas.

Here's the transcription of the Bovina entry from the Gazetteer:

BOVINA - was formed from Delhi, Stamford, and Middletown, Feb. 25, 1820. It is an interior town, lying directly east of the center of the county. Its surface is a hilly upland, broken by the deep valleys of small streams. The highest summits are 1500 to 2500 ft. above tide. The streams are Little Delaware River, flowing west through the center of the town, Bush Creek, the outlet of Teunis Lake(1), and Coulter, Maynard, Mountain, and Grants Brooks. The valleys of these streams are narrow and are bordered by steep, rocky hillsides. Teunis Lake (s.) and Landons Lake (w.) are small bodies of water. The surface is stony and the soil is generally a clay loam, admirably adapted to grazing.  Brushland(2)(p.v.), on the Little Delaware, contains a tannery, gristmill, and clothing works. Pop. 183. Bovina(3)(p.v.), at the junction of Maynard and Mountain Brooks, contains about a dozen houses.
The first settlement was begun in 1792, by Elisha B. Maynard, and during the succeeding 3 years many families from Conn. and Scotland located in the valleys(4).  Rev. James Richie conducted the first religious services, in 1795. The first church (Un. Presb.) was formed in 1809. The census reports 3 churches, M.E., Asso. Presb., and Ref. Presb.

Footnotes:

9. Name applied by Gen. Erastus Root, from the Latin, in allusion to its fitness for grazing.
1. This lake lies near the foot of Mt. Pisgah, and its shores are muddy, and covered with bushes and coarse grass.  It was names from a friendly Indian who saved the early settlers of Middletown from massacre by giving them a timely warning.  His hut was near the lake, and he remained several years after the war.  Tradition attributes to this region rich lead mines known only to Indians.
2. Named from Alex. Brush, first settler and proprietor.
3. Known locally as "Butt End."
4. Francis Coulter, Levi and Jacob Mabie, Jas. Kidzie, Andrew Chisholm, Jas. Ray, Thos. Liddle, Sam'l Davis, and A. Nichols, were early settlers. The first birth was that of Elisha H., son of Elisha B. Maynard, Aug. 26, 1793; the first marriage, that of Jas. Russell and Nancy Richie, in 1799; and the first death, that of Hezekiah David in 1798.  ___Edwards taught the first school, in 1808; James Wetmore kept the first inn, at the "Hook;" Robert Hume the first store at Brushland; Stephen Palmer built the first mill, in 1796, for Gov. Lewis; and John Jerome the first factory, in 1808.

Businesses in Brushland 150 years ago

In poking around a fun website - http://fultonhistory.com - I found this business directory of Brushland (the old name for the hamlet of Bovina Center) from the April 15, 1862 issue of the Bloomville Mirror, so I thought I'd pass it along, pretty much as presented. Note that there wasn't a Methodist pastor listed, thus the lines where there would be a name.  Cameronian's were the Reformed Presbyterians.  P.D. Hamilton's hotel was located where Jardines are now. 

Business Directory of Brushland

• General Variety Stores.—T.E. Hastings, Elliott & Adee.
• Groceries.—Miller & Brother, A. Kinmouth.
• Stoves and Tin Ware.—D.L. Thomson.
• Hotel.—Mrs. P. D. Hamilton.
• District School Teachers.—Mrs. M. L. Dennis, Misses M. Scott, M. Gill, E. Erkison, McFarlin.
• Churches.—Presbyterian, Rev. J.B. Lee pastor. Methodist pastor ------; Cameronian, Rev. J. P. Potick.
• Physicians.—Dr. J.S. Telford, Dr. J. Calhoun.
• Post Master.—R.H. Sloan.
• Carriage Maker.—Major A. Boyd.
• Blacksmiths.—B. McFarlin, A. F. McPherson.
• Saddle and Harness Maker.—Jas. Gill.
• Carpenters.—J. R. Scott, W. Coulter, M. Miller, Wm. Miller, R. Dyzart, R. Gounlock.
• Justices of Peace.—J.R. Douglas, A. Storie, A.F, Manyard (sic - should be Maynard), Wm. Boggs.
• Town Clerk.—A. H. Gill
• Shoe Shop.—Wm. Lull.
• Cabinet Makers.—T. Scott, A. Kinmouth.
• Woolen factory.—Messrs. A. and C.R. Lee.
• Livery Stable.—Wm. Lull.
• Grist Mill.—T. W. Dennis.
• Cooper.—H.H. Taylor.

All in Main Street.