Lightning Strike in Bovina 120 Years Ago

The Stamford Mirror of July 26, 1892 reported the following on its front page:

A recent Wednesday evening, as Mrs. Prof. Hastings was standing in the store door of T.E. Hastings, at Bovina Centre, watching a coming storm, a bolt of lightning struck her, tearing off one shoe and stocking without seriously injuring her, and at the same time knocking down a team of horses belonging to "Champ" Worden, which were standing near.

T.E. Hastings' store is what is now Russell's.   Thomas E. Hastings, the son of James Madison Hastings and Elizabeth Elliott, was born in 1829 and was a long time merchant in Bovina (see the January 31, 2012 entry for this blog for more about Thomas).

"Mrs. Prof. Hastings" was T.E. Hastings' daughter-in-law, Jessie Sherman Hastings.  Jessie was born in 1866 in Davenport, NY.  She married James Blair Hastings in Davenport in 1889.  Hastings, born in 1860, had grown up in Bovina and went to Hamilton College.  He taught in a number of places, including the Delaware Literary Institution in Franklin, where he met his wife.  They moved to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania in 1890, where he was principal of the public school there.  Jessie became ill with rheumatoid arthritis, commonly known then as rheumatism.  Her doctor advised James and Jessie to settle back in the Catskills, where the mountain air was thought to be good for her condition.  Ironically, it was not long after returning to her home county for the sake of her health that Jessie was struck by lightning.  It is possible that the lightning strike did further damage to Jessie's already fragile health, for in the winter of 1893, she suffered from hemorrhaging of the bronchial tubes.  Maybe this was caused by the lightning, but it does sound very much like tuberculosis.  Whatever the cause, another move for her health was recommended, leading them to spend a year in Minnesota.  They returned to Delaware County after that year.  Less than a decade later, in yet another attempt to restore Jessie's health, they moved to Cape May, New Jersey so that she could be by the sea.  These efforts were to no avail. Jessie died in April 1908 at the age of 41.  James continued to live in New Jersey and work as a teacher after the death of his wife.  As well as teaching, he was elected mayor of West Cape May.  He died in Cape May in September 1920.   

Champ Worden was David Champion Worden.  Born in Andes in 1861, he was the son of Ira Bassett Worden and Phoebe Hull.  Married to Henrietta Ann Boyd, he was the father of eight children, including Edna Worden Carter, who lived on what is now Jason and Lisa Stanton's place, and Leroy Worden, who was my next door neighbor when I was a child and young adult.  In 1926, it was Champ who demolished the old Methodist Church, located across from what is now the Community Hall, using the wood to build a barn on his farm.  Champ died in 1929 in Bovina.

Welcoming the New Year -- 1886

This article comes from the January 9, 1886 Delaware Express. It's an 'anonymous' review of an event in Bovina, a New Year's Night event held January 1, 1886 at Hastings Hall, which I believe is now Russell's Store. So here's a look at an event in Bovina from 124 years ago:

Bovina is a town of steady habits; her people always move along in the even tenor of their ways, undisturbed by any of those great events which ruffle the social life of her sister towns, such as lecture courses, opera houses, skating rinks, etc. You can hardly imagine the surprise it created when it was announced that the Y.P.C.A. of Bovina, would give a lecture and entertainment course this winter. Some laughed at the idea, a good many shook their heads and said it would be a fizzle; why, they said, we have had some of the best lecturers here that can be found on the platform, and they did not draw a corporal's guard. But the managers of the Y.P.C.A. had their course tickets printed and went to work to sell them, with a determination that was bound to succeed. Now what has been the result? Why every course ticket they had printed has been sold, all the single tickets that were offered for sale were taken in less than an hour after they were placed on sale and many more could have been sold but the seating capacity of the Hall was exhausted. One of the posters we saw in the Post Office excited our curiosity; we give it as a novel method of advertising.

Y.P.C.A.
Hastings Hall, New Year's Night. Bovina String Band. College Boys' Orations. Music - Acting Charades - Tableaux - International Quartette.

Come and See, Hear, Laugh.

We accepted the invitation and started for the Hall. The door keeper passed us in on our good looks and we settled down in a seat ready to take notes. The first thing we saw was a Bovina company of young people. It is evident if the famous lecturers can't command an audience in this place, the young people of Bovina can. The programme was well rendered, well received, and at a late hour the company left the audience - not the audience the company. Every person who took part deserves honorable mention; but space forbids us only to give a brief report. The music was well received judging from the moving of the feet in keeping time to the same. The songs sung by Misses Maggie Coulter and Maggie Miller, were among the best we ever listened to. A character sketch of Mark Twain by E.C. was received with ripples of laughter, which plainly said, the writer had hit his mark. The acting charades were plainly represented. Misses Bena Gow and Libbie Miller, represented their part remarkably well. A laughable scene in French pantomime was given by Miss Bena Gow and Mr. Wm. Ormiston, representing the first attempt of a green country boy at 'Sparking,' when from behind the scene was heard that song, "One night I went to see her - O how ashamed I was." There was only two persons in the Hall who were not convulsed with laughter and those were the actors. The International Quartette deserves notice; their gestures were immense. One of the best efforts of the evening was a recitation - The Polish Boy, by Miss Gussie M. Hastings. Miss Hastings is gifted with a remarkably fine voice, and the easy and graceful manner in which she gave this recitation won the deserved applause which she was received. Then came the college boys. Mr. J.B. Lee, Jr., has often spoken in Bovina, and the audience expected a fine oration from him, and they were not disappointed. Mr. Lee is a fine speaker, in fact it is hard to find a better orator on the platform today; his oration was extracts from a speech of Senator Fry, and was delivered in a manner that held the audience all the way through. The orations of Messrs. Doig and Young, were a surprise. This was the first time they had ever spoken in Bovina. Mr. Doig is a young speaker but he is a natural orator he has a fine heavy voice and he carries his audience with him; we only hope that we may be favored to hear from him again in the future. Mr. Young gave us Garfields's speech at Chicago, when he nominated John Sherman for the Presidency. I could see the fire of enthusiasm gleam in the eyes of many in the audience as he rolled out those fine sentences of Garfield. Thus closed the first entertainment on the course. One peculiarity of this course is that it is Bovina all the way through. The next entertainment will be by the Y.P.C.A., assisted by home talent. The third entertainment will be a lecture by a Bovina boy, Rev. J.J. Dean. And the fourth will be a literary paper by the Bovina girls and a debate by the Bovina boys.

Yours, X.