Bovina's Scottish Borders Origins

In preparation for my November visit to the Scottish Borders of Scotland, I thought I’d mention a few of the Bovina Families who came from there. I wrote about the Borders last September during a previous visit there. Go to http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-scottish-borders-and-connection-to.html to see that entry.

I’ve already written about the Coulter family in a previous blog entry. Go to October 17, 2010 blog entry for information about this family (http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/bovina-pioneers-francis-and-nancy.html).

Robert Gladstone, who was born in 1777 in Teviothead-Glednest, Scotland, married Ann Ray around 1802 and came to Bovina in 1817. They had eight children. The Gladstone family were members of the Associate Presbyterian Church but had a falling out with the church when dancing was held at their son Walter’s marriage to Isabella Biggar in 1834 (more information about this incident can be found in this blog’s entry for October 23, 2010 - http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/gladstones-and-biggars-clash-with.html).

The Hilson family’s roots go back to one John Hilson, who was born in Scotland in 1827, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Nesbit) Hilson. The names John and Alexander would continue through their descendants to the present day. The Hilsons came to Bovina relatively late in its history. John Hilson emigrated in 1850, landing in New York and coming directly to Bovina to settle. He farmed for a number of years before becoming a noted merchant in town, establishing his general store in 1867. The store he founded continued through his son Alexander, grandsons John and James and great grandsons Alex and Jack. (see the Bovina NY History blog entry concerning John ‘Old Jock’ Hilson and his death in 1896: http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/07/stories-from-bovinas-cemeteries-old.html)

Also emigrating to America and settling in Bovina was John’s brother William Hilson. He was not in Bovina all that long when he died at the age of 45 in 1856.

James Hoy was born in Scotland in 1745. Around the age of 30, he married Agnes Robertson, who came from Jedburgh, Roxburghshire. They had 6 children, three born in Scotland and three born in Washington County, NY. It was his grandson, John R. Hoy, born in 1831, who came to Bovina. John was a Civil War veteran, dying in Bovina in 1901. His son, David Fletcher Hoy, is the gentleman who did all the research on early Bovina families (see the blog entry for October 6 of this year for more on Davy Hoy).

David Laidlaw was born in the Scottish borders in 1785. He married Helen Knox Hart, also from the borders, in 1825. They had eight children, all born in Scotland. The family came to Bovina sometime after the birth of their last child in 1846. Helen died in 1855 a the age of 60, her husband five years later. David may have been related to Mrs. Thomas Miller (see Miller family information below). David’s grandson Adam had the farm where Marie Burns now lives.

Thomas Liddle was a native of Scotland, born in Liddlesdale, Roxburghshire in 1785. He emigrated to this country in his youth and settled in Bovina, where in 1804 he married Margaret Archibald, a native of Lanarkshire, Scotland. She was eight years his senior. They had eight children. Margaret died in 1857 at the age of 80, survived by Thomas, who lived another decade and died at the age of 83 in 1868. His farm was on Bovina road. It stayed in the family for three generations before it was sold out of the family.

Brothers David (b 1795) and William (b 1791) Miller settled in Bovina about ten to fifteen years apart. They were sons of Thomas Miller and his wife Agnes Laidlaw from Hawick, Scotland. Thomas was active in his local church near Hawick in a place called Roberton. He was for a number of years the ‘beadle’ of the church – basically a lay assistant for the minister. Thomas and Agnes had five chidren. As well as the aforementioned sons, David and William, there were two other sons, John and Berry Shaw, and one daughter, Christina (sometimes referred to as Christain). Berry Shaw and Christina also came to America about the same time as William, but John stayed in Scotland where many of his descendants can  be found today.

David came to America first. He settled in Bovina before 1819 and had a farm established by 1821 in the area of Bramley Mountain. He filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen on February 28, 1821 but didn’t apply to take his oath until May 29, 1840. David was married twice, first in Bovina in 1819 to Agnes Thomson, then, sometime after Agnes's death in 1829, to Isabella Turnbull. He had five children by his first wife and two daughters by his second. David Miller died in 1883 and is buried in Bovina.

William came to America in 1831, possibly traveling with his brother and sister, as well as his second wife, Isabella Dickson and his three children. He was a tenant farmer at Muselee, in the Scottish Borders before emigrating. He also purchased land on Bramley Mountain, starting with 100 acres, in 1833. William was active in the community, serving as a road commissioner for some time and was active in the United Presbyterian Church of Bovina. He died on January 29, 1870. His wife died on December 13, 1882, aged eighty years. Both are buried in Bovina. All of his children settled in Delaware County.

The Ormiston name is one of the prominent Scottish Borders names, believed to have originated from a place name in the borders. It is believed that the Bovina Ormiston's are descended from "the Black Laird," James Ormiston (1522-1573). He was one of the conspirators in the murder of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. He was knighted by the Queen in May 1567, about 3 months after the murder. By December he had been convicted of treason and his estate was forfeited. Ormiston was captured at Jedburgh in 1573 and hanged in December of that year.

The first Ormiston to come to the United States was James' five-greats grandson, William Ormiston. He was born in Scotland in 1780 on a tenant farm called Bonran, not too far from Hawick. He married Jane Graham around 1801. About a year later, he came to America, staying for a time in Philadelphia where he had an uncle. Their first child was born there. By 1804, they were settled in Bovina where the rest of their seven children were born. William’s father pleaded with his son to come back to Scotland, but William showed no interest in doing so. Janet died in 1856 and William in 1864. They were both members of the Association Presbyterian Church and are buried in the old church cemetery at Reinertsen Hill Road. (For more on the Ormistons, go to http://www.dcnyhistory.org/familyormiston.html where you will find a couple of histories written by Lloyd Ormiston about his family. Lloyd was an uncle to the Davidson brothers.)

William Richardson was born in in Tiviothead, Roxburghshire in 1828. He came to the United States in 1849. He lived with the David Laidlaw family and worked as a farm laborer. In 1862, he enlisted in the 144th NY Infantry and served until the end of the Civil War. He married Isabella Sloan and would have three children with her before her death in 1874. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, is the mother of Isabell Irvine Russell. An aside – when I made my first visit to the Scottish Borders I hired a taxi to take me to the Roberton church where my ancestor, Thomas Miller (mentioned earlier), had served as beadle. There was something in the driver’s speech pattern that immediate made me think of Isabell Russell. I couldn’t explain exactly what, but it seems that Isabell likely picked up this pattern from her Grandfather Richardson. She would have known him into her adulthood – he died a few months after her marriage to Cecil Russell in 1916.

This postcard shows a house in Scotland that Richardson once lived in. The note on the back is by David Hoy, obtained during his 1908 visit to Scotland.

William Storie was born in Roxburghshire in 1761. By 1802, he was in Bovina and married to Mary McCune, a native of what is now Northern Ireland. They had six children. William died in 1814, when his youngest child was six months old.

Walter Stott was born in Scotland in 1771. He married Jennet Ormiston, who was born in 1765 in Wilton, Roxburghshire. They had three children, all born in Scotland. They emigrated to the United States. Their sons Walter and George both settled in Bovina. Walter married Scottish native Mary Neish while George married Bovina native Ellen Storie. For more on the Walter and Mary Stott family, look at this blog entry for July 21, 2014 (http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/07/stories-from-bovina-cemeteries-stott.html).

The Strangeway family comes from the eastern area of the Scottish borders near Berwick. Christopher Strangeway was born in Allanton in 1814. He came to America with his father Thomas probably when he was a teenager. The family settled in Middletown, NY. Christopher bought a farm on present day Route 28 in Bovina. Married to Margaret Thompson in 1836, they would have seven children. Among Christopher and Margaret descendants are Ruth Coulter Parsons, Celia Coulter and Jack and Alex Hilson.

There are other natives of Scotland among Bovina’s early settlers, though many were not from the borders region. If I am missing a Bovina family from Scotland’s borders, let me know.

Stories from Bovina's Cemeteries - Old Jock Hilson

117 years ago today, John Hilson, sometimes known as 'Old Jock,' died in Bovina at the age of 69.  His last illness started out as nothing more than a bad foot.  The Andes Recorder reported on May 29 1896 that "John Hilson is laid up with a sore foot at this writing."  A couple of weeks later, the paper reported that what seemed like a minor ailment had become more serious:  "John Hilson, whom we recently mentioned as being laid up with a sore foot, is now seriously afflicted.  His trouble started from paring a corn to[o] close, and his blood being in bad condition, inflammation set in and then gangrene followed.  Drs Phinney, Gates and Wight were here Monday in consultation. His great toe was amputated Wednesday, but grave fears are entertained as to the final result."  Within a week, the doctors were back to perform another amputation.  At first, this appeared to do the trick.  In its June 26, 1896 issue, the paper said that "John Hilson is to all appearances improving slowly."  A week later, the Recorder reported the situation was about the same, but within a couple of days of that report appearing, Hilson died.  His death and a brief obituary appeared in the July 10, 1896 Andes Recorder:

Another of our oldest citizens has crossed the river.  John Hilson died on Sabbath, July 5.  He was born in Scotland, May 25, 1827, and came to America in 1850.  After coming here he worked at his trade – a plasterer for four years.  In 1854 he was married to Hannah S. Hamilton, who with one son survives him.  He then farmed it until 1867, when he opened a store in Bovina Centre, where did a large business, until he retired in 1889.  He was succeeded by his son, Alexander, who soon afterwards took John W. Blair into partnership, but is now in business alone.  Soon after he retired from business he visited this old home in Scotland and had talked of crossing the ocean again this summer.  He had held several town and county offices, among them County Superintendent of the Poor.  His pastor, Rev. W.L.C. Samson, officiated at the funeral which was held at one o’clock Tuesday.

While the Hilson family had to deal with this loss, Alexander's infant son was ill with whooping cough.  On the afternoon of his grandfather's funeral, he died, age about two months.  He was buried two days later.

The November 27 Andes Recorder reported that "A fine monument has been erected to the memory of the late John Hilson.  Dauley and Wright, of Oneonta, furnished it." 

Bovina 100 Years Ago - the 1910 Census

In this census year, I have been doing a series of blog entries about Bovina censuses. I've been focusing on the censuses from 1860 and 1910 - 150 and 100 years ago. After a couple of entries about the 1860 census, I'm ready to review the 1910 census.

Bovina's population from 1860-1910 continued the drop that started after 1840. The 1910 population of Bovina was at 912, down over 300 from 1860's number of 1242 (it should be noted that the biggest drop took place between 1860 and 1870, when the Bovina's population fell by over 200). The population of Delaware County over that same period went up slightly, while New York State's population more than doubled. The US Population in 1860 was 31,443,321. By 1910, it was 92,228,496, almost triple the 1860 figure.

And while the numbers in Bovina were down, the information being collected was more detailed. Information collected in 1910 that was not being collected in 1860 included the number of children of each mother (and the number still living), number of years of current marriage, employment status at time of the census, did they own or rent, was the property mortgaged and were they a Civil War veteran.

During my initial skim of the census records, one thing that struck me is in this census, unlike the 1860 one, there are people that I recall from my childhood and young adulthood. Some of them included:

• Grace Coulter, who later married Dave Roberts and lived on Maple Avenue, was less than a year old in 1910. She was a school teacher at the Bovina school and in other area schools. I remember Grace and Dave later in their lives - I would visit them almost every time I came to Bovina. Grace was 83 when she passed away.
  
• Another Coulter I remember was Ruth Coulter, who later married Bill Parsons. Ruth was five years old and living with her parents and a couple of aunts in 1910. Ruth passed away in 2000.
• Fletcher Davidson, one of my predecessors as Bovina Town Historian, was a teenager living with his parents and his sister Vera. (See my blog entry from August 23, 2009 for more about Fletcher.)
  
• Fred and Nell Henderson were my neighbors when I was a child until they sold their home to Jim and Mary Haran in 1963. They were in their late 20s at the time of the 1910 census and had been married for 4 years. Fred and Nell would go on to celebrate 75 years of marriage before Fred's death in 1971. Nell died the following year.
  
• James Hilson, who I remember as the old gentleman who worked in Hilson's Store across the street from where he lived, was a teenager living with his parents and siblings. Jim died in 1984.
  
• Helena Strangeway was 22 at the time of this census, living with her parents and sister. She became the sister-in-law of James Hilson when she married his brother John in 1913. Helena died in 1976 at age 89.
• Bob Boggs, who became my uncle when he married my mom's sister Geraldine Edwards, was 4 months old at the time of the census. He had an older brother Don. Bob passed away in 1991.
  

Both of my paternal grandparents also are in the census:

• Anna Bell Barnhart, my dad's mom, was 16, living with her parents and three siblings at their farm on Pink Street. Grandma married James Calhoun (also in this census) in 1917 and was widowed a year later when James died in the First World War. She married grandpa in 1923 and died in 1980.
  
• My grandfather, Ben LaFever, was 10 years old and living with his uncle and aunt, Dave and Aggie (Burns) Draffen up on Crescent Valley Road (his younger brother, Clarence, was living with their grandparents, Alex and Nancy Burns, right next door). Grandpa's mother had died in 1908 so he and his brother were shipped off to his mother's relatives back in Bovina. Grandpa died in 1982.

Other names I remember from my youth include Cecil and Isabell Russell, Bill Burns, Les Hoy, Leroy Worden (another neighbor from my childhood), Helen Gladstone (Mrs. Robert Hall), Henry Monroe, and Margaret Gordon, who was my social studies teacher in 7th grade.

There will be more coming about this census once I get the data into a database so I can do some analysis. How many of the 912 people in Bovina were going to school? How many were employed? And at what occupation? Were family sizes bigger or smaller compared to 1860?

So watch this space for further developments.

Remembering Jack Hilson

On Sunday Bovina lost another one of its long time familiar faces with the death of Jack Hilson (his obituary is in the Daily Star at http://www.legacy.com/thedailystar/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=139551588). Jack was a life long Bovina resident and a descendant of one of Bovina's oldest families. I remember Jack as the proprietor of Hilson's Store and Hilson's Feedstore, along with his brother Alex.

I also remember Jack as a great source on Bovina town history. Jack recalled that as a youngster, he had roller skated in the old Bovina Methodist church building, which was next to his boyhood home. This information helped me narrow down when the building was demolished - I finally found a newspaper article about the demolition in April 1926. Here's a picture of Jack and his older sister Louise in front of the church, probably not long before the church was torn down.

When I started working on this entry, I checked out a brief biography of Jack's great grandfather, the first John Hilson, sometimes known as 'Old Jock.' This biography comes from the 1895 Biographical Review of Delaware County. I include it here partly because of the number of similarities between Jack and his great grandfather. Jack's ancestor was a farmer and a merchant, like Jack, and was actively involved in the community, also like Jack. They both were members of the Bovina United Presbyterian Church - Jack had recently been honored for his 76 years of membership.

"JOHN HILSON, one of the most successful businessmen of Bovina Centre, was born in Scotland on May 25, 1827, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Nesbit) Hilson. ... John lived at home with his parents until his twenty-third year, being educated in Scotland, and learning the plasterer's trade of his father. In 1850, at the age of twenty-three, he came to America landing in New York after a pleasant voyage of only thirty days in a sailing ship. He came directly to Delaware County, and settled in Bovina, where he followed his trade for more than four years. In 1855, the year after his marriage, Mr. Hilson bought a farm of a hundred acres, where he started a dairy, having fifteen cows to commence with, and increasing the number to twenty-five during his seventeen years of farming. He has owned three different farms in Bovina, and now has a splendid one of two hundred and six acres, besides his residence in Bovina Centre.

"In 1845 he married Hannah S. Hamilton, a daughter of Robert Hamilton, one of Bovina's hardy pioneers. He started a large general store in 1867; and, before retiring from business, in 1889, to return to Scotland for a summer's visit, he had built up a very good trade. Since his return Mr. Hilson has speculated somewhat in butter, but has engaged in no active work, leaving his son Alexander to take charge of the store, in partnership with Mr. Blair. Alexander Hilson, born in 1855, is the only child of his parents. He was married in 1880 to Isabell Archibald; and they have two children, John [Jack's dad] and Jane Hilson, born in 1881 and 1885 [I have 1888 and 1891 respectively as the birthdays of John and Jane].

"John Hilson has a large circle of friends, he and his wife being members of the United Presbyterian church, wherein he has held the position of Trustee for a number of years. He has also been town clerk for ten years, and Superintendent of the Poor three years, and now holds the office of Notary Public. The Hilsons have always been identified with the interests of the town, and are esteemed by all who know them.

"Well has it been said by a poetic philosopher of our own day, Dr. J. G. Holland: -- 'God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest. He does not unearth the good that the earth contains; but he puts it in our way, and gives us the means of getting it ourselves.'"

I think this quote equally refers to Jack. Jack was always working, whether as a farmer, merchant, a veteran of World War II or a conscientious citizen of his community. Jack did not let a stroke slow him down very much. He found the means to keep working. I used to see him tooling around town using a large three wheeled bicycle to run errands at the post office and store. And he continued to mow the front lawn of the church. He had the old Scottish toughness of his ancestors. They would have been proud of him.

Merry Christmas

In the spirit of the season, here are three images from Bovina from the Hilson Family. [Click on each image and you'll get a larger and clearer view of it in a new window.]

Christine Hilson Batey graciously let me scan some of her family's albums last year and there are some gems. This first image to the left dates from probably the late 30s. The gentleman in the foreground is Alex Hilson. His younger brother Jack (and Christine's father) is in the chair at the left.






This is a view of Hilson Brother's store, probably also from the 30s, though not necessarily from Christmas. Note the 'vehicle' at the left in the picture is a horse drawn wagon with milk cans.




















This winter scene, also not necessarily dated to Christmas, shows Scotts Bridge, which was at the 'lower' end of the hamlet. Noted as one of Delaware County's 'crookest' bridges, it was determined to be a safety hazard in the 50s. At one point, school buses crossing the bridge had to unload their passengers and have them walk across the bridge, with the bus following. It was replaced with a modern bridge, located a bit further down the river. When the new bridge was done, the old bridge was torn down, despite afforts by Frank and Stella McPherson to save it.
A Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for the New Year.