Bovina Civil War Records update

On the 18th of this month, I posted thirty documents from the Town of Bovina files relevant to the Civil War.  I know they are being looked at because I've had a couple of comments back already.  One person noted that I had the wrong name on one of the exemption claims I posted, that of James Scott.  I had it as being that of John Telford, but he was the doctor who signed the note (this was the only exemption claim I found that had a doctor's signature).  Thanks to the person who caught that.  I've corrected the information.

And today I heard from Jeannie Raitt Flye.  I had speculated that David Nicholl, for whom I had uploaded his bounty payment receipt, may have been the one person reported after the war as having taken the bounty money and run.  I came to this conclusion because out of all the soldiers for whom I had receipts, he was the only one who did not appear on any soldiers list.  Jeannie wanted to set the record straight, for David did indeed enlist.  As she noted in her e-mail to me:  "David was at Jefferson College in Cannonsburg, Penn where he competed his sophomore year.  He then enlisted in the Union Army at Pittsburgh, Pa., on 8 Sep 1862 in Batty E Light Artillery Regiment Pennsylvania.  This Battery participated in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg as well as other skirmishes.  David  was wounded in the right shoulder in 1863 which resulted in a permanent disability to his arm and shoulder.  He was unfit for active service but after several surgeries was transferred into the newly-formed 147th Company of the Veteran Reserve Corps until after the end of the war."

So thanks Jeannie for this information.  This is the real value of social media such as this blog and Flickr.  The information exchange can be two-way, helping me in my work as Bovina Town historian.

I will be adding David to my list of Bovina soldiers - and some more digging to see who skipped town without enlisting.  A report in 1866 about the town bounties stated that one person did indeed abscond.  I hope someday I'll find out who it was.

Happy New Year!

Early on in life, I've had this penchant for documenting things - by my diary and by taking photos (digital photography has allowed me to photograph just about everything in my life these days). I started my journal in June 1970 and that same month, got my first camera, a Polaroid Swinger.

Forty years ago today, I started a tradition of taking a photograph out of my bedroom window each New Year's Day. Well, the tradition lasted until 1978 when I moved away. I never picked it up in any place I have lived since. Today was my first New Year's Day spent in Bovina since 1978. So I decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of that first photo by taking one out of the same window today.

The weather 40 years ago was a lot different than today's unusually mild day (I was able to ride my bike this morning). As you can see from the photo below, we had quite a snowfall for the start of 1978. I noted in my journal that I "had to shovel at Russels (sic). There was quite a bit of snow." The snow that fell New Year's Day was washed away by rain within a few days.

It wasn't easy lining up the shot to match the one from 40 years ago. You'll note that a number of landmarks, including the barn and garage, are gone. The tree still stands, though it is going to have to be cut down sometime this year. We're sorry to see it go, but it's starting to drop branches with some frequency, so it's time.

Since the 1971 photograph was taken in a snowstorm, I've also included the picture from 35 years ago (1976) to provide a clearer idea of what the view looked like a few decades ago.

Happy New Year to all from bucolic Bovina.


January 1, 1971


January 1, 1976







January 1, 2011