Bovina Butter - Follow-up to April 16, 2016 History Program

I thought as a follow-up to the History Program I presented at the Bovina Community Hall on April 16, I would remind readers of this blog of several past entries related to Bovina Dairying and Bovina Butter.

One of my first entries about Bovina butter was back in August 2009 about the legend about Bovina butter being served at the White House: http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2009/08/was-bovina-butter-served-at-white-house.html

In December 2010, I reported on a speech by the head of the Farmer's Institute in 1910 about his experience visiting Bovina while taking a 'cow census:' http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/12/prosperous-bovina-farmers.html

Here's an entry from July 2015 about Bovina at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893: http://bovinanyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/07/bovina-at-world-columbian-exposition.html

And I have a bunch of thank yous for all the help with Saturday night's program:

*Shannon Mason from Cowbella for supplying butter for the program Saturday night. In partnership with Bovina Valley Farms, Cowbella will be making butter at the Bovina creamery when everything is ready. She noted that her great great grandmother entered her butter at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Cowbella has used Jersey cows since around 1919 - we speculated as to whether any of them were descended from Bovina's Jerseys from the 19th and early 20th century. We may need to do some cow genealogy work here!

*Anne Gorell from Bread Fellows for supply bread to serve with the butter.

*Set-up and clean-up—Kim Riera, Briana Riera, Shannon Shoemaker, Mel Greenburg
*Refreshments—Jan Bray, Marni Greenburg, Kim Riera, Shannon Shoemaker
*Butter boxes—Bob Cairns, Carrie Choquette, Cindy Coffell, Angela Gaffney, Barbara Hanselman, Cathie Hewitt, Samantha Misa, Annette Robbins, Donna Weber, Noreen Yost

I needed the boxes as a way to represent the 112 pounds of butter it takes to fill one firkin.

And thank you to the Delaware County Historical Association for lending a firkin from its collections.

"To butter or not to butter, that is the question."
Photo by Roz Foster, lighting by Chris Ingvordsen.

Bovina at the World Columbian Exposition

One of the high points in Bovina's butter making history took place in 1893, when over twenty percent of all New York farmers exhibiting butter at the World's Chicago Exposition Agricultural Building came solely from the Town of Bovina.

Agricultural Building at the Worlds Columbian Exposition
Original postcard from the University of Maryland Digital Collections, National Trust Library Historic Postcard Collection

Michael Miller, one of the farmers who exhibited his butter, received this paperwork about his entry (though he was listed in the guide of exhibitors as Marshall Miller!).

Here's the list of the Bovina farmers who exhibited butter (several of the names were corrected from the original list).

Ada, Chas M., Bovina
Archibald, Geo, Bovina
Archibald, Jno. M., Bovina
Armstrong, Frank, Bovina Centre
Bailey, Jacob, Bovina Centre
Biggar, Robert, Bovina Centre
Black, Wm., Bovina Centre
Bramley, H.G., Bovina Centre
Burgin, H.C., Lake Delaware
Burns, Alexander, Bovina
Burns, J.D., Bovina Centre
Campbell, J.M., Bovina Centre
Clunn, A., Bovina
Davidson, D., Lake Delaware
Doig, W.A., Bovina Centre
Doig, W.J., Lake Delaware
Hilson, Thos, Bovina
Hobby, James, Lake Delaware
Hobby, Jno. T., Bovina
Jackson, T.R., Lake Delaware
Jarvin, Gilbert, Bovina Centre
Johnson, A., Bovina
Johnson, Alex A., Bovina
Johnson, J.H., Bovina
Lee, A.R., Bovina Centre
Lee, Chas R., Bovina
Little, D.D., Bovina
Ludington, B.H., Bovina
McFarland, A., Bovina
McFarland, J.T., Bovina
Miller, Michael, Bovina Centre
Miller, Wm. L., Bovina Centre
Mitchell, J.D., Bovina
Oliver, D., Bovina Centre
Ormiston, Thos, Bovina Centre
Roberton, M., Bovina Centre
Ruff, W., Bovina
Russell, A.T., Bovina
Russell, James, Bovina
Russell, Jno. A., Bovina Centre
Russell, R.N., Bovina
Russell, S., Bovina Centre
Scott, R.R., Bovina Centre
Strangway, Thomas, Lake Delaware
Thompson, Dickinson, Bovina Centre
Thompson, R.A., Bovina Centre
Thompson, W.A., Bovina
Thompson, Wm. S., Bovina Centre
Thomson, Mrs. A.D., Bovina Centre
Tuttle, C.A., Bovina Centre
White, W.S., Bovina Centre
Wilson, Alexander, Bovina Centre

From The Official Directory of the World Columbian Exposition, 1893, page 554-556

Be sure to come and celebrate Bovina Farming today by coming to Seventh Annual Bovina Farm Day on Sunday, September 6 on Crescent Valley Road.  

Some Briefs from the Newspaper, January 1899

The Delaware Republican for January 28, 1899, had two articles concerning butter and people from Bovina.  For what it's worth:

Sometime since Milton Doig of Bovina Centre purchased of Miss Etta Palmater of New Kingston her butter, representing that he was acting under orders of M.T. Menzie, the Delhi grocer.  Mr. Doig attempted to sell the butter to Mr. Menzie, but the latter refusing to purchase, shipped it to a New York Commission house in his own name.  Later, Doig made an assignment and the consequent result is that Miss Palmatier fails to realize on her sale.  A warrant was issued and Doig was brought before Justice Ives, Monday. He gave bonds to appear before the Grand Jury.  (from the Messenger)

I need to see if there is anything in the court records on this.

The second article, apparently not related to the first:

James Mabon, one of Bovina's prominent farmers, passed through town on Tuesday en route for Scranton for the purpose of selling a portion of his dairy of butter.  He returned on Thursday, having disposed of 3,200 pounds of butter, which he shipped this week.  Mr. Mabone is a gentleman who believes that hte farmer is as capable of transacting business as any one.  The result of his trip would indicate that this is true, and that he has no use fo rthe middleman.  (from the Walton Times)

And totally unrelated to butter, I found this little entry:

S.A. LaFevre will give an exhibition and lecture on the Cuban War, using 52 views of all land and naval battles during the recent conflict, by means of a magic lantern, at Mackey's Hall, Meridale on Thursday evening next, Feb. 2d.  Admission 25c; children 15c.

I am pretty sure that this is Sylvan Ackerman LaFever, my great grandfather.  He was someone who spent years trying to find his niche in the world. He finally found it working for the railroad, after several failed attempts at farming.  At the time of this article, he was trying to farm in Bovina.  About a year later, he was facing foreclosure.  Not long after the birth of his son (and my grandfather) Benson, he left Bovina with his wife and son.

Sylvan was not actually in the Spanish-American War.  It is likely that these images were a standard set from the war designed for such shows as this.  Showing these slides was one of his attempts to stay afloat financially.

Prosperous Bovina Farmers

Just over 100 years ago, the Catskill Mountain News of February 25, 1910 reported on a speech by Dr. Powell of Columbia County at a dinner in New York. The paper noted that Dr. Powell "has long been prominently connected with the agricultural interests of the State." Powell had been Director of the Farmer's Institute in the 1890s and served as Treasurer of the New York State Dairymen's Association. His speech included remarks about Bovina and his experience there in the early 1890s while conducting a farm census of the town.

"It has been said that you never know the best qualities of a man until you have put your feet under his table, and in making a dairy census of the town of Bovina several years ago, I met the farmers and their families in their homes and had the most favorable opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted with their character, and found in them most excellent qualities.... "

Dr. Powell recalled arriving at the farm of William Black, who also happened to be Bovina's town supervisor. William Thompson Black was born in Beetown, Grant County, Wisconsin in 1861 but grew up in Bovina. He took over the family farm on Coulter Brook Road on the early death of his father, making it one of the leading farms in Bovina. In 1885, Black married Bell J. Irvine, a daughter of Henry and Jeanette (Ainslie) Irvine, of Delhi.

Powell arrived at the Black's around 5 pm on a hot July day. He was invited to stay over and provide Mr. Black with a little instruction on how to use a new milk tester. After about an hour learning about the tester, Black realized that he still needed to milk his herd of 33 cows. Because his hired men were away for the day, he asked his wife Bell to help. Powell felt guilty sitting in the Black's sitting room while Mrs. Black, who he noted did not weigh more than 100 pounds, was milking over a dozen cows. Powell asked her if she was going to milk half of the cows. She replied, 'Oh, yes, I have done that before.' Powell responded 'If you will give me an apron I will help you." He was somewhat surprised when the offer was immediately accepted. He ended up milking a third of the herd - 11 cows.

Powell noted that "After milking was over cake and milk and fruit were served after which Mr. and Mrs. Black provided some good music for nearly an hour, and I shall never forget the excellent type of life which those young people represents in their home and the very delightful evening I spent with them."

The story went out that the man who was taking the census actually knew how to milk a cow, and that he had milked 11 at Supervisor Black's. It likely worked in his favor as he continued his census work.

Powell left Bovina at the end of the census with a very favorable impression of the town and its farmers. He stated in his final report on the census that "I believed that the town of Bovina was the richest town in the United States." He said that he had never seen "so large a number of high producing herds of cows" as he found in Bovina. He noted that Bovina farmers had introduced well bred Jersey bulls and had built up an exceedingly good class of diary cows. He also noted very nutritious pastures and a productive soil.

Powell speculated as to why "this one small isolated town differ[ed] from many sections of the State where the land was more level, more easily worked and with more convenient transportation facilities." He felt it was in the better system of farming. In much of the state, the fertility of the soil has been depleted, "while in Bovina it has been such as has conserved and improved the soil." He noted that the main produce of Bovina farms, namely butter, removed the smallest portion of the elements of soil fertility while the by products, such as skim milk and butter milk, were fed to chickens and pigs.

In a future blog entry, I'll report on the results of the Bovina Cow Census that Dr. Powell was speaking about.

Note: William Black became Delaware County Clerk and moved to Delhi in the late 19th or early 20th century. He also ran unsuccessfully for the State Senate in 1912. He and his wife both died in 1938 and are buried in Delhi.