Enjoys Autumn Foliage

The October 5, 1934 issue of the Catskill Mountain News contained this little tidbit about one of the Gerry Family of Lake Delaware:

 
On September 27, thanks to Andy Wos, I found out why Angelica spent autumn at her home.  Angelica, the daughter of Elbridge T. Gerry and Louisa Livingston Gerry, is remembered as the builder of St. James Episcopal Church.  Not long after the church was built, she built her home, Ancrum, named for a town in Scotland from which her ancestors hailed.  Angelica died in 1960 at the age of 89.  In 1963, the family demolished the house because of the taxes.  I remember seeing from Route 28 the house being dismantled.  With the growth of trees, you can no longer see the site from 28. 

Andy kindly took me to where the house stood.  I could not have had a better day for this visit.  Here are a couple of photographs I took from where the house stood, looking toward Lee Hollow. 

Angelica's brother, Robert, also built a home on the estate.  Aknusti was built in 1913 and had a number of famous visitors, including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.  The house suffered a serious fire in 1953.  Some of the fire damage still is evident.  Here's the view from the front terrace. 

Robert died at Aknusti in 1957, the same day that his brother, Rhode Island Senator Peter Gerry, died in Providence.  Robert is buried in Lake Delaware, as are Peter and Angelica.

I will be doing future blog entries on the Gerry family and their connections to Bovina. 

Foundations of Bovina - Horace and Clara Warren

This is the first in another series in this blog.  I’m hoping to identify the numerous house and barn foundations that are all that remain of some of Bovina’s 19th century farms. 

During a hike at the end of October 2011 with Lynne Resch and Andrew Ebenstein off Cape Horn Road, we came across the foundation of what appeared to be a house and barn.  In checking the 1856 Gould Map and the 1869 Beers Atlas, I determined that the farm was that of Horace and Clara Warren.  The property is on the border with the Town of Stamford near what is now called Mount Warren. 

1869 Beers Atlas of Delaware County showing the location of the Warren farm.  It's in the upper center of the image.  Note near the bottom the location of the Elisha Maynard homestead.

When I first found the foundation, I speculated that it might be the homestead of Bovina’s first settler, Elisha Maynard, who settled in Bovina in 1792.  Delaware County Historian Pat Grimes had a similar speculation.  In 1995, he led a group of hikers, including my parents, to these foundations and said it was the original Maynard homestead.  My review of tax records, deeds and old maps led me to question this.  The Beers map (above) clearly notes where the Maynard homestead was located, and it was not where this foundation was found.  Some of the confusion that led Mr. Grimes to assume this was the Maynard homestead is that it was owned by a Maynard - just not the original settler.  It became the property of W.H. Maynard in the 1880s.  When the house and barn disappeared is not clear, but by 1916, tax records indicate no structures on the land. 

May 1995, Bovina Historical Society hike to the Warren homestead.  That's Mrs. Grimes in the photo.  This foundation is fairly large and is likely the barn.

So who were Horace and Clara Warren?  Horace was the son of Jesse Warren and Dorcas Monroe.  Born in 1812, he appears to have been from somewhere in Ulster County.  Sometime in the 1830s, Horace married Clarissa Fowler, who was born in 1809.  The couple had at least ten children: Melvin (though I’ve also seen this name as Melbourn and Millburn), James (the first, he died sometime before 1836), John, Charles A., James (the second, born in 1836), Mary C., Andrew, Sarah E., Winfield Harvey, and George.  In the 1840s, the Warrens acquired property along Roses Brook in Stamford.  It appears they kept expanding that property into Bovina and by 1848 were paying property taxes in Bovina.  Some of the land was leased, some was owned. 

Horace and Clara appear to have been at times a combative couple, not so much with each other, but with their neighbors and, at least once, with law enforcement.  In 1843, while they were living in Stamford, Horace and Clara were both charged with assault and battery.  The case papers are not complete, so it is not clear what issue was involved.  What is in the records is that Clara went after Town of Stamford constable Augustus N. Older with “hands, fists, brooms, broomsticks and firebrands” while he was carrying out his duties.  The specifics of the duty he was carrying out is not clear – maybe he was arresting her husband and Clara went to the his defense a little too enthusiastically.   Ultimately, Horace was the one convicted and was fined $10 in June 1843.  There was no conviction for Clara – the record either was lost or the charges were dropped.  

Horace shows up in the court records again in August 1859 when he filed a claim against James Kissock concerning a horse.  Again, the records are not complete, so what happened is not clear.  At that same court session, Horace was charged by his neighbor John Kipp with assault and battery and was fined $50.

The Warrens once again show up in court in June 1881, when Clara was 72 and Horace was 69.  Peace recognizances were issued for both to keep the peace towards the people of New York and specifically to Russell Burtch of Andes (who may have been a constable).  The records for this case are not complete either, so details as to what happened are not available. 

The last appearance of the Warrens in court records concerns the foreclosure of their farm - and by the time the foreclosure proceedings had started, Clara was deceased.  Back in April 1878, the Warrens took out a mortgage for their various land holdings from John Rutherford.  In July 1884, Clara died in Bovina of dysentery at about the age of 75.  Three months later, Rutherford filed a complaint for non-payment of the mortgage.  In November 1884, at a special term of the Supreme Court held in Kingston, the Warren properties in Bovina and Stamford were ordered to be sold at public auction.  After losing his farm, Horace disappears from any Bovina records.  It is not clear when he passed away (he was 72 when Clara died) or where.  In a survey done in the 1920s, Horace and Clara are recorded as being buried in Bovina in the Nichols Cemetery on Cape Horn road, not very far from their farm.  If so, the monument marking their grave has long disappeared.  

Horace and Clara saw two of their sons go off to war during the Civil War.  Charles A. Warren and James DeWitt Warren enlisted in the 144th and both survived the war.  Charles was wounded at the Battle of Deveau Neck and was discharged for disability.  He settled in Sullivan County after the war and died around 1892.  His brother James lived in Bovina after the war, then moved to the Bloomville area for some time before finally settling in Delhi, where he died in 1917 (more about these two soldiers will show up in the series of Bovina Civil War soldier biographies). 

October 28, 2011 hike, my first visit to the foundation.

November 18, 2011.  Second visit.  Compare this to the picture above from May 1995.

Note:  If anyone reading this blog is aware of intriguing building foundations around Bovina, please contact me.  I'd love to explore them with you. 

Bovina in the Civil War - Soldier Biographies IX

Berry S. Miller and Gilbert D. 'Gib' Miller were the sons of Scottish natives William and Isabella Miller, growing up in Bovina.  They enlisted in September 1864 in Company E of the 144th New York Volunteers as privates.  At the time of his enlistment, Berry was five feet nine inches tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion.  Brother Gib was similiarly described, except his hair was described as light.  The brothers  mustered out with their company in June 1865 at Hilton Head, SC.  Berry was plagued by illness from his service in the war, suffering from neuralgia, rheumatism and deafness in one ear.  He married Kate Elliott Oliver in 1866 and they settled in Bovina.  Kate died in 1892.  Berry survived her by 14 years, moving in with his brother Gib.  He died in 1906 and is buried in the Bovina Cemetery.  Gib also was plagued by illness after the war, in his case, chronic diarrhea.  In 1869, he married Mary Jane Banker.  He was active in the England Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War Veterans' organization, until it was disbanded.  In his later years, the American Legion would supply a car to bring him to services honoring his fallen war comrades.  "Gib" Miller has the distinction of being Bovina's last surviving 'old soldier.'  He died on March 13, 1931 in Oneonta from the effects of a fall a few days previously.

Francis W. Miller was born in 1847, the son of James and Agnes Coulter Miller.  He enlisted in February 1864 as a private.  He was 17, but claimed to be 18.  Two months after he enlisted, Francis died in Martinsburgh, Virginia of disease (probably typhoid, but the records do not specify).  He has the distinction of being Bovina's youngest Civil War fatality.

James K. Mills was born in Connecticut in 1843 but by 1850 was living with his parents in Bovina.  James enlisted in the 8th New York Battery as a private in October 1861.  When he enlisted, he was a farmer and had hazel eyes, black hair, a florid complexion and was 5 ft 7 1/2 inches tall. He was paid a bounty of $350.  He re-enlisted in November 1863 and was discharged in 1865.  Settling in Pepacton in the Town of Colchester, he married Nancy Liddle in 1867 and had 11 children.  James died in September 1903 in Colchester.

James Murphy's connection with Bovina is pretty tenuous, though he appears on the official listing of Bovina's soldiers created in 1865.  James spent most of his life in Andes.  Born in Ireland in 1843, he came to America in 1856 with his parents, Luke and Anastasia Murphy.  He enlisted in the 144th New York Volunteers in August 1864 and mustered out with his company in June 1865 in Hilton Head, SC.  He settled in Andes working as a farm laborer.  He moved to Arkville late in life to live with his sister-in-law and died there in December 1929.  He is buried in Rondout.

Patrick G. Murphy was born in Ireland in 1842 and was in Bovina in the 1860s.  He enlisted in 1862 and was paid a bounty payment of $150.  At the time of his enlistment, he was 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and black hair.  He joined the 144th New York volunteers and mustered out with his company in June 1865.  After the war, Patrick headed west, settling in Colorado.  He was widowed by 1910 and living in Rio Grande County, Colorado in the Soldiers and Sailors Home.  He was still living there a decade later, but further information concerning when he died is lacking.

Faces of Bovina – Andrew and Sophie Reinertsen

This is the start of a new series in the Bovina NY History Blog that will feature photographs mostly of people I knew as a child in Bovina.  The photos will all come from the Bob Wyer photo collection at the Delaware County Historical Association.  Wyer, who started his photographic career in the late 1930s and continued until the late 1970s, photographed people, places and events in and around the Delhi, NY area.  One of the services he offered for much of his career was taking photographs that people needed for various licenses and for passports.  This new series is going to focus on these images.

What I find interesting about these photos is that these often show people as they really were.   They might work to make sure their clothes and hair were presentable, but otherwise they would walk in, sit down and Bob would shoot, and usually only one photo.  His wife Billie was not there to work on your pose, as she would for formal portraits.  These were ID photos, not something you would share with relatives or hang in your living room.  And the background on some of these is not much more than a wall in his studio.  In some of the images, you can see ‘stuff’ on the edges.  Wyer would cut the photo down so just the face would show for the license.  These will be presented in this series as the full shot.

On Friday, September 7, there will be an opening reception for a new exhibit at the Delaware County Historical Association featuring around 100 of Bob’s many photographs, now held by the DCHA.  The variety of images may surprise you.  One feature of the exhibit will be a demonstration of how one family's story was told through his images over multiple generations.  That family will be the Reinertsen family.

Andrew and Sophie (Larsen) Reinertsen were both natives of Norway.  Andrew Reinertsen (1883-1961) came to the United States from Norway around 1900.  Sophia (Sophie) Larsen (1895-1971) came about a decade later.  Andrew and Sophie were married in Brooklyn and came to Bovina Center in 1918, where they farmed and raised their family of nine children:  sons Sigurd, Leif, Carl, Robert and Walter and daughters Thelma, Gladys, Ethel and Edna.  In 1944, they moved from the family farm at the upper end of Reinertsen Hill Road to a smaller farm just outside the hamlet of Bovina Center (my house, as it so happens).  Right around the time of the move came the D-Day invasion.  In that invasion, their son Carl, also known as Arthur, was killed.  Two other sons served in the war and survived.

In 1950, my newly wed parents moved into the house right next to Andrew and Sophie, so I grew up right next door to them.  I was only six when Andrew died in December 1961, so I only remember him vaguely.  I do recall when he died because us kids were playing in our yard and my dad asked us to keep it down because Mr. Reinertsen had passed away.  Sophie survived Andrew by a decade, so I have a stronger recollection of her.  We loved to hear her say the word 'water,' which, with her still existent Norwegian accent, came out 'vater.'  She was very good-natured about us coming over and asking for a glass of water.  We did it partly to hear her say 'vater' but also because her well water was really good.  Sophie was happy to have us clamber around the land behind her house to pick blackberries, which my sisters and I sold in town.  We would occasionally give her a quart or two as a thank you, but had to do it surreptitiously because otherwise she insisted on paying for them.  As Sophie's health began to fail, my sister Susan was hired to stay overnight with her to keep an eye on her.  Sophie died in February 1971.

All of Sophie and Andrew's children are now gone, with the exception of Thelma, who was married to my great uncle, Ed LaFever.  As a kid, I found it somewhat confusing that Andrew and Sophie had grandchildren who were also my cousins, but they had other grandchildren who were not.  Some of their descendants are still in Bovina today, including the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of their son Leif. Other descendants still are in Delaware County, while others have gone further afield. 

Andrew's passport photo, March 15, 1946

Sophie's passport photo March 15, 1946

This photo dates from March 1946 and appears to have been after the above two pictures.  Why it was redone is not clear, but it might be because back in the 1940s, couples traveled on one passport and Sophie and Andrew may not have realized this.   

After Sophie was widowed, she needed to have a new passport photo.  This photo dates from March 27, 1962 

A request (and what will be a reminder at the end of each of these Faces of Bovina entries) – I would love it for people who remember Andrew and Sophie to share their memories – incidents, small stories, whatever – through the use of the comments feature of this blog.  And I would appreciate it if you would include your name in your comments.  Most people who respond to a blog have some kind of alias or post anonymously.  For the historical record, I really would like to know who left the comment. Thanks.

Stories from Bovina's Cemeteries – A Bovina Artist

UPDATE - October 17, 2013 - A suspicion that I had for some time was confirmed this August when I verified that James A. Thomson was not the artist of these two paintings.  The fact that he never pursued a career as an artist was a strong clue.  Another was that nothing was mentioned in his obituary.  The final kicker was finding an old label on top of one of the paintings with the name Jack Elliott.  Mea culpa.

The Thomson connection comes from the fact that the painting of Johnson's Mill was done for James' parents, Andrew and Anna Thomson.  He inherited the painting and passed it on down to his daughter Ina, who bequeathed it to the Bovina Historical Society.  

Unfortunately, the information on Jack is rather sparse.  He was born in May 1850 and came to the United States from Scotland in the 1880s.  It does not appear that he is related to the Elliotts who settled in this area earlier in the century.  Jack settled in Bloomville and it was there that he died in September 1914 of heart failure.  The Andes Recorder reported his death in a brief notice: "Jack Elliott, a painter, died at Bloomville, September 6, from heart failure.  He was a native of Scotland; a man of middle age.  On coming to this country he spent some time in Bovina and painted numerous landscape pictures and portraits, and was a good artist."

We have identified two other paintings of his, one now owned by Pat Miele, the other held by the Delaware County Historical Association.  Since he painted 'numerous' pictures and portraits, I would love to find more of these. I have some feelers out but other thoughts are welcome.

Fourth Annual Bovina Farm Day

The Fourth Annual Bovina Farm Day will be Sunday, September 2 from 10 to 5 on Crescent Valley Road in Bovina.  To commemorate this, let's go back to this little tidbit from the September 11, 1886 Delaware Republican:

A farmers' picnic was held at Brushland on Thursday.  Grand preparations for a good time were made and enjoyed, the Delhi Cornet Band was in attendance, and the farmers of this most thrifty and prosperous town enjoyed one of the well-earned holidays which they do not allow themselves half often enough.

The publishers went on to thank the organizers for an invitation to the event and to apologize that other engagements prevented them from attending.  Let's hope that business engagements won't prevent you from attending and celebrate the hard working farmers in our area. I will be there with a couple of picture displays and my scanner, so if you have pictures of Bovina people or places you want to share, please bring them!

Bovina Farm Day sign at County Highway 6 and Route 28.

Who is Sally Hadley and Why Are They Saying Those Terrible Things About Her?

On the 22nd of August 1842, Sally Hadley, under oath to John Erkson Jr, a justice of the peace for Bovina, said she was “pregnant of a child and that likely to be born a bastard and to become chargeable to [Delaware County] and that Hugh Gemel of the Town of Stamford is the father of the said child.” Hugh Gemel was arrested the next day and the case was set for August 30, held at the John Seacord hotel in Bovina (where the Lil Hilson house now stands).

The reason that anyone cared was not just an issue of morals. The main issue that made this a legal case was that a child born out of wedlock became the responsibility of the taxpayers. Efforts were made to identify the father of the child - if this could be confirmed, the father became financially responsible.

Not much is known about Sally beyond this case. She was born in 1822, the daughter of Elizabeth Hadley and a resident of Bovina. Sally claimed that she became involved with Hugh Gemel while living with his family for a five-week period in the winter of 1842. The Gemel farm was on Rose's Brook in Stamford, about four miles away from where Sally lived in Bovina. Sally was there to do house work and milk the cows. She said that Hugh “had connection with her five times." In one instance, Sally said that he came up to where she was milking the cows and asked her if she would not pick out some young fellow. She told him she did not know, where upon he took hold of her arms and she went over onto the barn floor. Sally admitted that she did not resist his advances.  In her testimony, Sally claimed that “Mr. Gemel was the only man that ever had connection with her.’

Sally's testimony was not taken at face value. When she was asked about the nature of an oath to tell the truth, it was obvious that she did not understand the concept of perjury and that she could be punished, not only in this world but "in the next world." A number of people were brought in who testified that Sally Hadley’s “reputation for truth and veracity is bad generally” and that they “would not believe her as much as a great many others under oath.” Witnesses testifying against Sally included several members of the Gemel family and some of her neighbors.

These aspersions on Sally's character little influenced the town justices of the peace.  On August 31, they issued their decision, stating "that the said Hugh Gemel is the father of the said child."  They ordered that Gemel had to pay to the county superintendents of the poor or the overseers of the poor for the town "fifty two and a half cents weekly and every week for the support of the said child..."  They also determined that "the said Sally Hadley, being in indigent circumstances" be paid six dollars for her sustenance and during her confinement and recovery.  Gemel also had to pay the costs of bringing him to answer these charges - fifteen dollars and fifty nine cents.

Given the string of witnesses who came and testified against Sally, the verdict is somewhat of a surprise, but their testimony was not specific to Sally's situation at the Gemel farm.  Sally's testimony simply may have carried more weight.  It also is possible that the records are not complete and not every document related to it survived to the 21st century - there could be a missing element here.  A more cynical take on the verdict is that the overseers of the poor were trying to save the taxpayers of the town and county money.  Since the Gemel family was fairly prosperous, the overseers decided to accept Sally's story and make Gemel support the child.

Hugh Gemel continued to farm and was active in the Town of Stamford after this case, serving at different times as Highway Commissioner, Collector, Constable, and School Inspector. Hugh died in 1878 at the age of 74.  We know less about Sally's life after the decision was announced.  The 1850 census for Bovina does show Sally Hadley living with Elizabeth Hadley and a child, John Hadley, who was seven. John likely is the illegitimate child that was born to Sally.  After the 1850 census, Sally and her child disappear from the records.  We do not know what happened to her or her son, nor do we know if Gemel made the required payments.  We likely will never know, but can hope that Sally and her son got some justice and support.