Searching for Erastus

I'm starting on a project that could take years, namely researching a gentleman named Erastus Root. Root was not a Bovina resident but is inextricably linked to its history as the person who named the town (see my blog post of November 22, 2009). This interest in Root was piqued after I finished reading Harvest of Dissent: Agrarianism in Nineteenth-Century New York by Thomas Summerhill (I highly recommend this - the focus is on Otsego, Schoharie and Delaware Counties). Root is mentioned a few times in this book in discussions on the politics related to farming. These references to Root and his political activities got me to wondering if maybe he had more to do with the creation of Bovina than just its name. Did he spur the various citizens in Stamford, Middletown and Delhi to break away to create the town? And if he did, why? What was in it for him? Maybe he was looking for another seat on the Delaware County Board of Supervisors. Root may have wanted that seat as part of his effort to ensure that rural areas did not suffer politically from the construction of the Erie Canal. As Summerhill noted in his book, "For Root, universal suffrage and the expansion of the number of elective offices would encourage voters in townships and counties to band together to promote their interests. Only then could rural districts battle canal towns for political power."

My thoughts about Root's involvement with the creation of Bovina are just speculation right now, but it has driven me to start some research. I went to Root's entry in The Encyclopedia of New York State, which gave me some basic information about Root. He was born in Hebron, Connecticut in 1773. He became a lawyer and started his practice in Delhi in the late 18th century. Over the years, he held a number of elected offices, including State Assemblyman, State Senator, and a term as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1823-24. He served four non-consecutive terms as a Congressman, with his first term in 1803-05 and his last term in 1831-33. Root was Speaker of the Assembly in 1827, 28 and 1830. His last elected office was as State Senator from 1840 to 1844. Root's party affiliation changed, sometimes as the parties evolved, but at least once because he had changed. He was a Democratic-Republican when he first went to Congress and was a Jacksonian Democrat when he served his last term there. When he unsuccessfully ran again in 1838 for another term in the House, he ran as a Whig. Root had broken with the Jacksonian Democrats over concerns about President Jackson's dictatorial tendencies. Late in life, Root supported the anti-renters during the Anti-Rent War of the 1840s.

Root died somewhat unexpectedly in December of 1846. His funeral was a large event in Delhi, though inclement weather kept some people away. The Delaware Gazette in its January 6, 1847 issue reported extensively on Root's death and funeral, though politically the paper had been opposed to Root for several years, probably when he became a Whig. The paper itself noted that "although for some years past we have been politically opposed to him, we have always entertained a kind and grateful remembrance and feeling towards him..."

I'll provide periodic updates as I progress on my research about General Root. We'll see if ultimately I'll have a grateful remembrance and feeling towards him.

I'm In Bovina

This evening I have officially moved to Bovina (meaning that I and both cats are happily ensconced in my Bovina house). I do have one more day of work in Albany on Monday - I will be officially retired on Tuesday the 28th. My plans for the month of October are to commit to as little as possible! I want a bit of time to get settled down, ride my bike and just enjoy the fall. I do expect to be resuming the blog at a more frequent pace sometime in October. And don't be shy if you need to contact me with questions.

Watch this space for further developments.

Surfing in Bovina

No, there are likely no waves to catch in Bovina, except maybe virtual ones on the Internet. In a posting on April 16, I suggested visiting the Delaware County Genealogy and History web site as a great source for information about Bovina's history. There are some other places to go to for further information about Bovina, past and present:

Power of History - Exploring the Agricultural and Industrial History of Delaware County (http://www.powerofhistory.org/). The site is a collection of writings, photos and videos around the history of Delaware County and surrounding towns in the Western Catskills.

Russell's Store - There has been a store operating in this spot in Bovina since probably the 1830s. Owned by Hastings, then Doig, it became Russell's in 1919. The store is now owned by the Bovina Historical Society. Go to http://www.russellsstore.com/RSHome.htm for more information.

Town of Bovina - The town's official website is at http://www.bovinany.org/. Contact information for town officials and other information, including town board minutes, are located here.

Bovina Public Library - Visit the library's website at http://www.bovinalibrary.org/bovina/ for information on hours and pictures from the past. The Bovina Library is where I set up displays on Bovina history. Pay the library a visit - virtually and when you come to Bovina.

If you know of other appropriate web sites concerning Bovina and the area, pass them along to me.

2nd Annual Bovina Farm Day is Sunday

Yep, come to Crescent Valley in Bovina to enjoy the second annual Bovina Farm Day on Sunday, September 5. It's a great chance to see what local farmers are producing. And I'll be there with a display or two and a scanner for anyone who has pictures of Bovina people or places that they would like to share.

For more information on the various activities taking place and for directions, go to http://www.bovinafarmday.com/

Don't rely on this map for directions - it's a tad old. It dates from 1793 and shows lot 108 in Great Lot 41 of the Hardenburgh Patent. Most of the Bovina Farm Day activities essentially will take place within this lot (and lot 110). This map is from the Cockburn Family Papers at the New York State Library's Manuscripts and Special Collections (my thanks to the library staff for allowing me to take digital photographs of these and the other Great Lot 41 maps that related to Bovina). William Cockburn was a surveyor who did numerous surveys in the Hardenburgh Patent. He surveyed all of the lots in Great Lot 41, which belonged to James DeBrosses. Lot 108 was surveyed for Aaron Buckley. A few months later, 100 acres of the 316 and a half acre lot was split off for Joel Beach. These surveys were done for the first settlers on this land. Today, the Lester and Junior Stewart Farms as well as the old Trimbell Farm are in Lot 108.

So come to Bovina Farm Day on September 5 and you'll be in lot 108 too. Hope to see you there.

An Interesting Game at Bovina Center

On Saturday, August 21, the Bovina Dairymen will be playing 'matches' in the birthplace of baseball - Cooperstown (go to the Delaware County Vintage Base Ball site at http://www.delcovintagebb.org/ for more information). So this seemed an appropriate time to bring up the story of matches over 100 years ago between teams from Bovina and Margaretville.

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown has arranged the scanning of the Catskill Mountain News from 1902 to 1937 and put them on the web. Go to http://history.catskill.net/ to see these for yourself. You can search the content, which is how I found this article. Thanks to the historical society for this great resource!

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The May 29, 1903 of the Catskill Mountain News had a front page article about "an interesting game at Bovina Centre." Though the Margaretville Team came out on top, the paper reported that "Good Playing Shown by Both Teams."

"That Margaretville has baseball 'timber' 'goes without saying.' Saturday our aggregation of ball tossers went over the hills to Bovina Centre, and to the tune of 11 to 9 took into camp the locals of that burg, a team which has practically played together for seasons past, and which has had the benefit of several games already this spring. Of course the game from start to finish was closely contested, but a succession of hits in the eighth and ninth, combined with Pitcher Jenkins' exceptionally good work, also in those innings, conclusively settled the question in favor of the visitors.

"First inning - Margaretville went to the bat and it looked like a bombardment. The first ball over the plate Jenkins lined far out in left field, which had all the earmarks of being a safe one, but proved to the contrary; Gladstone reached first on error and scored on Lasher's three-bagger, Allaben hit safe and the former scored, Countryman sacrificed, Allaben went to third and scored on Kelly's single, Reed filed out. Three scores.

"For Bovina W. Thomson reached first, scoring on A. Thomson's long drive; McPherson, Alexander and Hastings went out in one, two, three order. One Score."

The second inning was scoreless. Margaretville did not score in the third, but Bovina was different:

"H. Thompson was safe on first bag, McPherson was put out, Alexander singled, Hastings' hit cleared the bases, Phinney was the second victim, Myers got a life but was left at first by L. Thomson's out. Two scores.

"Fourth inning - Reed singled, Shand and Brophy out, Jenkins' hit scored Reed, and Gladstone closed the inning. One score.

"Jackson, W. Thompson and A. Thompson could not deliver the goods and Bovina again took to the field. No scores.

"Fifth inning - Lasher did not make safe connections and was out at first, Allaben made first easy, Countryman sacrificed, Kelly hit hard, which looked good for at least two bases, but Bovina's second bag tender on a hair-raising play pulled it down. No scores.

"McPherson went to first, was advanced by Alexander's hit, Hastings' hit filled the corners, Phinney first out, Myers singled, L. Thompson second out, Jackson scored Alexander, W. Thomson third out. Two scores."

Bovina scored one run in the sixth inning. The seventh inning was the most active, with Margaretville scoring four runs and Bovina three. In the eighth inning, Margaretville scored two more runs. Unfortunately, Bovina began to falter: "Hastings' and Phinney's club had holes in it...and L. Thomson, like Phinney, unfortunately used Hastings bat." Bovina did not score again, while Margaretville scored one run in the 9th. The article concluded that "Frank Kittle umpired the game most satisfactorily and was highly complimented by the Bovina team."

In a game the following June, Bovina came to Margaretville and came out on top, beating Margaretville 15-13. The Catskill Mountain News noted that "The home team followed error by error - the whole game was full of them - though interspersed with sudden flashes of brilliancy in the field by both teams." The game started off with a shut out for Bovina while Margaretville scored four runs. But Bovina recovered to score three runs in the second inning and six of its runs in the fourth inning. "In the seventh Margaretville furnished some excitement by tieing the score but it was no use and Bovina returned home victorious."

Bovina Farm Day 2010

In a little less than one month, the second annual Bovina Farm Day will be held up Crescent Valley. It'll happen on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend - September 5 to be specific. I will be there again this year with a display and my scanner - I'm always looking for pictures of Bovina farms, people, events - well, anything related to Bovina.

Go to http://www.bovinafarmday.com/index.html for more information on Bovina Farm Day. I've been asked to write up a brief history of the farms up Crescent Valley. I will share that at my display booth on Bovina Farm Day - and share it on my blog shortly after.

Hope to see many of you on the 5th!

Who Was Buying What 178 years ago Today

As I noted in an earlier blog entry, it is likely that my blogging is going to suffer while I transition full time to Bovina. But I want to celebrate the fact that tonight I have Internet in my house in Bovina (as well as a new washing machine). So I looked through pages from a Bovina store ledger that the county historian allowed me to photograph earlier this month to see who bought what on July 30 in 1832 (the volume, unfortunately, has many missing pages while others were pasted over by news paper, so I was lucky to find July 30). The source of this ledger is not clear - we do not know who the store owner was or where in Bovina the store was located.

Here's what some folks bought 178 years ago today:

We'll start with my ancestor, Francis Coulter, who bought 5 quarts of Whiskey and a pound of tobacco for what looks like $1.72. He wasn't the only person buying liquor. Included on the list for July 30 as having bought whiskey were John Thomson (1/2 gallon), Walter Scott (2 gallons), John Winters (1 quart) and Alexander Brush (1 gallon). Another ancestor of mine, William Miller, was more abstentious, buying a pound each of tea and coffee, along with an item that I can't read, for $1.31. July 30 seemed to be a thirsty day. Most of the purchases were for coffee, tea and whiskey, though Isaac Atkins did buy a gallon of molasses for $1.50. On July 31, the purchases were very similar, including repeat purchases of whiskey from Francis Coulter (another 5 quarts) and Alexander Brush (another gallon). David Thomson bought 2 gallons, along with 2 darning needles for $1.77. John Secord bought a teapot and blue thread while Thomas Sloan bought 4 pounds of sugar and a pitchfork for a $1.81. Frederick Purdy spent $1.36 for 4 pounds of nails.

When I get more settled in Bovina in the fall, I want to do a more thorough review of this incomplete ledger book to look at the buying patterns. Going by just these last two days of July in 1832, one definitely gets the impression that there was a lot of drinking going on (over half the purchases were for whiskey). But did Francis Coulter really down 5 quarts in a day, necessitating the purchase of another five the next? He did get in trouble with the Bovina Associate Presbyterian Church session twice in the 1830s for intoxication, but it is possible that he had some help in consuming the whiskey. It was haying season, so there were hired hands to think about. In the 1830s, whiskey and other such beverages were the preferred choice to water.

So I'll make further reports as I analyze and hopefully transcribe this ledger and post it on the web.

So good night from Bovina!