Culled by Judy Garrison With commentary by Jim Andrews From December 1921 issues of The Andes Recorder – 100 Years Ago
WEEK IN AND ABOUT ANDES
Events of a week as chronicled by the Man on the Street
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The little child of Robert Parish on the Tremperskill, has had hiccups for two days and thus far nothing has been found to stop them.
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John Birdsall has finally secured the consent of property owners necessary for the stringing of his telephone office at the rear of Union Hall.
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Andes stores are donning their holiday attire and present a very attractive appearance. With the varied assortment of gifts they display, it would seem that no one need go out of town to supply their needs.
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Tuesday at the hearing held at Shavertown on the proposed new road from the river road up to Perch Lake, an agreement was reached whereby the road will be built. The petitioners agree to build at least two-thirds of the road, the town to furnish sluices and a scraper. William Rowland through who’s farm the road passes, will receive $700 damages and Mrs. Ed Finch $25. The new road will be only a six per cent grade. [JA: This would be the Perch Lake road on the Route 30 side of the lake.]
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Education comes high enough in rural districts, but Wolf Hollow, probably far exceeds anything in the state. In that district the tax rate is $80 on the thousand and some property owners had to pay over $200 in taxes. The district has had two scholars up until this week and the moving of George Gibson to the village leaves only one. [JA: Education had its population issues in 1921 also. The one room school house districts didn’t consolidate until 1934.]
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The Bovina Methodist Episcopal church and parsonage was sold at auction at Bovina Center on Saturday, November 26, having served its usefulness…The seats were purchased by the Pleasant Valley Methodist church and Charles Hafele purchased the pulpit and organ [JA:….(it is interesting to note that just this past Wednesday several board members of the Andes Society for History and Culture were discussing the pews in the Pleasant Valley Meeting House, wondering when they were installed. They knew that they came from Bovina but didn’t know when. Mystery solved!)]
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Methodistism in Bovina dates from the time when Alex Brush, the second settler in the town, was a local preacher, preaching in his own house and others. Rev. William Jewett was the first regular pastor and from 1812 until 1849 services were held in houses, barns, school houses and groves. In 1849—82 years ago—the present edifice was built and was dedicated August 22 of that year. [JA: The building was similar in style to the Andes and Bovina Presbyterian Churches.]
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The December term of Delaware county court convened Monday afternoon with Judge Andrew J. McNaught presiding. …Previous to drawing a jury a number of motions were argued. Among them was the case of Mrs. Margaret Bean of Masonville, Mrs. Bean, only 17 years of age, has a baby five months old. She asserted she left home when her husband attempted to smother the baby. Soon after leaving home, she was arrested on the charge of stealing a fountain pen belonging to her husband. The pen was found in her possession, although she claimed she did not know it was among the things she took from home when she left. When arraigned before Justice Willis she pleaded guilty to larceny and was sentenced to three years in the Western House of refuge at Albion. She was in the Delhi jail for seven days, when friends came to her rescue and furnished bail. At the hearing before Judge McNaught the sentence was reduced to a fine of $7 or the alternative of seven days in jail. As she had already served the sentence, Mrs. Bean was discharged. [JA: All this for a pen!!]
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After the roughest sea through which the S. S. Nanking has ever passed, Miss Elizabeth Gordon Bruce arrived safely in Amoy China during last week. She enjoyed her voyage exceedingly not a bit sea-sick and loves the sea. [JA: Elizabeth (Bessie) Bruce retired from mission service in 1958 and purchased her grandfather’s home on Delaware Avenue and lived there until her death in 1981. Buffy Calvert now lives in her family’s homestead. Having grown up as a neighbor of Bessie’s our family heard many stories of her life in Amoy, China.]
M. Linn Bruce, former Lieutenant Governor of New York, and Mrs. Bruce announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss May Hunting Bruce, to Merritt Corbett Stuart, son of John L. Stuart of Corbett, N.Y. Miss Bruce is a member of the class of 1922 of Vassar College. Mr. Stuart was graduated from Amherst in 1912. [Ed: May Bruce and Merritt Stuart are Buffy Calvert’s parents]
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Andes was visited by a near-cyclone during Saturday night and much damage was done. The chimney was blown off the houses of Dr. Wakeman and William Bleakie. One side of the roof on LaGrand Bouton’s house, in Gladstone Hollow, was stripped of the shingles and large patches of shingles were torn from the roof of the Central Hotel and also from the roof of Hilton Memorial High School building. At Sherman Woodin’s in Wolf Hollow the wind moved a 16×30 woodhouse off the foundation four or five feet and landed it against the hen house….Numerous trees were blown down. The metal roof on one side of Norwood Samuels’ house on State road was torn off. A window in a bedroom was blown in, a rocking chair thrown onto the bed, and a bureau turned around and the drawers blown out. A glass was blown in at W. C. Oliver’s store. [JA: This apparently moved up the Tremperskill Valley, through the village and up Gladstone Hollow. There have been similar storms here recently.]~