The Bovies were French Huguenots who fled from France to Holland to escape their religious enemies during the persecutions in France. Three brothers of the name of Bovie took up a residence in Amsterdam, Holland, where they married three sisters by name Cole, or Kool. One of these brothers was Abraham, the ancestor of the Bovie family of Hoosac, Rensselaer county, New York. After their marriage the three families emigrated to America, about 1750, and settled on a large tract of land in the vicinity and present site of Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey. They held peaceful possession until the English possession, when they lost their lands through defective titles. Abraham Bovie then migrated northward to Rensselaer county, New York, where he settled at Hoosac. Here his descendants remained and yet reside. Abraham Bovie reared a large family, and many of the name served in the revolutionary army. In the First Regiment of the Line, Colonel Goosen Van Schaick, were Jacob and Matthew Bovie; in the Second Regiment, Colonel Philip Van Cortland, was John Bovie; in the Third Regiment, Colonel James Clinton, was Nicholas Bovie; in the Albany county militia, Colonel Abraham Wemple's regiment, were Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Nicholas Bovie; in Colonel John Knickerbocker's regiment were Jacob Bovie, Senior and Junior, Peter and John Bovie; in Captain John A. Bradt's "Rangers" were John and Nicholas Bovie. Abram or Abraham Bovie married Sarah Cole or Kool, and had a large family: Jacob, John, Stephen, Matthias, Katy, Sarah and Henry.
(II) Jacob, son of Abraham and Sarah (Cole or Kool) Bovie, was born July 3, 1763, died August 27, 1853, aged ninety years. It is supposed that he was born in Hoosac. When a lad of sixteen, while his father was away in the army, he was in charge of the family and farm. Word was brought to the settlers of Hoosac that a band of Indians were in the vicinity returning from an attack on Massachusetts towns. To escape them the settlers decided to flee to Fort Orange (Albany). Jacob Bovie with his mother and younger brothers and sisters went with the party, leaving home and fields of grain to be destroyed by the marauders. There were no roads then and the journey was one of terror and hardship; they were guided by blazed trees over the mountain. The fort was finally reached, and leaving his mother and little ones in safety, Jacob enlisted as a scout and went out to fight for country and home. After the war the entire family returned to Hoosac, where they afterward lived. Peter Bovie, an uncle of Jacob, was at the fort in Deerfield. He witnessed the scalping of a little girl by an Indian one day, that so enraged him that, taking his rifle, he left the fort and trailed the Indian until he got within shot, when he fired and killed him. He took his scalp and in his rage held it aloft and shook it as though to exact still further vengeance. The little girl survived the scalping and lived to be an old woman. Jacob Bovie settled on the farm. He built a large house on the property now known as "Riverside farm," where descendants now reside. He married, December 25, 1786, Lydia Hall, who died February 12, 1846. Lydia Hall and two sisters, Waitie and Polly, came from Rhode Island with their parents; Waitie Hall married ———— Fletcher, and Polly Hall married ———— Baker. The Fletchers removed to Canada and the Bakers went west. The mother of these girls was Mary (Gardiner) Hall. Lydia (Hall) Bovie was a Baptist and attended the Berlin church, as did her husband, Jacob Bovie. They were the parents of seven sons:
- Nathaniel, born February 2, 1788, died 1813; enlisted in war of 1812.
- John, February 17, 1790; married Amy Gardner.
- Abram, February 19, 1792, died 1840, at the old homestead in Hoosac; married Sally Shaw.
- Isaac, see forward.
- Jacob, August 12, 1796; was a carpenter and lived in New York City; married Mary Ann Stanton; six children: Henry,
- Alfred, Charles, Abraham, John and Jacob (3rd); Alfred married Marian Gray, of New York City, five children:
- Susie,
- Alfred (2), married and had a daughter Mabel;
- Nellie,
- Walter, married and had a son, Alfred (3);
- Mabel.
- William G., born May 17, 1801; married Mary Ann Carpenter; two children:
- Jacob, married Margaret Fox; children: William and John;
- Maria, married John Agan; five children: Anna, Minnie, Lizzy, Frank and James.
- Asa, born April 20, 1805, died August 1, 1872; married Weltha M. Gooding; children:
- Culver N., married Mary G. Wells; four children: William A., Eva, Jacob and Hazel.
- Hettie L., married Sanford C. Plass; children:
- Cora M., married George W. Bickerton; child: Mary;
- Maud M.,
- Susie D., married William H. Stoddard,
- Sanford A. and
- Omer.
(III) Isaac, son of Jacob and Lydia (Hall) Bovie, was born on the old homestead erected by his father on "Riverside Farm," Hoosac, New York, May 22, 1794, died 1862, aged sixty-eight years. He was a farmer and cultivated the homestead farm, where he lived and died. He was a leading member of the Baptist church.
He married Annie Allen. Children:
- Mary Ann, born November 20, 1817, in a log house that stood where the parlor of the Bovie mansion now stands, a room in which she was married and from whence she was borne to her last resting place; she died August 14, 1908, in her ninety-first year. In her early years she taught school in Breese Hollow and Berlin. She married Thomas Davis and went to live at Berlin. She was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church and taught in the Sunday school. She was a great lover of flowers and was a familiar sight in her garden even when past her eightieth year.
- George Washington, born October 4, 1819, died April 28, 1865; married Martha Weaver, of Petersburgh; two children:
- George Franklin, born March 24, 1853, died September 21, 1856;
- Mary, married Daniel Keefe, and resides in San Francisco, California.
- Sarah M., born November 7, 1821, died December 16, 1885; married Richard H. Bovie; children:
- Isaac Henry, born January 24, 1852, married Lottie Kelley; children:
- Mary Hewitt, born October 18, 1881;
- Annie Allen, born September 9, 1885.
- Richard Heman, born December 24, 1854; married Rose Curtis; children:
- Sarah Freelove, born August 8, 1891;
- Richard, born April 30, 1896.
- Isaac Henry, born January 24, 1852, married Lottie Kelley; children:
(IV) Isaac Warren, youngest son and child of Isaac and Annie (Allen) Bovie, was born January 17, 1824, at Hoosac, New York, in the same house in which he died, October 25, 1891. He was a farmer and owned the homestead at Hoosac. He was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church and was leader of the choir. After his death his widow, and all his children were confirmed in the Protestant Episcopal church. He was very fond of music, performed on the violin, and was of a social, genial nature. He was an active Democrat, often delegate to conventions and on county committees, but would never accept office. He was a man of strict integrity and high principle, well known and everywhere respected. He married, November 30, 1849, Sarah Minerva, born in Chester, Warren county, New York, January 7, 1827, died March 7, 1899, daughter of Lindell J. W. and Mary Bigelow (White) Jones. Through their grandmother, Mary Bigelow (White) Jones, the children of Isaac Warren and Sarah Minerva (Jones) Bovie obtain descent from Colonial and "Mayflower" ancestry, as follows:
(I) William White came over in the "Mayflower," 1620, with his wife, Susanna (Fuller) White.
(II) Peregrine, son of William and Susanna (Fuller) White, was born at Cape Cod, November 20, 1620, the first white child born in the colony of Plymouth. He married Sarah Bassett.
(III) Daniel, son of Peregrine and Sarah (Bassett) White, married Hannah Hunt.
(IV) John, son of Daniel and Hannah (Hunt) White, married Susanna Sherman.
(V) Douglass, son of John and Susanna (Sherman) White, born 1743, married Ruth Albie.
(VI) Aaron, son of Douglass and Ruth (Albie) White, was born December 31, 1777. He married Mary Bigelow, October 21, 1790.
(VII) Mary Bigelow, daughter of Aaron and Mary (Bigelow) White, married Lindell J. W. Jones.
(VIII) Sarah Minerva, daughter of Lindell J. W. and Mary (Bigelow) Jones, married Isaac Warren Bovie.
Lindell J. W. and Mary (Bigelow) Jones had children:
- Cinderella, married Henry Babcock.
- Amanda, married Frank Millard.
- J. M. Warren, a retired merchant of Chicago, Illinois.
- John P., a retired lawyer. and farmer of Rockford, Illinois.
- Hannah P., married Abram Tifft.
- Sarah Minerva, mentioned above.
- Lucy Ann, died unmarried.
- Mary J., married Perry Tifft.
- Jennie, married J. R. Mallary.
Lindell J. W. Jones was of Welsh descent, son of "Ben" Jones, who was killed at the battle of Plattsburgh in the war of 1812. He was quite along in years when he enlisted and the head of a large family. Some of his friends tried to persuade him not to go to war, but he was firm, saying: "They will say Uncle Ben is a coward." Mary Bigelow (White) Jones, wife of Lindell J. W. Jones, was born in 1798, in Berlin, New York, of Welsh and Scotch descent, died August 7, 1897, in her ninety-ninth year. She passed a part of her life in Warren county, New York, and in Winnebago county, Illinois, returning to her native town to pass her last years. She lived under every president of the United States from Washington to McKinley and could relate most thrilling experiences and stories of pioneer days in Rensselaer county. She lived to see five generations of direct descendants gathered at "Riverside Farm" in 1894 to celebrate her ninety-sixth birthday, and was photographed with them, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Isaac Warren Bovie.
Children of Isaac Warren and Sarah Minerva (Jones) Bovie:
- Anna Maria, married John J. Brimmer, of Petersburgh, New York, now a farmer of Hoosac, New York.
- Isaac Warren (2nd), born June 26, 1855; formerly a teacher, now engaged in farming; married Cora Slade, daughter of Philip and Angeline Slade; three children:
- Isaac Warren (3rd), born August 7, 1881, a farmer and superintendent of the old Bovie homestead, "Riverside Farm," for his uncle, George M. Bovie; married Helen Thayer Webster and has a son, Isaac Warren (4th);
- Sara Angeline, married George Savery, of Worcester, Massachusetts; two children: Harold and Helen Savery;
- George White, born November 27, 1908.
- Thomas Lindell, born July 27, 1858; merchant of Hoosac Falls; married Jennie Rising.
- George McClellan, see forward.
- Frank Allen, born August 21, 1870, died July 21, 1893; he was a young man of great promise and greatly beloved by all who knew him; he was unmarried.
(V) George McClellan, son of Isaac Warren and Sarah Minerva (Jones) Bovie, was born on the Bovie homestead, "Riverside Farm," Hoosac, Rensselaer county, New York, December 17, 1864. He was educated in the private school of Dr. Luney at Hoosac, Bennington high school, Bennington, Vermont, and is a graduate of Coleman's National Business College, Newark, New Jersey. He taught school for one year and then entered the advertising department of the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Company, of Hoosac Falls, where he remained until 1893, when he became manager of the Tibbits estate, making his headquarters in Troy. He has other and varied interests in the city and county, including his own private estate, "Riverside Farm." He is director and secretary of the Troy Parkway Villa Site Company, secretary, treasurer and member of the executive committee of the Hoosac school, and is president and director of the Hoosac Elgin Creamery Association. He is an active Republican, serving as county committeeman from Hoosac. He is a charter member of Hoosac Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and was its first secretary; member of New York National Guard, 1894-95; associate member of Post Wood, Grand Army of the Republic, of Hoosac Falls; member of the Chamber of Commerce, Troy; junior warden of All Saints Episcopal Church at Hoosac and treasurer of the parish, and member of the Hoosac Club. He is unmarried.
[Addendum and errata from Vol. IV, p. xlvii: "In this narrative, the name Hoosac is preserved. The ancient spelling was Hoosac, or Hoosack, an Indian word meaning Owl Valley, but when the town was incorporated, for some unaccountable reason the spelling was changed to Hoosick, which means nothing. Every name is Hoosac across the state line in Massachusetts — Hoosac Tunnel, Hoosac Mountain, Hoosac River, etc. Mr. George M. Bovie's first school attendance was in Hoosac, New York, not Vermont.]