Miscellaneous

 MHD Collection

Dog's Close Call

 

Bainbridge:  A dog belonging to Levi Vincent was knocked down by a passing train, apparently killed outright.  The last kind act of disposing of his remains, by throwing them down the embankment behind a fence, was performed by the bereaved owner.  Upon returning home, several hours after, Mr. Vincent was agreeably surprised to find his faithful dog alive and well, wagging a welcome with his narrative at the gate.  [Chenango Union, June 12, 1873]

 

Presbyterian Church of Bainbridge, 100th Anniversary

 

Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY]:  The Bainbridge Presbyterian church will celebrate its 100th anniversary, starting Saturday, September 19 and closing Monday, September 21, according to plans announced by the pastor, Reverend Greeley H. Orvis.  The program will open Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock in the church auditorium when a roll call of members, history of the church and greetings from absent members will be given.  Following the program a free supper will be served to all guests, and members of the church and congregation.  Sunday morning the sermon will be preached by a former pastor, the Reverend Arthur Spaulding of Salem, N.Y.  He will be assisted in the service by other former pastors.  Reverend Spaulding was pastor of this church from 1896 to 1906.  Sunday evening will be church fraternity night.  Special music will be rendered by the children's choir.  A reading "The Old Church by the Roadside" will be given by Harriett Sipple.  This poem was written for a similar celebration by a member of a former parish of Reverend Orvis.  Short Addresses will be given by the pastors of the other churches in Bainbridge.  Monday the Binghamton Presbytery will hold an official service in the church at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  Monday evening the concluding service will be held when the centennial sermon will be preached by the Reverend Edgar Frank, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Owego.  The public is invited to attend all these services. 

 

The Presbyterian church of Bainbridge was an early landmark in the upper Susquehanna Valley.  Its official records date back to April 30, 1793, when a meeting at the home of William Guthrie is recorded.  August 31, 1794 Reverend William Stone, a graduate of Yale university, and who had served in the Revolutionary War, was engaged as pastor of the church.  His salary was sixty-five pounds a year.  May 1, 1798, a call was extended to Reverend Joel Chapin, a graduate of Dartmouth, and also a Revolutionary Soldier, to settle in the Society.  He was ordained and installed in September 1798.  During the years preceding 1831, two other buildings had been used as places of worship.  In 1831, the present building was erected.  In 1866 the church underwent improvements by having the galleries on the sides and east end removed.  In 1875 a pipe organ was installed, a gift to the Society.  During the pastorate of the Reverend H.D. Smith, the church parlors were built.  The present pipe organ was purchased and installed during the pastorate of the Reverend Charles G. Cady in 1926.  [The Norwich Sun, Sept. 16, 1931]