The Bodine Family was a prominent and well known family in the Town of Chemung. Hard working, business minded, & family oriented. They originally owned several properties on Main St and Wynkoop Creek Road. The family owned one of the largest poultry farms in the area and was a household name. In future generations the Bodine name became a household name again as Geoff, Brett and Todd, son's of Eli Jr., began racing careers with the sanctioning body, NASCAR, starting out on their father's home made stock car race track, located in the Town of Chemung proper. Today, there are many family members that continue to reside in and around the Town of Chemung, however the Bodine farms and businesses are now wonderful memories of the past.
The Milton H. Bodine came to Chemung via Wellsburg from Wisconsin in the 1890's. Eli Sr. was born in 1888 in Wisconsin. He purchased the Park Hotel in Wellsburg in March 1909. Milton bought the Maple Row farm in Chemung (location unknown). In Sept of that year, he sold the hotel to his son-in-law Ernest L. (Robert) Bradley. In October 1909 Bradley sold the hotel to his mother telling the newspaper he and his family were moving to Denver. The 1910 census shows Bradley with his wife, Emma and son Herbert in Brooklyn, NY. Milton had two daughters; Emma who married Bradley and Reeva who married Guy Ford, John I. Ford's son. (Mike Tuccinardi)
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