The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1875-08-05
A cENTKSNiAL yISIToR-ErHAS
Ai.LEs's GRANDDAUGHTER

date We fad the following; IN these
ceuten ial days. a person whose life
began before that Of this nation, and
ia hose memory are preserved many
incidents Of those historic days. is
more than ever 40 object 81 deep inter.
est aud yeneralion One Of our re.
porters very gladly accepted an invi
tation to call 90 such person, Friday
morning at the house Of w ]. How.
ard 90 Magazine Street. The centen-
marian is Mr. Howard 8 grandmother.
Mrs. Jemima Groves. She was born
at sturbridge 10 TIA, aud will be lOl
years old. September Sd. She is the
daughter OF old Ethan Aliens young est
son. Our reporter was cordially re-
ceiyed and Informed that Mrs. Groves
would very soon appear. She had
slept later than usual. And no won.
der. On Wednesday morning, she
rose at 2 o'clock, rode from her recent
home in small town in New York, 9
miles in a wagon to Utica, aud took
the cars fof a $50 miles journey to this
city. Last evening she had visitors
aud did not retire till Q o'clock, some
two hours later than usual. Her Gus
tom has been, with increasing age, to
retire earlier th an when young, but to
rise as early az s, or with the sun A
few days ago she accidentally slept
ill about 6, ard rose much mortified,
eHclaiming, "Why. the sun must be
an hour high !" She was equally NOR
tiled this morning, at not greeting the
sun at his rising, notwithstanding that
her excuse would have been sufficient
for most modern damsels who wished
to sleep all day.
When Mrs, Groves appeared, we
saw bright, active old lady, who
walked about the room steadily aud
without cane. She is social and
chatty, and good party to CONVEX
sation Her left eye and ear have lost
their acuteness, but she still sees to
read good print with glasses, and
looks through a photograph album
recognizing the pictures OF friends she
has not seen for years, and that with
out spectacles. Abiding to the chan.
ges that have occurred during so
years, che was asked if she thought
the world was getting better or worse.
She replied that each generation is
probably wiser than the one before it,
but she didn't think the world could
grow wickeder, and called attention 70
tho newspaper accounts of murders,
robheries aud other tokens Of deprav.
ity il proof Of her position. Her faith.
&c was revolutionary soldier, and
she remembers his return from the
war She WAS married when "a years
old, aud had eight sous aud daugh-
ter. ~ but one Of her children reach
ed good old age aud FIVE a,e now
living Her youngest son is vener
able. gray haired man. Her husband
died 10 1910 Her father died at the
age Of 81 and her mother at 81. Hef
childhood was spent in Sturbridge, her
married life mostly 10 Brimfeld, aud
recently she lived in Clarkson aad
sweden, n. Y. She is now on hen
way to Brim6eld 10 spend SO much o.
the next century as God wills. with
her daughter. Mrs. Fudosia Howard
When asked If she intended to yisii
Philadelphia, during the centennial
she replied that she was tired Of travel
Jog, aud then spoke Of the Bunker
Hill celebration in a way that showed
she had taken much interest 10 il tho
she was not present, She still has 4
great desire 10 be busy about some
thing, aud Ler sewing ia said TO b
straight 10 the seams aud even in The
stitches, putting 10 shame many 4
would be young Dorcas Of today. A
gentleman offered her s5 il she would
complete a pair OF knitted gloves fol
him on the day she finished her hun
3redth year. and she complied with hi,
request aud took the money. She hai
seen two erAs Of paper money and 10
aation She has knitted another paii
Of gloves this year. and insists OF
waiting on herself, and evcn Of doing
some Of her own washing
To ascertain the scope Of her memo
~ We asked her questions which
showed that abe, unlike many cid PEG
pie, remembers the events OF yester
day, last year, and Of each decade FOL
a period Of IS gears She wildly re-
members that when she vas tire,
years old her father was building 4
barn, and she and another child were
running about. when gruh carpenter
frightened them away BY threatening
70 cut their beads %. She well 70.