The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-10-24

- SOASA~c~OA VI 49,
geyity, viz: that there is q tendency to
exaggerate the age OF old persons, and
that there are fewer ce~ntenarians than
most people suppose, / think you Judge
in an extreme of skepticism in making
105 years the outside authenticated life.
The late Sir George Cornwall Lewis
actually doubted that any man or wom-
an had ever reached 100 years. Mr..
Thorne appears at first to have conceded
with him, but the case Of Lady Smith,
who reached los, and other indisputa-
BILE instances, led him to advance his
figure to q half-decade beyond the CEN
tury.
think there are numerous thorough
~ authenticated instances of consider
able greater longevity. The late Will
liam Thomas, Of Plymouth, recently the
Oldest surviving graduate Of Harvard
College, was fond of relating In his old
age how. on the LIST of January, 1900,
being then in his eleventh year, he Wis
tied with several ministers, In attend
ance at an ordination. Ebenezer Cobb,
a Iifa-Innn resident ofkha town who Pc
membered Peregrine Whites funeral in
1703, as well he might, having been
born in 1894. He survived until Sep
TENDER 1901, being LOT IL years at his
death. He was a respectable citizen Of
q town whose records were kept and
neighbors abundant, and there could be
no doubt as to his age. In 1878 q pau
per-a bedridden and bitterly idoitit
woman-died at the Dayton (Ohio)
poor-house, or inf. Try as is the more
e~uphonistic western term. She had
been there forty-one years, and her age
was reported at 76 when she was admit
ted. There was no motive for decep-
tion or exaggeratlon In 1887. # 20
mistake was made she was lit at her
decease, and even if decade be struck
off by way of caution, she must have
been 107.
A few years ago General Ell. ". Boyn-
ton furnished me, by request, q trans
cript from the Pension Bureau giving
the ages at which various revolutionary
soldiers and their widows had died.
Unfortunately it is not just now at hand,
but il recorded several deaths of persons
in their "centenarian teens; !" of one, if
/ remember rightly, who had reached
121, and Of quite q number ranging
from 100 to Ito years. The pension
bureau requires clear proof of service
, and Of continued life. If there was der
ception in one or two of these cases
! there could not be in all, and there
could be no motive for pensioners to en-
aggregate their age at the time of being
put on the rolls.
Mrs. Angelina Rodesta, q native Of
Italy, died In 1878, aged 100. Of her
extreme age no one who saw her could
doubt. Her. eyes had that hazy, fay-ea
look characteristic of c-entenarlans and
monOgenarians. Her son, who was not
quite sure Of her exact age, sent to her
birthplace, and the Latin document,
duly attested by the parish priest, de-
clared that her baptism took place on
January IL, 1859. i saw her when she
was past 100. Her bodily strength was
sufficient to allow her to dance at the
annual balls Of the Italian residents
of Cincinnati up TO nearly the time OF
her death, but she was mentally quite
childish.
Master Sullivan, the father Of the
General, and the first American ances-
tor 81 the well-known Massachusetts
and New Hampshire families, is credit
ed with dying In 1896, aged 105. Mrs.
Eastman, mother of Judge Joel East
man, the distinguished citizen OF Coos
county, N. H., died 10 1867, aged 100
years and 6 months. AS she was one
~S 49, 1s@kln -nh0np ns~Tn ~.hr Hscnn.~a~n1
in 1768 the buried infant Of their teach
err, Ruth Blay-who was hanged be-
cause Sheriff Packer would not wait
fS- Governor Wentworth's rAprieve to
a~rriye--there can be no doubt as to her
real longevity.
Imight make the list considerably
longer, but must contnut myself with
referring to the account of Samuel
WEIGH, of Bow, m. H., recorded IN the
second volume Of Farmer and Moore's
Historical collections of New Hamp-
SHIRE WEIGH died April 5, 1928, and
Messrs. Farmer and Moore visited
him about q year before. He was
then in his 10th year. III the
public records of his birthplace,
Kingston, N. H., are correct, be
was born IN February Is, I'LL, though
he insisted that he was born the Sep
TENDER previous, the time when his
father requested the record to be made
having been inserted as that Of the
birth itself. His mind was clear when,
he was seen by the two eminent antigua
ries. They conyersed with him at
length. and we refer the doubling to
&bo 1afosIo ~ fha Snforviow
IT is true, as you say, that no gradu-
ate of Harvard has ever attained 103
years. Yale has been favored with few
er centenarian alumni than Harvard,
but one of these few reached 1903. In
1857 there we're living graduates Of
Dartmouth, all Presbyterian and Con-