Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-02-07
INSTON,> N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUk
THE OLDEST CITIZEN.
A Kentucky Lady Who Claims to be One
Hundred and Sixteen Years Old.
From the Frankfort Yeon.an.

From the FrsnhJort Yeonsan.
Rhoda Howard, who is now living
six miles southwest of the town of
Owningsville, Bath County, KY, on
Slate Creek, was born in Wilkes Coun-
ty, State of North Carolina, in De
cember, 1867. Her maiden name was
Ward. She married Jesse Deboard
i'll Wilkes county, North Carolina, in
1890, and they had three children-Wes-
ley, Washington and Franklin.
In 1903 they emigrated to Kentucky
coming through the Cumberland gap,
and settled in Montgomery county,
near Morgan Station. After living
there for several years, Jesse Deboard
to his old home, leaving his wife and
three childen at their old home, and
Mrs Howard said that she heard that
) he had died, but she never received
any letter. In those days there were
no mails, and the means OF communi
cation were very limited, depending
altogether upon persons travelling to
and from Kentucky.
Not hearing from her husband, and
only incidentally that he was dead, and
waiting and watching for several years,
she concluded that he was dead, and
she married Henry Settle. By this
marriage she had two children, j. Set
tie and Julia Ann. Julia Ann is
quite an old lady, living in the town
ofOwingsville, married to Mr.. ..Kountz.
Her second husband, Henry Settle,
died, and she married James Howard,
a Revolutionary soldier. He died in
the county of Bath many years ago,
and, as the old lady expressed it, $50
long ago that 1 have forgotten the
time" She is now drawing pension
from the United States Government
as the widow of Revolutionary sol
dier, James Howard.
/ rode out to her house ON the 2Sth
of November, 1888, and rode up to
the yard fence and followed, and she
came to the door and invited me in.
[ went in, and she requested me take
a seat. She is very remarkaple look
ing woman. She looks as old as the
hills, and is the oldest looking person
[ ever saw She is tall and spare,
about five feet eight inches high, stands
erect, does not stoop as old'people gener-
ally do, has a Roman nose, dark,
piercing eyes. Her hair is as white
as the driven snow she has sallow
complexion, and is lively, active and
talkative. She sweeps up the hearth
and sits at the table and feeds herself.
She told me that she had lost her
teeth many years ago, and that one of
her eyes had failed, but that she can
see as well with the other as ordinary
people.
| asked her who was living with
her, and she replied her two boys,
Washington and Franklin. | asked
her how old her two boys were she
said Washington was seventy-eight and
Franklin thirteen months younger.
l asked her about her health; she
stated that she had always enjoyed
good health, and had taken but very
little medicine; that she had spell OF
sickness in 1859, and that was the on.
had always led very active life, and
that she had to work hard i'll hel
young days, and had suffered many
hardships and privations that the
present generation knew nothing abou,
how the people used to live and what
they endured and suffered but with
it all she believed that the people thel
were happier and more hospitable thar
they are now. She showed me sever
al articles manufactured by her OWL
hands when she was a young woman
, She still has pair of hand cards thai
she has carded many pounds of WOO
and cotton upon. She asked me for /:
pipe of tobacco, and When gave it t.
her | asked how long she had bee1
smoking. She said that since she wa
16 years old. She said the reason sh,
commenced was that she was troubled
with phthisic. In her day the way peo
pie cured the phthisic was: They
would take child to the woods ant
stand it up by the side of tree, ant
then put an auger on top of its heat
and bore hole in the tree and thel
take the lock of hair from the top o
the child's head, put it in the augo
, hole and drive pin in it ifthe chile
outgrew the tree it would get we'll. Blu
if the tree outgrew the child it voul,
never recover. Here Is a woman VIII
has been using tobacco for 100 year:
with her faculties unimpaired. Wha
becomes of the theory OF those VIII
rail against the use of the weed.
Mrs. Howard is a very remarkable
woman in many respects. Although
she is 116 years old, she is still in pos
sessiOn Of all her faculties
l presume that she is the oldest liv
ing person now in Kentucky. She i
the connecting link between the las
and present century. She was min
years of age when the bell of Inde
pendence Hall in Philadelphia ram
proclaiming liberty all over the land
She was born a subject of Georg
Ill, of England, and was made
sovereign herself in 1888. She ha
seen George Ill, GeorgeIV., William
", and Victoria all upon the thron
of England. She has seen The admin
istration of every President of tn
United States, from w ashington dow
to Arthur. She has lived to see thi
trackless forest leveied by the axe o
civilization, and the wilderness turnet
into waving fields of grain, and. cite
i arise and TEEN with a mighty popu
ton. Where does there live anothe
person that has been an eyewitness t.
all these mighty changes in govern
ment, production, wealth, the arts ant
sciences? @k ..