The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-10-22

Features or = classified Record Of Ten
Thousand Centensrians.

this city. writes Syracuse correspond
ent to the New York Tribune, is
about to publish book entitled "The
Encyclopedia of Human Longevity"
which is the result of thirty-eight years
of investigation on his part. The book
will contain an authentic record of
large number of people, men and
women, who have attained the age of
ton to this is the case OF man who died
at the age of 80 years and 364 days, and
whom Mr.. Perkins regards as virtually
O centenarian. The book will repre-
sent an immense amount of labor and
research, and its author believes that it
may be relied on as accurate In every
instance.
IL have" said Mr.. Perkins, speaking
of his book, more than 10, 900 instances
of people who have lived 100 years and
more. These names have been gather
ed from every part of the globe. This
country leads in longevity, and Con-
necticut is at the front among the
United States. In that State / have
gathered statistics in regard to more
than 5000 persons who were more than
y
twenty were beyond the century limit.
AS regards sex the majority OF these
10000 centenarians were women. 1
account for this by the fact that they
lead less irregular lives than men. 1
have instances of fifty old maids who
come up to my century standard, and
only twelve bachelors. AS regards oc
cupation l find sailors, soldiers, and
farmers are the longest lived. Among
the professions / have the instances of
100 ministers who lived to 100 years
and more, while could find only thirty
doctors, ten lawyers, and ten actors who
came up to the standard. can find
no case among my 10000 of a news
paper men who has lived to be 100
years old. Newspaper men do so much
brain work that they die young"
Coming to special instances, Mr..
Perkins added: "Among the oldest
people in the United States were Flora
Thompson, negress of Nashua, n. c.,
who died at the age of $50 years; Betsy
Frautham, native of Germany, who
died in Tennessee at the age of 154
years, and Sins. slave, who died in
Virginia, $50 years old. / have the
cases of ten persons who lived In safety
for 100 years and were then burned to
death. In Onondaga County have the
sketches of fifty centenarians. Among
them is Rev. Daniel Waldo, who died
in 1864 at the age of nearly 102 years.
For more than sixty years he was a
clergyman in the Presbyterian Church,
and on the anniversary of his Tooth
birthday he preached sermon in the
First Presbyterian Church of Syracuse.
The last six pensioners of the revolu-
tionary war were centenarians, and L
have their photographs. Then there
was John Weeks, of New London,
Conn, who married his tenth wife when
he was LOG years of age and she only
16. He died at the age ia. His gray
hairs had fallen off, and they were re-
newed by dark growth of hair. Sew
eral new teeth had also made their APP
pearance, and few hours before his
death he ate three pounds of pork, two
or three pounds of bread, and drank a
of Posen, was another old fellow. He
deposed on oath before the Council of
Constance, A. ID. 1414, that he was $50
years of age, and that his father, whose
age at the time of his death was nearly
200, could remember the death OF the
first King of Poland, A. ID. 1925.
Among the oddities to be found in my
book will be the photograph of man
who died at the age of 12l years. He
had IA children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildre and outlived them
all. Then there was Margaret Nc
Dowal, of Edinburgh, who died at the
age of 106. She married and survived
thirteen husbands. John Rovin and
his wife, of Hungary, lived together as
man and wife for 14S years. He was
164 and she 172 at the time they died,
and their youngest son was 1l6 years
old when his parents died.
There is the case of a man who mar
ried sixteen times and had no children.
This case is offset by that of another
centenarian who had forty-nine chill
dren. John Riva, an exchange-broker
of Italy, lived to the age of 1l6 years,
and had child born to him after
he was 100 years old. Betz, a Sioux
sauaw, who died a little while ago,
lived for more than 100 years. She had
been the wife In turn of an army officer,
an Indian chief, q border cavalryman,
and a Methodist minister. William
Ward, of Westchester County, died In
1778 at the age of 107. He was men,
Der of the Ward family who were
among the earliest settlers in West
chester County, and the particulars OF
his life and death were given in the
New York papers OF the time. His
brother John was magistrate, and at
tended court III White Plains as late as
1773. William Ward, member of this
family, carried on business as banker
in 1883 at No. 80 Broadway. New York.
Another queer incident is that of q cen
tenarian who was married four times
and had daughter by each wife. These
daughters married, and each of them
lad fourteen children. Then there was
man who went over the century line
md had twenty two children. His first
was boy, and girls and boys came
after that in regular rotation. There
was q person known as Elizabeth Page,
who lived in London and died at the
age of 10S years. This person had
acted as midwife, and was supposed
to be woman. After death, however,
il was discovered that the supposed
woman was q man. The book will con-
tain three hundred illustrations.