San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-02-23
SAID TO BE THE OLDEST PERSON
IN AMERICA WHEN SHE DIED.

10 Years-An Iron Constitution-Never
Sick but a Few Months in Her Life-A
Tour of the Farming Country.
Sylvia Dubois, the famous negress. is dead
at last, SAYS The Philadelphia Times. Her
death was reported last spring, because the
news that came from Sourland mountain,
where Sylvia lived, was to the effect that the
ancient negress had died during the blizzard
having persisted in the storm. This was a
mistake. She survived the great snowstorm
and lived through the spring and summer.
But that tremendous vitality that carried
the woman through century and quarter
of existence began giving out and few days
ago she died. She had just passed her l25th
birthday.
There is no doubt Sylvia Dubois was not
only the Oldest woman, but the oldest person
in America. Her memory and the records
she had at hand proved this fact. The story
of her life in detail has been published sew
eral times. She was born in Hunterdon
county, N. j., on the very range of hills where
she eventually died. She was the slave of a
a man named Dubois, and kept that name all
her life She had number of children, but
they were all Legitimate While mere
child she was taken by her master to Great
Bend, Pa, where she was reared
KNOCKED OUT THE PUGILISTS.
The tales of her proves are many. She
was fighter all her younger days, and in fact
until she was 100 years old. She knocked
out every pugilist she encountered. From
the time she was Is years of age she was
hard drinker, brandy being her favorite bev-
erage. Liquor never seemed to affect
her. She always said the brandy she drank
preserved her. 1t is certain she was never
sick until few months previous to her
death At the tavern at Great Bend, of
which her master was the landlord, she was
the great attraction, owing to her tremen-
dous strength and feats of endurance and
daring. She was as profane as she was pow
erful, and her biography, which she dedi-
Gated some years ago to school teacher in
this state and which was published literally,
abounded with oaths.
When she was about 25 years of age she
got angry at her mistre and nearly killed
her. Before she could be caught she
snatched up her baby and rowed across the
Susquehanna and ran into the woods. There
she accomplished what few women in history
have even attempted. She made her way
day and night down through Pennsylvania
and upper New Jersey, caring for the child
all the way until she got back to her old
home in Sourland mountain. Her mistress
recovered, but no attempt was made to ar
rest or capture Sylvia. On Sourland noun
tain she built hut, where she spent the last
century of her existence. She had, as already
related, a number of children, but only the
youngest survived She lived with her
mother up to the day of her death. Her
name is Elizabeth, and she is over so years
old. She is her mother over again. There
is not man on the mountains that can
whip her. Her pugilistic feats are almost as
numerous as her mothers, but she never
made such business of prize fighting.
FORAGING TRIPS TWICE YEAR
In the little hut on Sourland Sylvia lived
through all the cold and stormy winters.
She learned to read little and her daughter
9ot enough education to enable her to
read to her mother They were always poor,
but managed to beg enough to keep them
comfortable. Twice a year the mother and
daughter would tramp down the mountain
and make a tour of the farming country be-
low. Every body knew them and everybody
gave them something. The two women
would load themselves down with provisions
coal and clothing and then climb the noun
tain with their burdens. Sylvia always
asked for newspapers and books, and there
were few women better posted on the general
events of the day. This long and tiresomc
tramp never seemed to injure the old woman.
She took her last trip last spring.
Sylvia never made but two public eXhibi
lions of herself She was witness in a muir
der trial at Pennington a number of years
ago, and her opinions of lawyers, courts
and people generally growing out of her ex
Perience in court were given in her biog
raphy. They were decidedly sensational and
emphatic. Her second appearance was at the
state fair at Waverly, a year ago. She re
ceived money enough for sitting in tent for
four days to last her until death. Her eye.
sight grew poor toward the end, but her
tongue was as sharp and her memory as keen
as ever. If one could stand the string OF
oaths that were part of her conversation,
the anecdotes that she gave and her recolec-
tons of past events were decidedly interest
ing.
Sylvia Dubois drank hard and smoked q
strong pipe all her life pretty nearly. She
said she was better for both rum and tobacco
She had no religion to speak of, and was un
questionably one of the oldest and most in
tereSting characters that the Nineteenth cen.
tury has produced.
An Alaskan Glacier.
s1--g.