The herald., 1897-02-18
sold PEOPLE OF The GOLDEN STATE F.;

| jects deserving notice in the Golden
State may be noted the centenarian.
Merced has a Spanish dame of 101.
Her name is Sonora Isabella Villa and
she has smoked cigarettes for ninety
years and is still healthy and happy.
She was married at 13 to Senor Villa and
had nine children by him, two of whom.
a son and daughter, are still living. The
sonora is blest not only with daughter
and granddaughter, but with two hand
some great granddaughter of over 20
years of age. The old lady Is more spry
than some women of so. According to
anti-tobacco statistics she has smoked
enough cigarettes, absorbed enough MIC
otine to have dried up or poisoned long
ago every drop of blood in her body but
she Is still active and industrious. One
Of her great delights Is the care of her
garden. Here she plants and cultivates
each year small patches of corn, peppers,
potatoes, beans and variety of other
vegetables.
Another old lady of remarka BILE vital
ity is the aged negress, "Auntie" Maria
Givens of Stockton. She was born on
the plantation Of James Wolf, near Shell
by, Virginia, lis years ago. At a very
early age her mothers master moved
from Virginia to Kentucky. There
"Auntie" grew to womanhood, was
married and had two children. Forty
years ago she secured her freedom and
came to California. For many years she
resided in San Francisco and made "a
good living In laundry work. She is
physically strong and healthy, but her
mind has given way and she sits moodily
day after day. mumbling disjointed
phrases and apparently oblivious to all
around her. She resides with a Mrs.
Ann Forney, an old friend at 120 East
Washington street, Stockton.
Another old resident of Stockton is
"Auntie" Arthur, also colored, who was
100 years old on the 4th of January, 1896.
Her daughter, Candas Cleggett, died re-
Gently at the age of 70. "Auntie" Ar
thur first saw the light in rickety,
tumble down shanty on the 4th of jan
uary, 1887 on the plantation of her mas
ter, Ambrose Arthur, of Knox county,
Kentucky. AS she grew to womanhood,
became liberated and immigrated to
the wild and woody west, her hand was
sought in marriage by many active and
Industrious Afro Americans, for she
was a beautiful woman, faded traces of
| the beauty that once was being still Wis
ible. She is the mother of seventeen
children, though only two are at present
alive. But there are eight grandchil
dren, one reat-grandchild and one
great-great grandchild. Though ad-
vanced in years, "Auntie" Arthur reads
without glasses, is strong and wiry, new
er knowing days sickness. Her con-
stitution is somewhat remarkable and
defies the ravages of time. Her teeth
are sound and perfeSl and she prefers
to eat corn-pone rather than the softest
wheat bread that was ever baked.
Mrs Priscilla Nelson of Marysville,
Cal, Is aged 126 and has led very ex-
citing and adventurous life. She was
born on farm fifty miles north of Knox
VILE, Tenn. She has been married three
times, has had ten children is the grand
mother of seventeen, besides a multi
tudinous quantity of great-grandchil-
dren Her left eye is gone, the result of
a boiler explosion on the Mississippi
river. All her faculties are, however
unimpaired. her remaining optic peing
/ as good to sew or read by as some other
| peoples two eyes, Up to date, this is
the Oldest woman that has been found in
| the west,
Mrs. Sarah Davis, an inmate of the
county hospital near Colusa, was born
in East Tennessee 105 years ago She
| is the mother of sixteen children, most
of whom are dead. She is fat and hearty,
eats onions three times day and
weighs 100 pounds. ,
| Mrs. Maria Foster is an old lady OF l04
who has used tobacco and whisky for
decades, besides violating every hygienic
! law known to the medicos. She has been
| in Monterey county hospital for years,
but even there she manages to enjoy her-
| self Previous to this for number or
years she had led riotously indulgent
! life, practically living on tobacco and
whisky. Her maiden name was MARIA
! Houston and she was born in London,
England Her father, Gen. Houston,
was one of the British generals killed
| in the battle of Waterloo. Her uncle
! took care of her and the other members
| of the generals family, and shortly after
her fathers death she was brought to
America. In Montreal Miss Houston
met Capt. Foster. then dashing young
soldier of two and twenty, and after
years vigorous courtship they were mar
ried, the bride being only eighteen. Mrs.
| Foster now has two sons living. one
| lives in Spain. The other is London
! barrister. But for her shattered ner-
| vous system, Mrs. Foster would be In
| better physical condition than the aver
age woman of so years. She has been
| in California forty-seven years, having
come to the Pacific coast in 1S49 in search
| of her eldest brother. Her appetite is
good, and she devours everything with
| a hearty relish, except meat, which she
| never touches in any form. She is fond
| OF fruits, cakes and sweetmeats, and
would eat candy by the boxful If she
could obtain it. In appearance she is
| unattractive, though she has soft, thick,
| white hair and moderately regular feat
| ures. Her eyes are dark brown. fringed
with eyelashes, coarse, thick and black
! She has mouthful of sound molars, and
| considers their preservation due to he1
! incessant use of tobacco. Her long. bony
| hands with thin, white nails two inches
| in length protruding from her fingers
ends make one think of vultures claws
| Mrs Foster is well taken care of at the
| county hospital and despite her terrible
moods and vicious outbreaks, her every
! whim is indulged.
| But the oldest man on earth, the
| Methuselah of the modern world, is an
| Indian, Chief Quo-ka-num of the Ski
| Quamish tribe on Puget Sound. By one
| of my friends who recently visited Puget
Sound and who saw him, he is thus de-
| scribed:
| He is said to be $50 years old. He
| has had fifteen wives. He is two feet
five inches high. OF this height his head
| takes up eleven inches. His body is
| chrunken to bones over which is
| stretched a ieather-like skin. His
| head is of colossal size and the bigges
| thing about him. He does not weigh
| over fifty pounds. He was old ant
ugly and blind, the ball of the eye hav-
ing sunk to the socket. The feet ant
hands were gnarled and twisted ant
| were gruesomely ornamented by thicl
| overgrown nails. A shaggy name o.
iron gray hair hung down his back ant
| head falling in waves of gray over his
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