Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-04-25
INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY.
Cases in Modern Times Where Per-
sons Have Lived to Extreme Old
Ada

rye
The average duration of human life
seems, at first, to have been abnormally
high. and then to have sunk quite low,
only to be raised again OF course no one
is ever likely to equal the 1853 years
attributed to Methuseah, or the 962 years
of Jared, but there seems to be no good
reason why the age of ITO or so should
not be reached in the future great
deal more often than 1t now is. In the
18th century the average age to which
mankind lived was only just over 49,
but then they had to contend against
war famine. pestilence as well as
doctors. The average at present Is about
80, which includes of course, infant
mortality Further, it is computed that
i'm England. at the present time, out
of 1000 people over 100 reach the age Of
10, 3S reach IS, and two attain to %,
while one person i'm about every 1900
becomes centenaran. In former times.
however, a man of 80 was considered old.
and a resident of 100 made n town or a
village famous. We do not, however.
propose here to deal with mere centenar-
ians. but with men who have lived to
ages of 120 and upwards
The record probably Is held by Michael
Soils, who, according to the Lancet, was
living I'm Bogata in 1878. He claimed
to be at that time 1A years old. and. DR..
Louis Hernandez. a man of over eighty
years Oh age, VINO investigated Ine case
knew him as a centenarian when he
himself was n boy. But the signature
of Michael Soils. who is n half-breed, is
eXtant on document referring to the
building of Franciscan convent at San
Salvador. under the date 1Il2, so that he
was not quite so young as he would wish
people to believe. There is very little
doubt about the authenticity of this re-
markable case. The Lancet Investigated
1t throughly in 1873. and came to the
conclusion that the man was at least
$50 years old then 1t was in 1896 that
DIR. Hernandez made his inquiries. and
in 1895 he was still alive. so that his
age IL he died in that year. was only two
years short of two centuries. Michael Soils
attributed his extraordinary longevity to
his regular mode of living. lie used to
eat one meal day, and that he allowed
to get quite cold before he touched II,
while it consisted OF the strongest and
most nourishing foods oDtainable. For
two days in every week, however, he
tasted, and on these occasions only drank
large quantities OF water.
n man who runs a close second to Mi
chael Soils was born in the parish of
Bolton. in Yorkshire in the year 1900.
This was Henry jenkins, who was
brought up to the business of a fisher
man, which employment he followed for
over liO years ON the occasion of trial
in York, involving the question of IA Gus
tom which had been followed for years
uncounted, Jenkins was called, as being
the oldest man in the parish, TO give
evidence. In addition to him We're called
two other men, both on the verge OF Il
hundred, who both declared on oath to
| the judge that jenkins was an old man
when they were little boys. The age Of
| this modern Methuselah was exactly $40
years less than that OF the real patriarch,
Tor he was laid to rest in Bolton Church
| in the year 1863 when he was l69 years
| old. The interesting things in history
which this old man saw happen were eN-
traordinary. When he was born, Popery
was by law the established religion. He
saw the papal supremacy thrown of,
| two queens beheaded, the monasteries
dissolved. and the Protestant religion be-
come the law of the land. Then Popery
came in again, and was finally over
thrown forever. During his time the
whole navy OF Spain was destroyed by
| the English. and the republic of Holland
was formed. He was, in fact, an eye
| witness of the most stirring scenes of
modern history. Next came the famous
Thomas Parr. This man lived during
| the reigns OF ten sovereigns of England
and holds the record in that particular,
{ jenkins having seen eight reigns-not in
Guiding the Commonwealth. Parr was
| living at the same time as Jenkins. hav-
| ing been born in 1883, and he died in 1866
| which makes his age l52 years. He was
| a husbandman. and followed this calling
| steadily for 80 years. He was twice
| married, the second time when he ought
| to have known better-that is, when he
| was aged 10 years. The offspring OF this
marriage was a son, who apparently in
| hcrited his fathers recipe for longevity,
| for he managed to keep alive for lilo years
| and had a son who made a good attempt
| to emulate his grandfather, by living to
| the age of 127.
| Women have their share of longevity
| just as men have, but they do not attain
| to nearly the same ages as their worse
| halves. The oldest woman living at
| present, that is the oldest known, is prob
ably Mrs. Nancy Holliheld. She is a
| lady of color, and has attained to the age
| of one hundred and twenty-one years.
| Her case was investigated by the Rev. q.
| Lee some six years ago and he then
| found her age TO be one hundred and
| fifteen years. The gentleman, who died
| in his ninetieth year, remembered Mrs.
| Hollitield as his nurse, and that she had
at that time several children, so that
| the estimate cannot be far short of the
| mark. She lives near Peterborough
| North Carolina. a lady who was living
| in 1891 in Hungary must If she be living
| now run Mrs. Hollilield very close. Be
| sides, she holds a unique record-the fact
| that she and her husband celebrated in
| 1884 their century of married life. Her
husband at the time was one hundred
| and twenty, and the couple had for many
| years been in the receipt of a pension
| granted them in recognition of their mu-
| tual fidelity. This marriage centenary
| Is perfectly authenticated, as the record
of the marriage is entered in the register
of Zsombolzi as having taken place in
| May, 1894, when both Jean Stationary and
his wife had reached the manageable
| age. So far as We know there is only
| one case where man and a woman have
gone through the marriage ceremony
after having reached the age of one hun
dred years. Such wedding took place,
as recorded in the parish register of
Dublin in the year l772 between Pat
stephens, aged one hundred and nine
years, and Mrs. Berry, who had
attained to the respectable age of one
hundred and two years
The profession of soldier seems, Curl
| ously enough, to swell the ranks of the
| longliVed. One would think that the
| hardships of one or several CAMPAIGNS
would not tend to prolong life, but to
| diminish its length. So probably it does
| in the majority of cases, yet there are
| soldier centenarians in most of our work
| houses, and retired officers frequently live
| TO be eighty or ninety. There is a case
| however, of man having been soldier
| for one hundred and ten years. This
was John Cheossick, who died at the
| hospital at Murano, near Venice When
| only eight years old he entered as a
| hfer in the Austrian regiment of Stahren-
| berg. lie fought under the Emperor
Charles VI. against the Turks, during the
reign of Maria Theresa; in 174l against