Evening star., 1902-01-25
cENTENARlAnsI OF 1901
REMARKABLE PERSONS OF GREAT
AGE TOLD OF LAST YEAR.
Men and Women still spry on Their
Tooth Birthday-Others Far
Past That Mark.

Past That Mark.
From the New York Sun
The centenarians were in evidence last
wear Some drank and smoked ana
lived to be near or past 100; others let
tobacco and whisky severely alone anu
were equally successful in longevity III
the annual crop Of old people We're founa'
as usual, interesting great-great-graho-
mothers who had danced with the Marquis
de LAFAYETTE and recalled with eVldenl
pride their part in the lively events OF lol-.
There were reports, also, or grlzZleo Net-
Grams who fought with Andy Jackson at
New Orleans or shouldered musket IN
the Black Hawk war.
There were patrarchs who said they hau
seen every President except Washington.
There were ancient and honored DANES
whose fathers fought In the revolution.
Some of these exceptionally aged persons
nassed aWay during the first year OF the
twentieth century; others are yet living,
active hale and hearty. On her lVo1h
birthday, which was celebrated in NoVem-
ber Mrs. Finnehout of Little rails, n. l.,
gave a reception, gracefully opening the
dance herself with a young man as part
ner Mrs Finnehout was born at Little
Falls, and in all her long life has never
been ten miles away from the town. Sne
remembers all about the war OF ISL. In
her girlhood a calico dress was as highly
priced as a silk gown is at the present
day.
Old, but Walks Well.
Mrs. Ellen Coleman of Hudson, near
Wilkes-Barre, Pa, celebrated her 1oSth
birthday on Sunday, November 3, by walk
ing a. mile and a half to the Sacred Heart
Church and then home again. In the af-
ternoon she rested in big rocking chair
and smoked her beloved clap pipe, from
which she has drawn solace for fifty years
| or more. She said that her long life ana
| excellent health were largely due to her
| rigid enforcement of the don't worry
principle. 1t was the pipe-smoking habit
| however, that in the end proved fatal to
Mrs Mary Wood. a Philadelphia lady,
aged 103, who died last year. She had
smoked tobacco nearly all her life, but one
unlucky night in February while trying to
| light her pipe her clothing caught fire and
she was burned to death. y
| Last fall-on September 5, to be exact
Mrs. Sarah Rumley, mother of the late
| Walter O. Gresham, Secretary of State un-
der President Cleveland, completed her
| ninety-eight year Fifty guests were en-
tertaned in celebration of the anniversary
and proud to demonstrate her youthful
| feelings and spryness, Mrs Rumley, alone
and unaided, prepared the dinner. She is
| the mother of eight children and has out
lived all but two-Col. William Gresham of
st. Paul and Miss Meade Gresham of Chi
3.
years old, who as a young woman In Phila-
delphia danced with Lafayette, died in Oc-
tober at the home of her daughter, West
10th street, New York. Mrs. Mary B.
| Cal, at the age Of 106 had lived in three
centuries. She was born September %
| 1875, in Berlin, Rensselaer, county, n. Y,
which at that time was still part of Mas
| Sachusetts. At the close of the war of ISL
as Mary Bentley. she married Capt. Nathan
Smith of New York, who had taken part
In the operations against Great Britain
Lived in Three Centuries.
Mrs. Anna Bentley Lewis Of Saginaw,
Mich. who was born in 1897, was still living
at last accounts. In spite Of her 105 years
she was said to be enjoying remarkably
good health. Another of the few old ladies
who enjoy the distinction of having lived in
three centuries is Mrs. Eliza Bunt of Beth
any, Mo. She was born in Fayette county
| KY, June II, 1893, and at last reports was
still living and in excellent health. She and
her husband, Elisha Bunt, had remarkable
pioneer experiences in Iowa and Kansas
They lived together seventy-five years, the
husband dying in 1894 at the age of 50
Mrs. Bunt has fifty-nine grandchildren, 161
great-grandchildren and, as she believes
more Observation-Disclosures than any
| other living person-forty five in all. Thus
she has ga living descendants, the greatest
number on record, SO far as known. She
reads without glasses, and her memory is
clear and strong. Her father, named Tu1
ner, was revolutionary soldier; she had al
uncle in the war of 1s12; a son in the wal
with Mexico; two sons and one son-in-laW
in the civil war.
Aunt Polly Roll, said to have been the
| first white child born In the city of Day.
ton. Ohio-the date of her birth being Octo.
ber 13, 1S00-was recently reported to be ir
good health a the home of her daughter
Mrs. S. c. Hays in Minneapolis Even a
her great age, 1t was said, she did not give
her diet half the attention that many per
sons much younger deem necessary. Plair
food and pastry were all one to her.
FOnr Thousand Centenarians.
The Oldest known mother and daughter
in the world We're separated by death il
February last, when Aunt Peggy Jones
a colored woman of Ghent, KY, passed
away at the reputed age of one hundred
and twenty-four. Her surviving daughter
, Charlotte, was said to have just rounded
out a century of life.
:, DR.. H. W. Wiley, chief chemist of tn,
Department of Agriculture and presiden
. of the Hundred Year Club, thinks tina
, centenarians are likely to become NOR
, numerous in the future than they haV
been in the past. This is owing to i'm
4 proved hygiene. better understanding o
: food properties, and a more Judlclous su
D pervision of physical culture. The numbe
: of centenarians in the United States. as de
o termined by the census. is about 1900. O
. whom the vast majority are colored. Blu
1t Is dihcult to ascertain the correct age
of many colored people, as there is dis
position to eXaggerate which cannot b
Y | controlled.
Z In regard to the Worlds, centenarians !
is said that more people five to be NOR
than one hundred in warm climates thai
in the higher latitudes, Here are some fig
9 ures recently published: The German EN-
e pire, with 55,0O0,0O0 11nhabitants. has n
8 centenarians; France,h with 4O, 900. 600. ha
g 213; England has only TAG and Scotland 4G
| Sweden has 10; NorWayHo3; Belgium,
e Denmark 2; Spain !401, and Switzerlan
: none. Servla. with a apopulation of 2,250,
8 OOO has 575 people over one hundred year
old 1t Is said that the oldest person livin
r Is Bruno Cotrim of Rio Janeiro, aged on
e hundred and fifty. rs