The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-07
1Oa YEARS OLD AND SORRY.
hrs. Cleveland Has No Desire to Live
Till Her Next Birthday.

Alll 2eE N ext 2lEL4QaE-
Syracuse. March 1T is hard to real
ize that any person is living who can re-
member So years ago. but Mrs. Olive
Cleveland, of Lafayette, can perform
that feat. Mrs. Cleveland celebrated her
102d birthday anniversary last Friday
and has lived under all the presidents
except Washington. When she was born
Napoleon Bonaparte was the first consul
of France. She was Is years old at the
time of the battle of Waterloo. AT the
time of her birth George III was still
on his throne. The furthest confines Of
the territory under the administration
OF the United States scarcely reached to
the Mississippi river. and Florida was
stin under Spanish rule.
on0ndaga. county, N. ", was prime
val wilderness, and Mrs. Cleveland has
seen q city grow up when formerly she
saw q forest through which the Indians
roamed at will She recalls with dis
tinctness the events of the war of 1872
and delights to tell Of the training days
when all the able bodied men for miles
around were turned out to drill at Pom
pey Hin, her own father being among
them.
Her earliest recollection dates back
20 her fourth year. when she was help
ing her grandmother to peel potatoes
in their log cabin at Pompey Hill
Her arms were barred to the elbow"
said Mrs. Cleveland, in telling the
story to a Tribune CORRESPONDENT. 'and
asked her why they were so brown.
and she told me that they were burned
by the great heat of the oven. In those
days a great deal of baking was done
IN the old-fashioned, out-Of-dOor bake
ovens. a roaring fire would be started
and the bricks brought almost to 4
white heat when they cleaned out the
ashes and put in the baking
Mrs. Cleveland has lived as long as
she cares to, and hopes that she viii
not see another birthday anniversary.
II pray the good Lord" she said,
'that he viii not let me live to be JOB
years old. 7 have aged terribly since
] was q hundred years old and people
began to notice that I was having
birthdays. When I was a young woman
of ninety / used to do as much work
as any of them. but now ] am getting
old 1t has been several years since
was able to read, and time passes
rather slowly. After you have lived a
hundred years you have aches and
pains you never had before. You begin
to lose your memory; you can't see
as distinctly as you used to, and you
cant hear we'll You forget how your
friends look and you miss the sounds
of their voices and you seem to be in
another world. You know that there
is much going on of which you are not
aware. and yet you can't help it.
Notwithstanding the way in which
Mrs. Cleveland speaks OF her power, she
IS a remarkably well preserved woman.
Her face is still full and her form Well
rounded. She has not the emaciated APP
pearance noticeable in many centenar-
fans. She weighs possibly, one hundred
and twenty pounds, and her appetite is
remarkably gOOdl She eats three good
meals a day, taking her brea kfast in
bed, and prefers the plain country fare
to which she has been accustomed all
her life. Her mind is alert, and she is,
in q way, up to date regarding modern
inventions and methods with approval
and realizing that there must be prog
ress- Although her eyes are not good
enough for reading. she still l1nits. Two
years ago. when She was a hundred
years old, she was knitting a pair OF
socks one day for Homer Case, her only
living son, then seVenty-twO years old.
A member of the family demonstrated
with her saying. Grandma, you had
better stop knitting now: you look
tired" Yes ] am tired" was the an
sWer but what won't we mothers do
for our boys2"
Mrs Clevelands parents were Thomas
and Betsey Newell whose ancestors emil
grated to the colonies early in the eigh-
tsenth century. They We're industrious
people and prospered in their new home.
When she was three years old her
parents moved from Canton. Conn. to
their new home at POmpey Hill. OnOn-
daga county. making the trip with OK
teams On January %, 1928, Olive Cleve-
land became Mrs. Norris Case, and had
two children as the result of this union.
One of these, Homer Case, served in the
Twelfth New York volunteer infantry in
the Civil war In 1S49 Mrs. Case married
Merrils Cleveland, and they moved on to
q farm where the city of Syracuse now
at Onoudaga valley and Lafayette.