The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-25

pride, that in all the years which had been allotted to him he had never tasted alcohol or tobacco. He puts stress on | this as an indispensable condition 10 health, happiness and serene old age. lie is a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, l and came to this country in 1920, settling with his parents in upper New York. In l 1873 he removed with his family to llli- nois.
 At various times during the year atten- 1 ton was drawn to remarkable old ladles, l the more notable of whom form eXcep- tionally interesting links with the past l In 1794, when the dazzling splendor or Ma l poleon's genius was beginning to hght up the horizon of Europes troubled sky, Mrs. Fannie Epstein was born in the Russian city of Kevno. This aged wo- man, who has celebrated her 1OSth birth- 1 day. Is stll living in Chicago, making her home with a daughter SS years old. Her mother, born at the close of the seven teenth century, lived to the age of lO5. She has thirty-eight great-grandchildren and two sreat-grea t-grandchildren She still makes her daily pilgrimage to the l Jewish synagogue in rhe observance CT her religious duties.
 Miss Margaret Carpenter, 1Os years old was still living in Philadelphia In Feb ruary. She was cheerful and spry not withstanding a sad love romance which kept her from marrying and cast 1 shadow over her life. Yes, have lived l long while" she said when asked Tor i her "reminiscences. T suppose 1t Is be- ] cause always worked hard and ate good, plain food. My home here is good as any l could have on thls earth, but l want to go to a better home and doubtless l will pretty soon. 1 want to meet my sweetheart, James, who died many many years ago. after receiving my promise never to marry another" Miss Carpen- ters uncle, Alden Holloway, made shoes for President Lincoln and she recalls with pride the fact that she met Lincoln and dined at the same table with him before he was sent to the White House. 1 With a gift of 5000 for foreign mission 1 ary work, Mrs. Jane M. Boyd of AL l legheny county, Pa, celebrated her 10Cth birthday recently. Two of her grandchil- dren are missionaries in Egypt. Her great-grandparents were Scotch-Irish,
 who came to America in the seventeenth century and settled in Cumberland coun-
 ty, Pa John Carnahan was her father,
 and her uncle, James Carnahan, was president of Princeton college from 1923 to 1s58
 1 Among the wonderful old ladies told of during the year was Mrs. John Rock well of Chicago, a member of the family of Eugene s. Pike, who will reach the I This woman was in her thirties when | Chicago was yet in it's swaddling clothes | having been born in the identical year l that Fort Dearborn was established-1803. l Thus she was living at the time of the l Louisiana purchase, and she was past l sweet sxteen'' in President Monroe 1 second term.
 At the town of Leyden, N. Y, lives | or did live in the spring of 1902-a re- ma arlra h la tom ri Of tha nf James Stewart, who adouces evidence to | show that he has passed the 104th mile | stone on life's journey. A peculiar dis 1 tinction attaches to Stewart among those l who know him best aside from his ex | treme age. He avows that in all his long | life he has never told Q lie. notwith- | standing the dictum or writers and phil osophers that all men are liars. Despite | his advanced age, Stewart, during his | later years has shown other strong traits of character. From his earliest youth un- l til he was 90 he was a free user of al- l coholic beverages. and the tobacco habit had him tightly in its grip. At 90. how ever, he drew the line and ''swore off" | Since then his motto has been: "Shun l liquor and tobacco as you would the 1 devil"
 l It is well known that many negroes 1 reach an extreme old age, but in most cases authentic records or convincing
 proof to verify their claims Is lacking
 Uncle Elijah Bledsoc Is either a liar
 or miracle, for he put forth claims last
 year that he was born in 1771 thus being 131 years old He Is a southern darkey | who still enjoys life and loves coon hunting, and while he may not be the | oldest man in this country, as he asserts, no one doubts that he is a centenarian.
 John Carey a colored man, who died in | Washington, D. C., some years ago, and 1 written evidence to show that he was 114 | years of age. He had papers 10 show | that he was an officers servant with Braddock's army when 1t was repused near Pittsburg, twenty years before the revolution. Uncle Ben' Brown of Rich view H., at the postuatory age of 106 | is growing an entirely new crop of wool on the top Of his head, after having been
 bald as a billiard ball for forty years. The old man still goes apout town and
 is able to do q pretty fair days work. Last July, Ferry Chesney, colored man
 in Tennessee, died at the alleged age of 126. As a slave he had belonged to Jona-
 than Jackson. at Clarksvile, Va, on the | Roanoke river, and when F years old he saw George Washington. "Grandmother" | Stewart, an inmate of the Home for Aged
 Coored People in Chicago, died at the alleged age of 12S. She often dwelt with
 pleasure on the 'reminiscence" that she
 had been lady's maid at Washington's l second inaugural ball.
 Unquestionably. one of the most re- markable centenarians who passed away during the last year was Sonora Catalina
 Flores. who died at Pasadena, Cal, at the age of IF. This wonderful woman
 had lived in parts of three centuries
 most of the time under the shadow of the San Gabriel mission-and was in pos
 session of all her faculties almost to
 the end.
 On a lonely island opposite La Crosse
 in the Mississippi river, Nuc-Se-Ga, moth- | CT of Chief Red Snake, the famous Win
 nebago warrior, died at the age of FPS.
 She was said to be the oldest Indian ln
 Wisconsin Daniel Smith, the oldest man in Michigan, died at Orrville, Saginaw
 county, aged Ill. He never touched liquor,
 neither did he smoke. but he chewed | tobacco day and night. He served in the | Mexican and Indian wars, and his fa- ther and brother were killed on the
 British frigate shannon in its memorable
 contest with the Chesapeake during the
 war of 1872 Hiram Cronk, pensloner of
 the war of 1872, died at Dunbrook, Oneida
 county. N. r., aged 1O3 He was the last
 of the soldiers of that war on the pen | sion ro1la