Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28
CASES OF LONGEVITY
THOSE WHO HAJE LIVED nEvoNn
THE CENTURY MARK.
Dr. Galen's Long Life, Henry Jenkins,
the Methuselah Of the Christian
Era-1nteresting Instances.

Aunt Fanny Lomax. the aged colored
woman who only a short time ago, at her
residence across the river, near Georgetown,
celebrated the one hundred and fourth an
nlVersary of her BIRTH" said one of WASH
lngtons Oldest inha bitants, 'is a true ex-
ample of longevity Her records are straight
and her credentials equally as good, but"
SAID he, "she is a case among many thou
sands. ! have given much study to the SUBJ
Ject of longevity continued the old gentIc-
man, and have no hesitation in saying that
nine out OF ten of these centenarians we
near about many of them in the aims
houses or IN country regions, supported by
thelr friends or their descendants, do not
hno" When they were born, and there are
no records eXtant to show the date, and
while many OF them can remember events
that have occurred sixty or even seventy
years ago, they can carry their mental
glances no further to the rear
"a great many honors are attendant upon
Old age he went on to say, "and 1 think
the feeling of homage is as well exemplified
by the Chinese as by any other people, In
that country if man lives over a hundred
the universal impression is that he must
nave been good man to have been blessed
with so many years of existence, and he
has statues and memorial arches and mon
uments erected to his memory 1t is to he
Hoted, however, that these mementoeS are
lew ana far between, for few men are so
good in their lives as to GET tn he a hundred
years DID,
The old resident may have been substan-
tally correct in his assertions, but the truth
is that very many people have lived beyond
the age OF one hundred years. In a census
OF Great Britain taken about forty years
ago 1t was shown that 80 persons within
the period of the census had lived to be over
one hundred years old.
Galen, the Great Physician.
Searching into statistics concerning adj
vanced age, it is found that Galen. the
great physician, who died somewhere in
the early period of the Christian era, had
worried along through one hundred and
forty years of earthly existence. AS late
as the year 1890 there was a slave woman
died in Jamaica who was reputed to be one
hundred and thirty-siX years of age Her
name was Cooba. She is of frequent men
ton in books on longevity. Her memory
was perfect up to the time of her death,
and she could see to thread a needle until
a year of her being called to the other
world She saw four generations of her
masters family.
In 1912 Esmina Diamond died at King
ston, Jamaica, aged one hundred and thir-
d
for long life. At Port Royal on that island
also in the year 1872. died Ann Wignall
over whose head the summers. of one hun
dred and twenty years had shed their sun
shine. Ann was a slave who was cap
tured in Africa and carried to the West
Indies - ~.
But these old folk We're not all colored
people. In one of, the census reports of
Great Britain occurs the following:
Lord Bacon, in his History of Life and
Death, quotes as a fact unquestioned that
a few years before he wrote Morris
dance was performed in Herefordshire, at
the May games, by eight men whose ages
in the aggregate amounted to eight hum
dred years.
cation, many years ago published this
paragraph:
I'VE were personally acquainted with the
late Donald Mcdonald of Guarrelsome
memory, who was sent to the house of cor
rection for street brawl when he was one
hundred and five years old. When one
hundred and six he enjoyed excellent
health. His father lived to be one hundred
and thrty-seven and no one knows when
he would have died had he not been acct
dentally killed"
Many women also have had a long lease
on life. Mrs. James Simon died in London
one hundred and nineteen years of age
Oldest Since Methuselah.
remembered Methuselah, at least the old
est man during the Christian up to
date, was Henry Jenkins, a laborer, who
was born at Ellertor-on-Slade. He was
twelve years old when the battle of Flodden
Field was fought On his tomb in Bolton
church yard is inscribed: