The daily sentinel., 1907-07-18
SHE Is THE OLDEST
WOMAN IN AMERICA
Mrs. Wood, Aged 12O Years, Crowned
Queen of Oregon-Living When
Washington Was Inaugurated.

q Oregon claims the honor of q
4 counting among its residents q
q the Oldest white woman in q
q America, Mrs. Mary Ramsey q
a Lemons Wood. and in the cele- a
q bration of the Fourth of state q
q wide importance, Mrs. Wood, q
O aged 120 years 1 month and a
q IS days, was crowned Queen a
q of Oregon a few days ago at a
q Portland. The coronation was q
q performed by General George a
o H. Williams, attorney general q
q under President Grant, and the a
q only living representative of a
q that cabinet. General Will a
q liams is in his S5th year. He q
q was assisted by ]. D. Lee, q
q president of the Oregon Pio- q
q neer association. a
Mrs. Wood was born at Knoxville,
Tenn, May 20, 1887. She was twice
married, her first husband, Mr..
Lemons, dying in 1899. In 1852 she
moved from Missouri to Oregon, set
tling in Washington county, where
she still makes her home, riding on
horseback the entire way. Mrs.
Wood married her second husband,
John Wood, May %, 1854. OF her
four children, all of whom lived to
ripe old age, only one is today living
and that is the youngest child. Mrs.
Catherine B. Southworth Reynolds,
who was born in 1880.
Mrs. Wood is of English ancestry;
her parents first settled in the Caro-
linas and afterward removed to Ten
nessee. Her mother died at the re-
markable age of ITO. This remarka-
BILE antiquarian now weighs 1870
fg nt To- 1fet
and speaks about the career of Ma
poleon Bonaparte, who was a lad of
1S when she was born, as though
those things happend yesterday. She
was a mature woman of "a when Ma
poleon died. At the time of the death
of George Washington she was II
years old. and Daniel Webster, if
he were living, would be only five
years older than Mrs. Wood. Freder-
ick the Gerat of Prussia, as well as
Benjamin Franklin, were still living
when she was born. She was a moth
er before the birth of Abraham Lin
coin and w. e. Gladstone, and she
was twice a mother before Horace
Greeley. Charles Sumner or Henry
Ward Beecher came into the world.
AS we have instances of grandmoth-
ers at the age of 81, Mrs. Wood was
old enough to have been the grand
mother of Queen Victoria of Julia
Ward Howe, and as she is 81 years
older than General George II. Will
liams. who crowned her Queen of
Oregon, she could easily have been
his grandmother; the same is true
as to Edward Everett Hale or Sena-
tor Pettus of Alabama.
General Williams coronation ad
dress follows:
"On behalf of the citizens of Port
land, and as a part of the celebration
of the 131st anniversary of the Dec
laration of Independence, | have the
honor to crown you as Queen of Ore
gon, SO far as advanced years and the
respect and veneration of the people
can make you such a queen. AS a
young man of "a years of age l am
proud of the opportunity to confer
this distinction upon a lady who is
old enough to be my grandmother.
81 do not believe there is a person
now living in this country who was
living as you were when George
Washington was inaugurated presi-
dent of the United States.
81 congratulate you upon the pleas
ure you must feel in meeting your
friends and neighbors who have as
sembled to do you honor, and |
hope you may have that peace which
the world cannot give in the closing
scenes of your long-eventful life"