Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-05-26

quently stated upon his certificate of
death. His birthplace, as we'll as
that OF his father and of his mother,
is given as North Carolina; his con-
jugal condition >as single; and under
-le head OF education it is stated
, mat he could read but could not
write. At the eleventh census (fcy0)
Mir. Raby's age at nearest birthday"
was given as III years, the other
particulars being the same as stated
IN 1900, except that his mothers
birthplace was stated as Pennsyl-
vania. No record was found OF Mr..
Raby among the inmates of the aims
house at the tenth census (1SSO). but
his name appears among those there
enumerated at the ninth census
tlS1o) In the returns for this CEN
sus his "age at last birthday was
stated to be SO years, and not 9S
years as it should have been if the
subsequent statements as to his age
|
given as South Carolina and not
North Carolina. Birthplaces of par
ents were not reported at the ninth
census. 1t appears not unlikely that
| the statement OF age made in 1870
was at least approximately corr act,
so that at the time of his death at
an advanced age March /. 1904, he
was over 80 years old (92 years IL
months if the statement OF his age
made in 1870 is precise) and not an
| actual centenarian at all, much less
the oldest man in the country"
The report later on states that it
would be impracticable for the bu-
reau OF the census to determine the
truth in regard to all unusual ages
which are received upon the official
| transcripts of deaths. nor can the
state or city Offices be expected to
investigate all such cases. Indeed
! the evidence necessary for conclusive
proof OF extreme longevity in any
| given case may be extremely difficult
=
| lists. This is true for European coun-
tries, as shown by Thoms and.Young,
and is even more true for the United
| STATES, for great part of Which,
even at the present day, there is no
| complete registration of births The
statements in regard to the ages Of
decedents. are made by the inform
| ants and can not, as a rule, be ques-
! toned or rejected by registration Of
! fcials. Such statements are, undoubt-
edly in the vast majority of cases,
| believed to be correct by the persons
who reported them, and, when Off
cialy registered, become, like the
other statements upon the Iertifi-
Gates of death, prima facie evidence
| of the facts Any statement upon a
certificate of death may, however, be
lrefuted by sufficient evidence of its
untruthfulness. 1t is we'll known that
many of the statements of exact age,
even in the middle period of life and
in youth, are not strictly correct. In
old age, with impaired memory, with
possible unintentional confusion of
what mas ben heard and what has
been actually experienced by the IN
dividual in regard to the events of
early years, after the death of con-
temporaries whose testimony might
contradict claims to excessive long
evity, and with the we'll known tend
ency of many aged persons to exag-
gerate. in the utmost good faith, the
number of years that they have lived,
it is not at all surprising that many
unfounded claims to extreme old age
arise. The deaths of centenarians
reported by the census are too few
to vitiate seriously the statistics, even
if in every case the age was incor-
rectly stated, and they are therefore
shown just as they we're returned.