Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1910-05-25

quently stated upon his certificate of
death. His birthplace, as well as
that of his father and of his mother,
is given as North Carolina; his con-
jugal condition as single; and under
tie head of education it is stated
that he could read but could not
write At the eleventh census (1S9O)
Mr.. 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 (1S80). but
his name appears among those there
enumerated at the ninth census
0S70.) In the returns for this CEN
sus his age at last birthday was
stated to be SO years, and not 80
years as it should have been if the
subsequent statements as to his age
were correct, and his birthplace was
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 correct,
so that at the time of his death at
an advanced age March 1, 1904, he
was over so years old (92 years II
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
to procure, even When the fact eX-
lists. This is true for European coun-
tries, as shown by Thoms and Young,
and is even more true for the United
States, for a great part of which,
even at the present day, there is no
complete registration of births. The
in regard to the ages of
decedenfs are made by the inform
ants and can not, as a rule, be ques-
toned or rejected by registration Of
ficials Such statements are, undoubt- |
eddy in the vast majority of cases,
believed to be correct by the persons
who reported them, and. when Off
cialy registered. become, Ike the
other statements upon the certif-
Gates of death, prima facie evidence
of the facts. Any statement upon a
certificate of death may, however, be
refuted 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 has 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 well 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 were returned.