The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-15
192 Children Of WaShington's
Soldiers Are Still Living

grandfather a captain in the continen-
tai army
Two other centerarian nearest
links" are Mrs. Susan s. Brigham Of
| Worcester, Mass. and William Howe
Church of Bristol. r. l. Mrs. Brigham,
who won the century goal on Feb. 3,
| is the daughter of Ammi Weatherbee,
a Massachusetts, Minute Man and Mr..
Church, who won the honor Of writing
his age with three numerals on June
23--is the son of Thomas Church, a
private In a Rhode Island regiment OF
light infantry.
| And very close indeed to the CEN
tury mark are three children, real
and actual, who enter their ninety
ninth years of life while our present
calendars are on the wall--William H..
Hall, Keene Valley, N. z, who ac-
complished this feat Feb. 1; Mrs. Jane
Newkirk, Laporte, Ind, and Mrs. Mar
garet K. Johnson of Pennington, KY,
who is the last survivor Of a revolu-
tionary veterans family of sixteen
children.
Doubly entitled to call himself
American, because his veins hold the
blood both Of our empires aborigin-
al owners and of its liberators. is the
next most ancient link, Sopiel Selmore,
son of Passamaquoddy brave,
Selmore Soctomah, who, besides rem
dering various services to the cause of
the colonies, distinguished himself in
the revolution as an Indian scout and
captain in the marine service. Sopel,
his son by his squaw, Dennis Molly
Selmore, entered his 9sth year March /,
and may well look forward to century
span, for his father the good Soctomah,
was considerably over hundred
years old at the time of his death,
upon the eve Of our civil war, when
Sopiel was a middle-aged man Of 46.
"He is able to be about and en-
joys his four grandchildren, with
whom he lives" is the report / got
this week from the household of John
Adams of Holden, Mass, who entered
his 9Sth year May 9. His father and
maternal grandfather were both con-
tinentals. One of the priced relics Of
the family is his grandfathers wooden
quart flask-made like little keg-
which was carried through the revolu-
ton. Mr.. Adams and his good wife
wife lived together nearly sixty seven
years and until her death in 1908. They
celebrated their golden wedding in 1889,
One of the near-centenarian real
daughters" who has favored me with
her photograph is Miss Janet Blair of
Madison, N. Y, who gave Decoration
day just passed an added touch of pa
triotism by entering then upon her 98th
year. 1t has been the recent custom
of her chapter sisters on that date to
make a pilgrimage to her home, laden
with refreshments, including a birth
day cake adorned with the figures Of
her age in red frosting. Her father,
Seth Blair, enlisted three times during
the revolution.
Among nine real children Of the revo-
luton who enter their 9th year in
1911, is wellington A. Clark of Crown
Point, Ind. His father, Benjamin
Clark, one of the Massachusetts pa.
triots who responded to the alarm Of
April, 1775, shouldered his f1intlock and
marched from his home in Midway,
later working his way up in the ranks
from private to sergeant.
Doubly linked to Independence is
William Bethuel Barron Of Westmin-
ster Mass, aged 81, whose father and
grand father both fought under the
banner of Washington, the former as a
private and the latter as captain.
Mrs. Mary Ann Rishel of Clintondale,
Pa, is the daughter of revolutionary
veteran, the sister of an 1912 veteran
and the mother of civil war veteran.
Her father served five years Of the
revolution as a ranger on the frontier,
and the 5000 in Connecticut money
which he received for his services was
kept many years by his family, in the
hope that the government would re.
deem it. Mrs. Rishel, who celebrated
her Goth birthday March % last, is a
child of his third wife. She has a
dozen grand children and two dozen
great grandchildren. A few years ago
her home and the contents were de-
stroyed by fire, but pension granted
her by the G. A. r. has partially allie
Waited her want. Her chapter lately
gave her a revolutionary flag which
she has placed on her fathers grave
Not many men now live can boast
that their fathers were born as many
as 1853 years ago, but such CAN be
proved in the family records by Beriah
Stafford Rathburn of Norwich, Conn.,,
another actual son." The elder Rath-
burn was a mature man of 23 when
Philadelphia's old statehouse bell pro