52 Ancestors Week Three - Longevity [closed]

+20 votes
1.8k views

AJC - This week is "Longevity." You might write something about the oldest person in your family tree. You could explore the person that took you the longest to find. Maybe it's longevity in a job or career. 

Who was or has been the longest lived person in your family?

Who has held the same job for the longest time in your family?

Who was married for the longest time in your family?

Whom have you taken the longest time to find?

closed with the note: Challenge is now complete
in The Tree House by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
closed by Robynne Lozier
Longest lived? My great aunt Isabel McRae, born 6 May 1908, and died in 2016 at a whopping 108 years old. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, she made the national news here in Canada on her 107th birthday.
Alex, do you want to make that official answer so we can count you as an official participant in this challenge?

I live in Canada and I don't know if I recall hearing about a 107 year old woman in Canada in 2016.... But I found an article anyway!!

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/edmonton-woman-107-gets-a-birthday-surprise-1.2363238
Sure thing! I didn't realize this was a contest. She was hip, she'd love to be a contestant!
PS Good job digging up that video ... that's her!
This is not a contest Alex, just a friendly challenge.

But if you don't want to. that's fine.

Now more important - This being a Genealogy site - ARE YOU RELATED to Belinda Stronach?

But you can't be. Her parents are from Austria (and have angilicized their name) while your ancestors are Scottish. OK that's solved.. next please...  LOL

Lol... Wow, you’ve done your homework! I get asked if I’m related to Belinda Stronach often ... but no, I’m not. And for the reason you’ve pointed out: my heritage is from Scotland (among other countries) and hers is from Austria. I read somewhere her grandfather adopted the name Stronach when he came to Canada.

 

I don’t mind the challenge ... what do I need to? 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:52_Ancestors_for_52_Weeks_in_2018_Challenge

On the Space page linked above - scroll down and read all the links. The first one is the intro, the others are labelled weeks 1,2,and 3. Those links have the prompts and you need to post something about a relative or ancestor that fits that prompt in SOME Way.

Your great aunt McRae obviously fits the 3rd week, so that one is done. The first 2 prompts can also still be done.

Each weeks prompt thread (in G2G) will be uploaded to the Space page. The only deadline is 31st December 2018 if you wish to qualify for the badge and have 52 ancestors or relatives posted for 52 weeks. Each post must be in the appropriate thread for that prompt.

I will make a note of your name as having done the 3rd week, and I look forward to your future posts for the other prompts. Have fun.
Oh cool, now I get it.

There was a short bio written about my McRae that I can use. I'll post it soon. Also, I'll look into getting something for weeks 1,2.

This is a great idea! Thanks!
My great grandmother Gaddis, who we simply called "Little Grandma" due her diminutive size...lived to be the oldest person that I personally knew and interacted with in my lifetime. This is why I chose her for my week three biography on longevity. I wrote a bit about the things I remember from my time spent with her as a child and also posted a photo of a newspaper clipping where she was interviewed at the age of 96...just two years before she passed away. The link to her profile is below.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Arp-139
Just one more prompt to do and you will be all caught up - well done, Jen.
My longest lived ancestor is a tossup. But I will go with the one who was cited as being over 105 , James or john Harper two different citations,, or the one William Bennett  of PA 101 or a more recent one, Margarette Lange age 106 of Oregon who was a daughter of my great grand uncle Albert Lange d. 1939
Third comment: I don't believe anyone has yopped 969 years of Methusala!

43 Answers

+11 votes
 
Best answer

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 3: Longevity

When I think of longevity I think of my grandmother Sophia Ellis Samples (1893 - 1997).   She lived to be 104 years old and even at the age of 100 she still worked in her flower beds.   I think of all the changes she must have witnessed in her lifetime.  All the things we now take for granted came to be in her lifetime.  Electricity was only in about half of the homes in America by 1925, indoor plumbing did not arrive until around 1930 for most rural Americans. Home phones were party lines, most ended by the 80’s  I still remember them.   Cell phones came into being during her life. Personal computers were now in most homes.  Can you think of your life without these?   How about living to see all the transportation changes she saw,  from the horse and buggy to jet travel and on July 20, 1969  a man walking on the moon. The things she witnessed first hand most of us have only read about  in books.  She lived through The Great Depression, WW I, WW II,  Korea, and Vietnam. She watched the Berlin Wall go up and come down.  

I can not imagine see so much change in one lifetime.  

#52ancestors
 

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by Mel Lambert G2G6 Mach 3 (34.4k points)
selected by Living Barnett
Did she know where she was when JFK was shot?

Do you know where YOU were when JFK was shot? LOL

WOW I am impresed with Sophia's very long life!!
Yes I know where we were when JFK was shot  We were at home in St Albans, Kanawha, West Virginia living at 506 Abney St . (may have been 504)  My grandmother lived with us until I was about 10.  I remember sitting by her knees as we watched the funeral thinking how sad the little boy and girl looked beside their mother.    I did not truly understand the significance of this event at that time but understood how upset all the Adults in my life were.
That makes you about 10 or 11 years older than me. I was born 6 months after JFK died, which means I was in utero...

I would love to come to your dinner and talk to Sophia and discuss all the changes she lived through.

Thanks for a great post.
This post the Best Answer for this week IMO.
+20 votes
As always I'll start off.

The longest lived person in my family is my Uncle, but since he is still alive (As of January 2018), I can't use him. He doesn't have a profile yet. He is currently 98 years old, and (if he survives) he will turn 100 in May of 2019.

So I will go for the second longest lived person in my family. That is my grandfather- Hedley Roy Thompson. He died at the grand old age of 95 years old.

This was my fathers father. My father was born late in my grandfathers life. He was the youngest, and the baby of the family. My grandfather was 43 years old when his youngest son was born.

Grandad was 70 years old when I was born and I was 25 years old and already living away from home when I got the phone call telling me that he had passed away. Actually, Grandad died the day before my 25th birthday!!

I can still remember that day. I got the phone call at work around 10 AM. I sat back down at my desk and I started blubbering. I couldn't do any more work. I had too many tears in my eyes. So I told my boss about the phone call, and asked to go home. Since I didnt have a car, my boss drove me home for a day of bereavement leave and I spent the rest of the day at home. I was back at work perfectly fine the next day.

My grandfather, my father and I were all alike. We ALL loved to read. I think that's why I was most upset when he died.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thompson-31033
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
edited by Robynne Lozier
Adding an update to this post - My Uncle is still alive as of 31 Dec 2018 - so he is now 99 years, 7 months and 3 weeks old - more or less.

I can't make a profile for him until after he passes. And it will be a very sad for the family when he does.
+23 votes

Since there is so much flexibility permitted in how we associate the "Longevity" theme, I'm going to choose my grandmother Sadie (Bresnick) Gordon.  Until two years ago, I always believed she had lived to "over 100", with her actual age unknown, even by her.  That was when I uncovered the real story - she was between 79 and 86 years old when she died in 1963.

She was not a rationally functioning adult as far back as I can remember.  The family called her "senile" (probably the 1950's term for what we know as Alzheimer's disease) and much of her behavior was driven by beliefs/fears/superstitions that were not in keeping with reality.  She never talked (at least, to me) of anything in her past and my father never said much, but had a very strong penchant for ... shall we say ... creative embellishment of stories from his past.

I have now determined the true versions of several events of her life, in the process discovering that she had many siblings and parents who also came to the United States, leading to the thrill of connecting with about a dozen cousins.

In her biography, I have endeavored to include all the colorful stories, as well as point out all the variances from reality.  The completely unbelievable story of her immigration adventure, however, turned out to be true, amazingly.  The most bizarre story (which I heard from her lips on a few occasions) of her having been at a speech by Abraham Lincoln in New York is patently false - it would have been 15 or 20 years before she was born and even more years before she set foot in the United States!

by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Oh my goodness, Gaile. Some of those stories you have on her profile are quite funny - and yet also rather painful in the wake of her possible illness.
I remember believing the part about Abraham Lincoln's speech when I was a child.  I even included what she said about the speech in a report I wrote for a school homework assignment.  My teacher must have really wondered!

Also, I was taught to knowingly lie at an early age.  We visited her every Saturday while I was growing up and she always made what was supposed to be her famous honey cake for me.  It varied greatly - underbaked with gobs of dough, burnt, clots of flour, etc.  It was not even remotely describable as edible most of the time, but I had to eat it and tell her how good it was ... which only led to being forced to eat a second helping.
That is a beautiful profile and so touching and emotional. My nan also had alzheimers and it reminds me of all the stories she used to tell me about her family - many I discovered to be untrue - but I suspect she believed what she had been told as a child by her parents.
What a wonderful profile. Thanks for sharing it!
What a fantastic profile and enjoyable read. Thanks for the family stories, and for sharing the memories.
That's a lovely story. I really enjoyed reading it.  Thank you very much for sharing it.
Gaile,

I loved your profile of Sadie! What incredible courage she had to travel alone as a 12-year-old all the way, and to arrive in New York to find herself utterly alone? You know, our ancestors were made of stern stuff and deserve every bit of the loving respect we have to give, whether they are *our* ancestors or *yours*. They struggled to keep us going when they could have given up and sunk beneath the waves.

And the burners? Our house too. And the oven on "low" which was just lovely in July in West Texas. Except nothing was cooked on the Sabbath  in our house. Everything was cooked before the sun set on Friday. It could be warmed up, but not cooked.

Lovely profile, thank you for sharing.
+21 votes

I'll start with my confirmed longest living direct ancestor. Mary Smith nee Solly was nearly 101 when she passed in 1862. Solley-130

Obviously the country air and Kentish farming lifestyle did wonders for the health, even though she managed to have at least 9 confirmed children and probably led a hard life as an agricultural labourer's wife. Her husband Edward Smith didn't do too bad himself. Smith-129149 He was reported to be 98 when he died in 1856. He was recorded as having 10 children (I'm still trying to identify the tenth one, and think it was more likely he just had 9), 60 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren ( a total of 100 descendants) all living in 1840. Probably not a world record - but a major achievement!

My next one is Mary Curnick nee Simpson. Simpson-8285 She was supposedly 100 when she died in 1876. She had 11 children over the course of 25 years, and probably also led a humble life, being the wife of a tradesman who was probably involved in the building of the houses in the area of Battersea, Surrey, which was at that time a rural location (unlike now, where it is a suburb of London).  So far I have been unable to verify a definite baptism for her to be certain that she was 100 when she died, and haven't found any newspaper articles to celebrate her 100th birthday.

by Michelle Wilkes G2G6 Pilot (168k points)
edited by Michelle Wilkes

The person that has taken me the longest to find...has to be Sarah Ann Smith nee Bachell Bachell-5. For nearly 30 years I have been hunting her, routinely checking every new database that came out each year, in the hope of discovering where she went. For nearly 30 years, I believed she had abandoned her husband and young children, possibly run off with another man, changed her surname and maybe emigrated to the US (where her brother and sister went) but with the surname Smith (assuming it was even still Smith) it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

Sarah's husband George Smith Smith-124852 was recorded as "married" in 1871 but had another woman, a widow named Emma Benness living with him as a "housekeeper". By 1881 he had moved from Kent to Wolverhampton, and Emma was now his "wife" though I could never find a marriage. When Emma died in 1895, she was recorded as Emma Smith, wife of George Smith.

It was only by chance as I was researching the newspapers that I found a newspaper article relating to George Smith for not paying for the upkeep of his wife who had been committed to the Surrey Lunatic Asylum in 1868, George being taken to court in 1868 and 1869. It was from these (I assume previously unreleased) newspapers that I then managed to trace Sarah Ann from Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, to one Kent County Asylum, then to the last one in Chartham, Kent, where she died in 1899 - 5 years after her husband. He had obviously moved away from Kent to Wolverhampton to avoid paying for her maintenance.

I finally obtained her death certificate, and a copy of her post mortem last year, and plan to research the hospital records to try to find out more about why she was committed and her life in the asylums.

I felt so guilty about blaming her for abandoning her husband and family - the poor woman, once committed probably had no chance of ever being released and probably had to endure an awful life. 

Oh, Michelle, what a heartrending story.  Finally knowing about it is probably somewhat of a relief for you, despite having to process the unbearable burden she endured.  I wish I could give you a hug.
Michelle, that is such a sad story, but at least now you finally know what happened. You should also try and forgive yourself as well, for thinking that she had abandoned her family, when it appears she had not.
How rewarding that you kept looking. Her soul can rest easy now. Such a sad story.
Ditto to what everyone said Michelle.
We genealogists and family tree lovers can be persistent our whole lives!  Your research paid off and what a story it tells.  Very sad indeed.  I truly was reading anxiously to see how it turned out.  Now, the wondering of how she ended up confined, was it authentic or a plot to be rid of her?  Well written, well done, Michelle!

Michelle. Very sadly this was too often what happened to women of that time.  Often the diagnosis was hysteria. Many times it was actually what we now think of as PMS, post partum depression, or an enjoyable sexuality. Two common treatments were hysterectomies and hysterical paroxysm (forced masturbation.)  Not a good time to be a feminist.

+12 votes
I'll give my "official" answer later tonight or tomorrow after I switch from my phone to my laptop. I might cheat a little bit and while still only linking to one person and putting the category to one person I might answer all the questions still. We'll see maybe once I start I'll decide to truly be a good girl and stick to one person =)
by Amanda Frank G2G6 Mach 5 (55.4k points)
reshown by Amanda Frank
Well I'm still on my phone but I couldn't wait till tomorrow when I get on my laptop again to answer. I have decided to be a mostly good girl and only have 2 people for you guy, well technically 3 since one case also involves a marriage.

So the first is Clara Maria (Dyrby) Parks https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dyrby-2. She is my 2nd Great-Grandmother on my dad's side who I actually only learned about late last year. She is the oldest person in my tree dying at the age of 103! Clara also holds another record. This one belongs also to my 2nd Great-Grandpa, you guessed it they hold the longest marriage record. They married about 1887 in either Denmark or Wisconsin and stayed married until Martin's death in 1950. That's 63 years and what I have found cool is that I have found newspaper articles for their 40th and 50th anniversaries.

My second is the person I have been looking the longest for. Her name is Constance Elizabeth (Porter) Edwards https://www.wikitree.com/Porter-10787 and the search for her has been going on longer than I've been alive, I'm 24. She is the daughter of my 2nd Great Grand-Uncle and has been a mystery to my family even as far back as my GreatGrandmother. This search is probably over 30 years old and now unfortunately if we ever find out what happened to her do to the fact she was born in 1922 it is unlikely she would still be alive.

To end on a happier note I can assure everyone that while I didn't completely follow the rules of 1 person in this answer I did only add one person (Clara Maria Parks) to the category =D
You can do as many people as you like Amanda, there are no hard and fast rules. I just count you once to show that yyou have responded to that weeks prompt.
I keep that in mind for the future. I tend to take things pretty literal, 52 ancestors, and have trouble changing my spoken/thought words into written words. This whole experience will be a fun test to see if I can get any better at it
+15 votes
I'm not sure, but I believe the longest lived person in my family was my grandfather's youngest brother, who died in 1998 some time before turning 95.

I'd like to choose another ancestor though, called Nicole Dumontier, said to be 90 when she died in 1737, because her longevity was quite remarkable at the time. The clerk even recorded her age when she was buried, which was quite exceptional. I don't know when she was born exactly, because early records of her birth parish are lost, but she married in 1670 and had her last child in 1693. She's the ancestor whose name pops up in the records for the longest span.

She does not have a profile yet, indeed I have to add about 6 generations before I reach her. Good opportunity to expand my tree here.
by Isabelle Martin G2G6 Pilot (561k points)
edited by Isabelle Martin
You have all year Isabelle, to get those 6 profiles done so that we can see the profile for your longest lived ancestor!! The only deadline that this challenge really has is 31st December - for 52 ancestors!!
This is good news! Though I probably won't finish this week, I'll try to complete this line soon enough. In part because I expect to have the same situation for other prompts this year. I have really neglected working on my own ancestors on WikiTree.

And here she is : Nicole Dumontier. The profile still needs a bit of work like adding the list of children, etc. but she is sourced, connected and the category is there.

So if I did my maths right - she lived to age 90?

In the 1700s? That is most interesting. Thanks Isabelle!!
Yes- the clerk wrote that she was 90 when he recorded her burial. She may have been a bit younger, but 85-86 at least anyway. I remember browsing the register and thinking I had missed her. Her daughter died 2 years before her at 63.
+11 votes
The oldest person in my family tree is the sister of my wife's great grandmother. Her name was Pauline Wittman Flynn. She was born in the California gold fields near Oroville California in 1874 and died in 1976 in Eureka California at the age of 102. Pauline's father was a German immigrant and he lived to age 90.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wittman-175
by Bart Triesch G2G6 Pilot (268k points)
102 - what a great age to get too!!  From the age of gold mining to the age of the concorde!! LOL.
+12 votes

I didn't pick my oldest ancestor for this week's post, because I don't know much about him, thus it would have been a pretty boring post! I wanted to post about the person I did because she ties into another blog series that I'm doing - and since she lived to over 85, I'm calling that a link to longevity!

This week I wrote about my 5th great grandmother Charlotte Richardson (1776-aft. 1861). You can see the full post here:

https://leannecoopergenealogy.ca/2018/01/14/52-ancestors-3-charlotte-richardson/

As well, I've started a series of posts on how I used mtDNA to figure out who Charlotte's parents were. That post is here (with further posts to follow in the coming days):

https://leannecoopergenealogy.ca/2018/01/15/using-mtdna-for-genealogy-a-case-study-introduction/

by Leanne Cooper G2G6 Mach 3 (37.9k points)
Wow Leanne, I can't wait to read more on your hunt for the parents of Charlotte Richardson. I really LOVE your blog posts!!
Thanks Robynne! So nice to hear! Part 2 will be up tomorrow - I just finished it. I'll do a last read through in the morning to catch any typos, and then post it. There will probably be 3 more in the coming days. I did a presentation on this last year, and wrote out speaking notes at the time, so it's just a matter of converting the slides and speaking notes into blog posts!

I'm on vacation this week, with nothing major planned (except naps!), so I figured it was a good time to tackle this!
+14 votes

My oldest relative I knew was my grandmother's sister. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Marr-1195                                               They were very close, but a study in opposites. Auntie Fran was a renaissance woman for her time. She was a scholar and teacher, a writer and an extremely gifted musician. She and her husband were a duo. She played the piano and he the violin. They toured the world together. The were so good that they both received the Order of Canada! (She was approached first, but deferred until her husband was invested.) In 1976 she received her crowning achievement - at 76 years of age, The Order of Canada. It was awarded for "a life devoted to music as an accompanist of international repute and as a soloist and teacher". She wasn't done, though. She didn't play her first solo recital until she was 75, and continued playing until shorty before her 90th birthday. She was always creating something, which accounts for her longevity, I think. The last time I saw her was in 1997. We had a nice long visit. About 2 weeks after I got home, I received a two page hand written letter from Auntie Fran. I wish I still had it, but it is lost after so many moves. She was in the middle of writing her memoirs, and was telling me what part she was working on, amongst other things. There is a lot of longevity with the women in my paternal grandmother's line. My aunts are 90 and 83 and going strong. I better get to the gym....

by Libby Park G2G6 Mach 1 (18.6k points)
Lovely story, Libby. Thanks!!

I put up post up on my blog with some pictures, just to keep the discipline going. I want to have all 52 people there. Here is a link, if you are interested:

http://www.libbyonthelabel.ca/

Great blog post as well, Libby!!
+13 votes

I'm in. Now the search begins. And now the search has yielded results. And the winner is my aunt, Helen (Rosenberger) Picariello, at 91 years 8 months. I do have an aunt at 93 years 9 months, but she is still living, as is my Mom at 90 years 7 months. Three sisters, all at 90 plus. Wow.

by Bob Keniston G2G6 Pilot (260k points)
edited by Bob Keniston
Go Bob!!
Me too, Bob. I am trying to figure out an easy way to find my oldest on WikiTree. It must be someone on my Weppner side...although my maternal Grandmother lived till 98.
+11 votes
My Grandmother Elizabeth (she of last week's favorite picture) was 93 when she died. So I'm in, but I need to figure out whose profile might be best for which longevity question.
by Liz Shifflett G2G6 Pilot (626k points)
You do not have to respond to all of them, Liz. They were just examples. One of them is fine!!

yup - just looking for one. Right now I'm debating longest marriage (I think) - my parents at 61 years (June 1950- April 2012, when Mom died)

Henry Noland Image 2

Or the "oldest" person I found in my watchlist - Rhys ap Hywel, who (according to his profile) died at age 128... born c1200, died c1328. I think the profile for Rhys needs more help LOL!

So - for this week's challenge, I'll say Rhys... longest lived on paper, and I'll work on seeing what might be done about that.

Cheers, Liz

Henry Noland image doesn't show Liz.
You can also add ALL of them if you wish!! LOL

Thanks for letting me know Linda. Probably a privacy-level problem. It's just a picture of my parents - the same picture that shows for him in my family tree from when I was interviewed for the WikiTree blog ([click here]).

Robynne- Rhys is going to be it... Took me HOURS (and longer than the week) to try to resolve his birth/death dates & his profile still needs work (although he is no longer my longest-living ancestor at 128, which was the goal, now there are generational issues that need resolved).

128 years old? Really?  OMG!!
LOL - nope, not really. He now has a more normal lifespan, born c1260 and died c1328.
68 years - that is more normal - but it is OLD for those times!!
That's part of why his profile still needs work!

Here is the picture you were trying to have.

Thanks Linda, but actually, that's my dad's father. He definitely did not come to mind in response to the prompt "longevity" (he was 39 when he died).
Sorry Liz.
+11 votes

It is hard to pick just one! I guess I would have to choose my 5th great grandfather Ephraim Sands who lived to somewhere between 98 and 100. He took me the longest to figure out which Ephraim and to decide to modify his profile, which is one that first gave me the impetus to join the WikiTree family. That’s quite old for the 1700s.

As for a close relative, my grandfather George Scranton did live to age 88. Just a year or two before he died he was living with his eldest daughter in Florida and appeared at our front door one afternoon. When my mother asked how he had gotten from Florida to (Central) New York, he told her that he had hitchhiked.

The oldest in my research is the wife of a first cousin once removed (my grandfather’s nephew). Gladys Bates lived to 106.

This is a popular topic; there was a post on the RootsMagic Facebook page asking how to find the oldest or longest married.

by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (593k points)
+9 votes
Not sure what I am going to do for longevity.  I can think of 3 women in my branches who lived to be 100.  One was Mary, wife of Thomas Betts.  Her profile is pretty well fleshed out and I don't think we will every discover who she really was.  My grandmother's step mother lived to be over 100.  She would not appreciate me writing about her, but I did just receive some photos so she is the likely candidate.  Her name was Arilla, but my grandmother called her Gorilla!  My grandfather's Aunt Julia is supposed to have lived to 100.  The story was that she emigrated to America, then went back to Ireland and got married.  This is not true, or at least not likely.  She was still here in the 1940 census.  So, did she really hang out in the US until she was 75 then go back to Ireland to marry?  I am leaning toward the brick wall with the most longevity.  I have a direct ancestor who we can't figure out who his parents were.  My sister and I are both puzzled.  We've been working with the Reamstown Historical Society and have determined that there are no eligible fathers.  None.  So now we are looking for an out of wedlock birth to a Ream female.  I was so disappointed that I've been putting off doing this sort of research.  Well, its all decided then.  I really enjoy the Ream family.
by Lucy Selvaggio-Diaz G2G6 Pilot (821k points)
I love reading stories about other peoples brick walls. This allows me to forget my frustration at my own 20+ year search for my family brick wall... LOL
+8 votes
The category for this week is [[Category: 52 Ancestors - 2018 Week 3 'Longevity']].  Please add this to your ancestor if you want it to be captured with all the others done for 52 Ancestors this week.
by Veronica Williams G2G6 Pilot (213k points)
+8 votes
My great aunt Linda was 101 when she died 2005. She would have been 1002 if she lived another 4 months. She was born in 1903 in a northern New Brunswick, Canada but lived most of her life in the USA. One story about her that I was told was that she went back to New Brunswick most years. She finally stopped driving it by herself after an accident landed her in the hospital (not her fault). She was in her 80s at the time. It was unfortunate that she wouldn't talk about the past since she knew so much of it

There may be others but I haven't documented them yet. There is a distant "cousin" who lived past 110 but I'm not sure of the exact connections yet, just that she is likely to descend from my 4 greats grandmother like most of the community and given her father's name.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (527k points)
My most interesting long lived ancestor was about 86 when she died in 1841. A pretty good age for a woman born about 1755 who lived in very rural New Brunswick, Canada and had children with each of the four husbands she outlived. One family legend is that she ran away from home with her father's butler who may or may not have been black. They went to the Caribbean where he died. She ended up in New Brunswick either with child or just before child was born (I'm descended from that child). Between one set of marriages, she petitioned the Governor to allow her to keep the property of the previous marriage in her name for her son when she remarried. The story goes that she then used the fact that she owned property to vote.

Charlotte Taylor was also the subject of a work of historical fiction. "The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor" by Sally Armstrong.
I think I have read that Charlotte Taylor book - a few years ago!!!  I really enjoyed it!!

Is she on wikitree?
She is on WikiTree (Taylor-13772) but needs a lot of work. I'll be tackling that in the near future.
Thanks Doug.

I found my review - dated Sept 2008 - almost 10 years ago!! Can't beleive I can remember a book I read 10 years ago!!

http://bibliobiography.blogspot.ca/2008/09/nine-lives-of-charlotte-taylor-book.html
I liked your review. Once I get my current set of profiles cleaned up, I'll tackle Charlotte. A plug for Sally. She has written a few other books that are worth a read. Not genealogy but about strong women. One is "VEILED THREAT: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan." She is still writing and winning journalism awards.
+8 votes

Longevity - whew! I have several within my family framework who lived into the 100+ range, but have not yet added them here (beings as I'm still new here).  I know of one on my mom's side who was 102, but at the age of 100 was written up in her local paper and she included her family jelly roll cake recipe.  Her sister almost reached 100.  On my husband's side, one woman live to be 106.  On my step-dad's side was an aunt who also reached 100.

Longevity in marriage though is one that always impresses me.  Arthur Russell Glandon [Glandon-22] and his wife Orpha Mima Newby [Newby-1235] were married in her parents' home in Amity, Oregon on 28 September 1910, and remained married until his death in May of 1975.  That's adds up to over 64 years of marriage.  It's not a record breaker, and may not even be the longest in my lines, but I do have them here on WikiTree, so they get the honor of being known for "Longevity".

While I knew this couple personally in my childhood as they were my step-father's grandparents, I sadly, don't recall specific memories other than having to sit quietly while my dad conversed with them. 

Both Art and Orpha descended from pioneers who settled in Oregon in the mid-1850s.

 

by Bonnie Weber G2G3 (3.6k points)
Great post Bonnie. Thanks.
+7 votes

This week, my great-uncle Clyde Durbin, who lived to the age of 97, is my pick. 

He was a POW during WWII, having been sent to Stalag IV-B. He didn't like to talk about the war much, but he shared some things with my dad. Clyde brought home a couple of German helmets and an armband (with a swastika), which he gave to dad. Dad hung the helmets in the basement and the armband stayed hidden in a drawer. 

[[Durbin-718|Clyde Durbin]]

 

by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
Very interesting, Natalie.
+8 votes
For Week Three I spent time checking my tree to see who had the longest life of my ancestors.  I have lots of long-livers on both sides so I feel very lucky in the gene department.  My aunt Grace lived to be 96, so she has the record so far...but my grandfather, her father lived to be 90. The big thing I discovered for Week 3 is that I am missing death dates on way too many people!  So I spent time tracking down a few of those in my direct line that I should have. 52_Ancestors is going to result in my records being much better.
by Peggy Jude G2G3 (3.6k points)
Yes those pesky dates of death. Without then we have no idea who lived the longest!!!
+7 votes

I will use my granddaddy on my dad's side Roosevelt Jason Barnett. He turned 91 in a nursing home and then in a week he died. When he first married a wife he didn't really want to marry her, it was her sister so when his first wife had gotten sick and was having problems with her heart that one night she got up from bed and he knew she wasn't feeling good then so when she passed out he didn't get up and check on her and let her die on their kitchen floor. He didn't get to marry her sister before he married her because she was already married but when his wife died and her sister husband died then he didn't wait till about maybe 3 to 6 months before he married her sister the one he wanted to marry before her. So my grandmother sister was my aunt and then she became my step grandmother but we and his brother family couldn't call her step grandmother just aunt because of their father didn't wait enough time to marry her. She had gotten cancer and died before he did and they promised if either one got where they needed to be put in a nursing home they wouldn't they will stay at home but he ended up putting her in the nursing home when he couldn't no longer take care of her by himself. Then we had to put him in the nursing home when we find out he had brain cancer and couldn't look out for himself and that was where he was when he died https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Barnett-3557

Also my parents has been married as of March 15, 2018 61 years. My brother as of December 14, 2018 will be 61 years old. What is weird about this is that my mom's oldest sister Ellen Sapp married in the same year and her youngest brother Carroll Leonard married in the same year also but her brother Carroll, and her sister is dead before they made to the 60th anniversary only my dad and mother out of her immediate family made to their 61st anniversary. My dad is 6 years older than my mother. He is 85 going on 86 in July and my mother this past October turned 79 years old and what is weird is her youngest brother married her best friend from her class in high school and her birthday is in October before my mom and was born in the same year. Also my dad's brother wife was born in the same month and year also. How my mom and dad met when my dad was Student Teacher trying to get a degree in college and my dad couldn't resist my mothers fluttery brown eyes and by the time she graduated from high school they were engaged. But my mom's dad wouldn't let her date him because he thought he was one of the other brother of my dad's that had a bad reputation but finally he find out that my dad was a descent person and would let her see him. But she had to wait till he got out of the Army before they got married March 15, 1957 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Barnett-3518 and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Leonard-5569.

Also my self because of people with Prader-Willi Syndrome the use to not live past 7 years or 12 year old. Now there is very few that is in their 50's and 60's and I am one of them I am 58 and will be 59 on September 19. Here is my profile https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Barnett-3517.

Also there is https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Schreiner-389 on my mom's side of the family that lived to be 94 when she died.

by Living Barnett G2G6 Pilot (500k points)
edited by Living Barnett
+7 votes

I've chosen my step-grandfather Michael O'Neill https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/O%27Neill-1692 whom sadly I buried most recently aged 95.

https://feetuptimetothink.blogspot.co.nz/2018/01/52-ancestors-week-3-longevity-grandad.html

by Fiona McMichael G2G6 Pilot (208k points)

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