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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: sirsimon on Monday 06 October 14 14:26 BST (UK)
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Hi fellow genealogists.
Just a random topic, but does anyone have someone on their family tree whom lived for a very, very long time? Who is the longest lived ancestor in your family?
Mine is Mary Steel nee Routledge. She was a cousin of mine. Her husband was the son of Richard Steel, brother to Joseph whom is my direct 4x great grandfather.
She lived to the age of 105, living from 1778 to 1883, which is an incredible age for the time
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Can't beat that, but I've always been impressed by g/g/g Aunt Amelia who was an early settler to NZ & mother of twelve. She was born in Dec 1827 & died Apr 1925.
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98 is incredibly impressive
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98 is incredibly impressive
98 and a mother of 12 is impressive ::)
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Certainly is - plus, I'll bet she didn't have a very easy life out there at first.
She went out with her sister & a brother followed a few years later, making me related to most of
NZ - apart from the odd sheep,I believe.
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A lot of people died young in the past, but I have seen a lot of examples when it wasn't always the norm.
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Just checked & it was eleven children not twelve, sorry. Still ......... no mean feat.
Those that did achieve great age really stand out, don't they? I always feel I must double check
very carefully if I come across them in my research.
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My record is for my step-great-grandmother, who lived to 103. She was from a farming family and had six children. Most of those 103 years were in the 20th century, but still an impressive age. My RootsMagic software flags her age as a "problem"(!)... she's one of only two centenarians in my database, along with a great-great uncle who was born six months after his father died, grew up in extremely straitened circumstances, was a PoW, survived tuberculosis, and lived to 100½.
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wow
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My oldest is Angus McGregor of Tormore, Latheron, Caithness, an army veteran who was said to be 105 in a newspaper report of 29 May 1840, and 106 in the 1841 census.
I should add the caveat that I haven't seen other evidence to confirm the accuracy of his reported age in these two documents.
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I have one who died aged 100 and he was one of the last survivors of the American Civil War. Many others who died in their 90s and late 80s. Sue.
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Not related to me, but Mary Rogers of Tavistock was reported to be 105 years and 6 months old when she died on 17 July 1844.
(Royal Cornwall Gazette, 26 July 1844)
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Interesting that this came up when I was researching some Canadian and U.S. relatives who seemed, as a group, very long-lived (lots of them survived well into their 90s, a couple pushing 100).
Turns out they were all Seventh Day Adventists - no drinking, no smoking, no sex outside marriage, little or no meat eating - and lots of them seem to choose being doctors or other health professionals! (Well, at least I don't smoke!)
I've a couple of centenarians in my tree, but both "married in" so don't really count
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Interesting that this came up when I was researching some Canadian and U.S. relatives who seemed, as a group, very long-lived (lots of them survived well into their 90s, a couple pushing 100).
Turns out they were all Seventh Day Adventists - no drinking, no smoking, no sex outside marriage, little or no meat eating - and lots of them seem to choose being doctors or other health professionals! (Well, at least I don't smoke!)
and yes I've heard about the more fanatical 7th Dayers choosing prayer over drugs, but it seems most North American ones cover their backs by trying both, and few of them are strict vegans, which can be problematic for children.
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My father's sister is 103 and still alive.Her Greatx2-Grandmother Jane Gabriel died at the age of exactly 100 where I write this!
William Russell Jones.
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John Upton (my 7xgt grandfather) died in Leicestershire in 1811 and the PR, whilst silent on everyone else's age at burial, made a point of stating that he was 102.
Subsequently his death was mentioned in lots of pamphlets etc.
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I have Ann Bricknell , nee Pullinger , who was born in Ropley in 1817 , had 12 children and emigrated to Tasmania in 1856. She died in 1913 at the age of 96. My husband's tree has Provo William Parry Wallis , born in Halifax , Nova Scotia in 1791 and died 13 Feb 1892 in Sussex in his 101st year.
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awesome to see all of the examples of such longevity.
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The best I've found so far is my great x4 grandfather Anthony Holcomb ... baptised in 1792 and died in 1890.
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Off the top of my head, after reading this thread, is an ancestor, John Dowdeswell. In the Temple Guiting PR's, he is the only one with age listed. He was buried in 1706/7, aged 106. Interestingly, John junior was buried a few years later in 1711.
My own grandmother died in her 98th year, just short of her birthday.
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My Grandfather Edward Wilkinson born 9 August 1899, West Pelton and died 4 March 1998, Pelton, County Durham. Retired coal miner. Underaged coal face miner WW1 (look the other way there is a war on!). Received his pneumoniconiosis payment until the day he died.
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I have an ancestor Robert Kells who was apparently 106 when he died, born 1699, died 1805 in Ireland.
My mother is friends with the oldest person in Australia at the moment - 112! Caused a bit of a stir when she started volunteering at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick at age 100.
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Though I have no proven centenarians, my mothers Cornwell ancestors were extremely long lived, my great grandmother, Emily Cornwell was born 1850 and died 1941. Many if not most of the women live to be over 90, my mother was 99, and her older sister 98. Incidentally my great grandmother Emily, was born 22 years after my paternal grandfather!!
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Cousin Claude aged 110, born 1901 and died 2011.
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And that will be fully and readily documentable. Was cousin Claude ever the oldest man or person in the UK?
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Google Claude CHOULES, you will find plenty about him, even here on Rootschat.
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Thanks for that will have a look
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Had a brief look, i had remembered him from the time of publication, but unfortunately i had forgotten his name. Will look closely later. Thanks again.
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Our grandfathers were brothers, but I hasten to add that I have almost forty years to catch him up ;D
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Though I have no proven centenarians, my mothers Cornwell ancestors were extremely long lived, my great grandmother, Emily Cornwell was born 1850 and died 1941. Many if not most of the women live to be over 90, my mother was 99, and her older sister 98. Incidentally my great grandmother Emily, was born 22 years after my paternal grandfather!!
I don't think I can top 22 years, but it's interesting that, despite there being only 4 years between my wife and myself, all of her grandparents were born in the 20th century, while all of mine in the 19th. And there is 31 years between the birth of my paternal grandfather, and my maternal grandmother (1876 and 1897).
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Though I have no proven centenarians, my mothers Cornwell ancestors were extremely long lived, my great grandmother, Emily Cornwell was born 1850 and died 1941. Many if not most of the women live to be over 90, my mother was 99, and her older sister 98. Incidentally my great grandmother Emily, was born 22 years after my paternal grandfather!!
I don't think I can top 22 years, but it's interesting that, despite there being only 4 years between my wife and myself, all of her grandparents were born in the 20th century, while all of mine in the 19th. And there is 31 years between the birth of my paternal grandfather, and my maternal grandmother (1876 and 1897).
Much the same here. 4 years between my wife and I, but my father-in-law's parents had him quite late in life, while my own paternal line is a bit more compressed, so effectively my wife's grandparents are of the same generation as my great-grandparents. This means our children have a 46-year gap between their oldest and youngest sets of 2-great-grandparents. I have to bear in mind when I'm imagining their respective lives that they were from very different eras.
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My paternal great grandparents were born 1791 and 1798, my maternal great grandparents were all born between 1844 and 1850, so that is a 53 year gap at least.
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My great, great grandfather died aged 99 in 1916 of old age - he's the oldest I've come across so far and as he was a general hawker I can't see him having had an easy life (still selling paper flowers on the 1911 census)
We also went to my husband's great grandmother's 100th birthday celebrations earlier this year
http://www.folkestoneherald.co.uk/Air-cadet-band-marks-Norah-s-100th-birthday/story-20859088-detail/story.html really want to look into her story now though
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Today I came across a relative
Edith Jane Steel, she died in Carlisle aged 108. Born 1892 and died in 2000
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And of course; the more recent people are better documented, at least in the advanced countries.
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One day under a hundred ,apparently ( his birth was before Ireland's civil reg)- he died of a heart attack whilst shopping in the village the day before his supposedly 100th birthday( my GG Uncle)
Current oldest living person in our family is my hubby's grandmother's sister - She is currently 97,never had any children and has outlived all of her siblings. She looks like she is in her 70's. Her speech and her mannerism is that of a much younger person ( no faltering speech, her mind is sharp as anything) - she has no children (perhaps that's the secret to long life) We don't know if she'll reach 100 though as she's recently been diagnosed with cancer.
Odd thing though, which I don't understand because I didn't think they tend to operate on the very elderly(they being the NHS). They were going to operate on her for the cancer ( stomach cancer) - she's 97 for goodness sake!
she went for tests a couple of weeks ago to see if her heart was up to the operation, but it turns out it wasn't (no kidding- I could have told them an almost 98yr old's heart wasn't up to it!) so she can't through with their op.
I'm absolutely amazed that the NHS would even consider to operate on someone close to a century old.
Kind Regards
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My great-great-great uncle lived to 101, he was born in Amble, Northumberland and died in rural Queensland, where he was a pioneer farmer, in 1951:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49702476 (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49702476)
My x6 great grandmother was around 92 when she died in Newsham, Northumberland. She had ten children. Baptised in 1720 and died 5/9/1812. Her husband baptised in 1719 and died 17/3/ 1802. They were farmers. I was impressed with their longevity together as a couple to both survive for so long to that age in that era.
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My Billy Blue was - according to his burial certificate 1834 - 99 when he died.
My Dad, Billy's great-great-grandson, was one day short of 101 years 4 months when he died in 1999. When he was 95, he stated his ambition was to beat Billy Blue, which he did. And he still had all his marbles, too; had been out to the greyhound races only a week prior to his death!
Dawn M
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And this morning, Gough Whitlam, one of Australia's former Prime Ministers, died aged 98.
Dawn M
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My father died recently, just a few weeks off 99. His mother passed away in 1985 just one month off 100.
His grandfather passed away in 1942 but he was younger....he only reached 90. His great grandfather died in 1897, and he also was only 90. But his great great grandfather who died in 1851 was born about 1756.
There's a line of longevity there.
Dee :)
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My mother is friends with the oldest person in Australia at the moment - 112! Caused a bit of a stir when she started volunteering at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick at age 100.
Violet "Vi" Daisy ROBBINS passed away on the 8th October 2014.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/australias-oldest-person-violet-robbins-has-passed-away-at-age-112/story-fngr8h22-1227096492905
http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?n=violet-robbins&pid=172805339
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Actual individuals in my tree, as noted in other trees in Ancestry reached 160+ years. The same individuals in my tree did not quite get that far.
Regards
Malky
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Actual individuals in my tree, as noted in other trees in Ancestry reached 160+ years. The same individuals in my tree did not quite get that far.
Regards
Malky
lol ;D - All very well and good - But did they give birth after they died as well? Some of mine did :P I think there were some really extraordinary people around in the olden days.
Kind Regards
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"But did they give birth after they died as well?"
Yes, and both parents were males!! ??? ???
Regards
Malky
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And some of mine appear to have given birth to their grandparents, and others giving birth to two children miles apart at the same time, not to mention in different continents ::)
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My mother is friends with the oldest person in Australia at the moment - 112! Caused a bit of a stir when she started volunteering at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick at age 100.
Violet "Vi" Daisy ROBBINS passed away on the 8th October 2014.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/australias-oldest-person-violet-robbins-has-passed-away-at-age-112/story-fngr8h22-1227096492905
http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?n=violet-robbins&pid=172805339
I know - hope I didn't jinx her by posting the day before she died.