I knew people born in 1872. Have any of you known anyone

[Hardrada]

born earlier? Just curious.

[NewWaveChick1981]

1. My great great aunt was born in 1866.

She was great! I only knew her when I was a child since she died in 1970 when I was seven. But she lived to be 104 and only died because her body wore out. She was still mentally sharp and delivered Meals on Wheels (it was called something else but I can't remember what the program name was) to the "old folks" up until she was 102. :rofl: I remember conversations we had when I was very young---I was in awe of her, even at that young age.

[Arugula Latte]

18. My grandma was like that.

She lived to be 94 and almost to the end volunteered at the "senior center" where she'd do all sorts of tasks for people 20 years her junior.

[Hardrada]

26. That's amazing. What a lady!!

My relatives have not lived quite so long, mainly into mid-90's but they were all interesting also.

[MissHoneychurch]

2. My great grandma was born in 1898

so somewhat later than the person you knew.

She turned to be 95. I was always amazed as what she had to go through in life. Born in Czech Republic, WW1, Weimar Republic, 3rd Reich, WW2, escape to Germany, GDR, Reunion of Germany. And her daugher hated her.

[cwydro]

43. why did her daughter hate her?

That sounds tragic.

[MissHoneychurch]

60. She blamed her for her bad childhood and youth

never forgave her.
I know my great grandma was a tough woman (who wouldn't be with that history) and her marriage was a bad one. They only got married because she was pregnant. And since the parents didn't get along, her daughter (my grandma) was the victim so to speak.

[BikeWriter]

3. I met a working blacksmith in the 1970s who was 100.

[Strawman]

4. My great grandma was born in the 1880's

I think it's fascinating to think about how closely linked we are to the 19th Century (and even further back) that way. It's possible (and even probable) that either of my parents (born in 1946 and 1947) rode a bus with or were in a crowd with people who were born into slavery for example. I think that's a good comeback to people who argue things like "slavery was a long time ago." A "long time" is not really as long as one might think when you start to think about our contemporaries how far back some of our cohorts actually go.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

30. Now I feel old

My grandfather was born in 1880.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

45. you'd be around 60-70 then?

Just to be nosy :P

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

63. Nope

only 55. My only sibling is ten years older than me, though. If I were born when he was, I would have met two more great grandparents, born in 1860 and 1868, a great great great aunt born in 1860, and various and sundry cousins, all of whom were long lived. My family tends to live long and marry later in life.

[Samurai_Writer]

61. Mine too -- 1876

Grandfather was born in 1876, grandmother was born 22 years later. My dad was born when my grandfather was 49 and grandmother was 27. I'm 46, and never met my dad's parents. They died 15 years before I was born.

[Burma Jones]

5. The Oldest I can recall would be my Great Grandmother Alvy Green

Born 1878, Died 1965. Her Daughter, my Maternal Grandmother, will be 100 years old this May 4......

[Hardrada]

57. Good for her! That is encouraging to hear.

[Burma Jones]

62. She refers to Chimpy as "the Drug Fiend"

She takes a back seat to nobody in her disdain for the Chimperor.....

[azmouse]

6. The earliest I knew was my great-grandmother born in 1885.

She would tell me great stories of things that happen at the turn of the century (20th). She saw things from the first airplane to humans on the moon. She passed away in 1986 at the age of 101.

[underpants]

7. um....

Is the answer Jesus???

OF COURSE THE ANSWER IS JESUS!!!

[Arugula Latte]

20. Is the question: "What do you exclaim when you hit your thumb with a hammer?" nt

[Hardrada]

23. Never met him.

Heard lots about him though.

[noonwitch]

8. My great-grandpa was born in the 1880s, died in the 1970s

We used to take him with us to Tiger games, because he loved baseball. He was pretty healthy until a few weeks before he died, too. He was from England-he always would spit on silver dollars and stick them on our foreheads. I don't know if that's some british thing, or just his own silly thing. My grandma, his daughter, is still living, and she is 90 (but lives in a nursing home).

My grandpa was born in 1913, which was a long time ago, too. He's also still around, and lives alone, but drives to visit Grandma every day.

[catmandu57]

9. I worked in Nursing homes in the seventies

1972 and up, it was common for the people to have been born in the late 1800's, the oldest woman I knew lived to 99, she thought I was a girl because I had long hair then, and so did she. She taught me how to brade her hair, over, under, through, every Saturday morning. I liked her.

[libnnc]

10. Oldest was my great grandmother born in 1886

She lived to be 102. Died when I was a teenager. I miss her terribly.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. My great-grandfather was born in 1870, so he's the

oldest person I would have known personally (he died in 1963).

The last undisputed living Civil War veteran died in 1956. (There were three other claimants, all of whom claimed to have been Confederates, who were later found to have been frauds.)

[carly denise pt deux]

12. My Ggrandma was born in 1889

I can vaguely remember her, she died when I was 6...she was an old southern belle.
Carly

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

13. My great- grandmother was born in 1886

She died in 1996, at the age of 110, in her sleep. She out-lived 3 of 5 children. Never drank, smoked, drugs, or cursed.

[yellowdogmi]

14. My paternal grandfather was

born in the 1890's. He was an interesting old man. I just started getting to know him when he passed.

[Broken_Hero]

15. no

the oldest person I ever met, was a very old lady thats in our democrat club, she is 102....Met her last year, and she is still kicking....

[SoyCat]

16. No. However, my mom (b. 1930) knew a woman who was a former slave. She was born

in 1825 and died when she was 111.

[skygazer]

17. My grandmother was born in 1886

Her grandfather fought in the Civil War. I recall sitting on her lap hearing stories of her sitting on HIS lap listening to stories about the war. That's when I realized that history is a lot more interesting than school makes it out to be.

[Arugula Latte]

22. There is a children's book like that.

A child sits on his grandfather's lap and the grandfather tells about sitting on his grandfather's lap hearing about the old days and how the latter grandfather had sat on his grandfather's lap, etc. etc. It goes back in time. Fascinating.

[Hardrada]

25. The personal connection and oral history really do

make past events come alive. I had a great-aunt who talked about the McKinley assassination in 1900 (I think) and made that seem like a startling event.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

31. I got my love of history from my family

My mother told me of a neighbor who was a little girl when Abraham Lincoln stopped at the inn her parents ran. My great grandmother Louise proudly told me about her papa, who came from Germany and made shoes for the soldiers during the War (that being the Civil War), because he had asthma and couldn't serve. My paternal grandmother was very proud of her grandfather, who raised her. He was a Civil War veteran, as were all his brothers; I have gotten their pension papers from the National Archives and know their stories more completely now. My mother still has the wooden shoes her grandfather wore on the boat over here in 1872. Her mother told me story after story of growing up on a farm, and also the stories of her family-how they came West from the Catskill Mountains, how they were the pioneers again and again in different regions of the country.

[skygazer]

33. It makes history so real, doesn't it?

I have my great-great grandfather's belt buckle from his Civil War officer's uniform. It was there, at Manassas, and the Seven Days, and Fredericksburg, and Appomattox. I touch it and I'm there, too.

My father's branch of the family came to America in 1630 and I know a lot about them. I can relate various aspects of history with members of my family. It makes it come alive.

[Arugula Latte]

19. My great aunt was in her 90s in the 1970s.

She must have been born around 1880 or so. Weird to think about those time spans...So, when she was a kid, she could have known people (theoretically) who were around for the American Revolution.

[WCGreen]

21. I knew several people who were born in the late 1800's...

My Grandmother and Grandfather...

Their brothers and sisters and cousins...

My grandfather was born in 1890...

Grandmother in 1897...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. I knew my mom's mom.........

But she wasn't born back that far......Her birthday was July 4, 1896, I believe......

Not sure on the year.....

I don't know the birth years of any of my other grandparents.....

[Hardrada]

27. She would be one year younger than my wonderful

Grandma Hardrada who lived to be 95 and always had her wits about her. She was easily the most forceful personality I have ever encountered. And a Democratic County Chairperson to boot (in the 40's and 50's).

[Arkham House]

28. Yes--when I was a little boy, I talked to a man born in 1860--

--who told me about the Battle of Concord Bridge and the Lexington Muster--as *he* had heard it from an eyewitness...our national history isn't really that long...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

32. Neat, isn't it

how eyewitness to history is passed down from generation to generation. I used to sit at the table listening to my grandma and her siblings talk of the "old folks", how Grandpa Will had fought in the War of 1812 and his father in the Revolution before that. They talked of being related to famous folks and that some ancestor came over on the Mayflower. To honor my grandmother's memory, I started doing genealogical research the year she passed, 1978. Surprisingly, I've found that every one of the stories they passed around, save one, were true.

[Courtesy Flush]

34. He may well have heard revolutionary war stories like that as a child

[Hardrada]

56. Wow! You have the record here for knowing the person

born the earliest. That was someone born before the Civil War!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

29. Yep.

My great grandmother Louise was born in 1862. I used to visit her. She lived in the family store (which had closed at the death of her husband in 1939), looking out the store front windows at the people on the streets in the town where she lived. She had a parrot, and her rooms were dark and gloomy. She called my 73 year old grandfather "Freddy", and treated him like he was still about 12. She quilted wonderful quilts and would show me beads and feathers left over from the milinary shop she ran in the 1900s.

[Shell Beau]

35. No but after going through this old cemetary not too long

ago, we came across a grave where this man was born in 1780's. It was cool. He ended up being the governor of South Carolina or something like that.

[trof]

36. Yep. Dr. Seale Harris. March 13, 1870. My surrogate grandfather.

In fact, he's worth a separate post.
Thanks for jogging my memory.

[cwydro]

37. Oldest person I knew was born

around or perhaps before 1885.

His name was Battle Norris and he fought in the Navy in WW1. I met him in the early '80's in my job and his hair was snow white. He was almost 100 years old and just about deaf. He lived in the mountains of NC and always had except for his time in the service. I thought he was deaf and that his hair was white because of his age, but no, he told me he lost his hearing in his 20's on a battleship in the North Atlantic during that war to end all wars. He said his hair turned white soon after. He would not talk about his war experiences and the pain they still caused him were obvious on his face when I (as a stupid 20 something) questioned him.

We became friends though; he was a tough old bird and I will never forget him.

[BlueStater]

38. Oldest person I knew was my great-grandfather

He was born around 1895 or 1896. I have no memories of him though. He died when I was about 4 or 5 years old.

[Withywindle]

39. The oldest people I knew well were my great-grandparents

Born in the 1890s. My g-grandfather was a WWI vet. They lived well into their 90s, and they were both totally sharp until the very end. They died within months of each other too--I understnd that's common with very old married couples. It's a mercy, I think.

I was 13 or 14 when they died; I got a lot of summers hearing their stories.

[Nikia]

40. My great grandmother was born in 1892

She lived to be 102. Another great grandmother was born in 1899. She died the same year as my older great grand mother. Both were high school graduates and learned to drive as teens when not many people, especially women drove. They both experienced long widowhoods as their husbands died prematurely of lung problems, one caused by coal dust and the other by WWI mustard gas.

[CBHagman]

41. I think my great aunt was born about 1885.

I've never been able to find an official record of her birth, so I'm going by Census listings. But her father, my great-great-grandfather, was born in 1828. :wow:

My grandparents were all born in the Gay Nineties (Not what you think, younger DUers!).

[cwydro]

42. kick

nice thread.

[Ptah]

44. Here are my father's parents in the spring of 1917

edit apostrophey

[readermostly]

46. My grandpa was born in 1878. My mother was the "big surprise" of the

family, as all of her siblings were all many, many years older. I was just thinking about him Dec. 29th, as that would have been his 128th
birthday. Wow!! He lived a very long life, and I pretty much remember his death when I was a just a child. His family loved him dearly.

[NNadir]

50. My grandmother was born in 1890. She always said that my Grandfather

would have been a nice man, except that he got shot in the head during World War I.

The rest of my family thought this was nonsense. They said that my grandfather was an irresponsible, violent drunk.

I have always felt a personal connection to the First World War. I don't know if my Grandmother's explanation had any validity - I think it didn't - but in any case, it may account for my pacificism.

[texanwitch]

47. I knew a woman that was born in 1865, she lived to be almost 106 years old.

She had some stories to tell.

[Hardrada]

55. I'm sure she did. I hope someone taped or wrote down

her stories. I tried to do that with my elders but there is a lot I missed and wish I could still ask.

[texanwitch]

58. Her father, uncles, older brothers fought in the Civil War, both sides.

I remember many of the stories, I have few on tape.

I was just a little kid at the time but I loved history.

The best stories were about her family moving to Texas after the Civil War.

She was about 7 or 8 years old so she remember the trip well.

I have wrote down a lot of the stories, wish I could have taped more of them in her own voice.

[salin]

48. My grandparents on my mother's side were born

between 1885 and 1890. My grandmother died of a hearatache while holding baby salin - she set me down on a stool and collapsed. My grandfather died before I was three - so I don't have any real memory of either. So to the question - I do not know (as in have met) anyone born beore 1872.

However - I think the family on my mother's side (Norwegiean) is pretty unique and spans far futher (per generations) than is common. My grandmother was born in the late 1880s, her father was born in the 1850s and his father was born in 1795. From "birth to birth" in measurement - the five generations in my family (mother's mother's side) spans from 1795 to 1984. Sorta cool, eh?

[RFKHumphreyObama]

49. The oldest relative I knew was born in the 1890s

And she was a great aunt who passed away when I was quite young -but I still have vivid memories of her because I saw her quite frequently.

[sarge43]

51. My grandfather was born in 1863

He died when I was 5 years old.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

52. My grandmother was born in 1900 & lived thru the S.F. earthquake of 1906

I heard some great stories from that wonderful woman who sadly passed away in 1979.

[Mr. McD]

53. My grandmother on my dad's side was born in 1872

I barely remember her. She died in 1958.

[ironflange]

54. I, myself, was born in 1842

:silly:

[NNadir]

64. You look very young for your age.

[Crabby Appleton]

59. My grandfather was born in 1880 give or take a year

he lived with us when I was young and died when I was about 10. My other grandfather was born in 1860, but had died before I was born, he fathered my mom when he was 54.