Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry shares some charming stories of people who celebrated their birthday on Christmas Day. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Here’s a look at some who shared a birthday with baby Jesus.

Christmas Day: Her 105th Birthday

Christmas Day was a very special day for Mary Nixon in 1900.

This article reports:

Sixteen great-nieces and nephews will help Mrs. Mary Nixon celebrate her one hundred and fifth birthday at Bryn Mawr on Christmas Day. She was born at Twelfth and Locust streets in 1795, being the daughter of Henry Vollum.

The old lady was christened at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church. She was long a member of Salem Church, and is at present a member of the Radnor congregation. She remembers Lafayette’s visit and incidents of the War of 1812. She is as active as a woman of far fewer years, experiencing no difficulty in entertaining or alighting from her carriage. Her present residence is with Miss Hanna G. Cline, one of her grandnieces. She never had any children.

Mrs. Nixon looks forward with delight to the advent of the new year – the dawn of the third century in which she will have lived.

Oldest Christmas Day Birthday Twins Are 94 Years of Age

A very colorful and much adored set of twin brothers, William and Samuel Muncy, born to Smith and Mary (Sammis) Muncy in Babylon, Suffolk, New York, made headlines over the years for their Christmas birthday.

The photo caption reads:

Samuel and William Muncy, aged ninety-four, are declared to be the oldest twins in the world. Their birthday falls on Christmas, and the one just past was made the occasion of a big reunion. They were born on the old Muncy farm at Babylon, N. Y., and they are still living there, hale and hearty, despite their great age. They posed for their picture, as shown above, with Samuel on the left and William on the right, during their recent birthday celebration.

Here is a newspaper clipping from 1910 that announces a family gathering to celebrate their 92nd birthday.

This article reports:

When Samuel and William Muncy, the oldest twins in the United States, celebrate their birthday on Christmas Day, they will begin the ninety-third lap of their long course amid the good wishes of their many relatives and friends. The family is making preparations for a birthday celebration at Babylon, [Long Island], where the twins were born and reared and have done their work.

Not because they have to, but because they like to, they still take a turn at the work of the farm. Of William it is related that two years ago he “cradled” two acres of rye alone, and Samuel always plants his garden himself. Both were married and left widowers many years ago. Each has three generations of descendants.

I found this photo of the twins working the medicine ball under the supervision of Max MacLevy of the MacLevy Health Farm, a health mentor to Teddy Roosevelt.

In 1913 the twins received a big Christmas birthday gift from neighbors who all pooled their money to send them to visit President Wilson and Secretary of State Bryan at the White House. Here they are in a feature photo with their trainer Max MacLevy.

The photo caption reads:

The “Christmas gift twins,” William and Samuel Muncy, of Babylon, L. I., who will be 95 years old on Christmas Day, were as happy as 10-year-old boys when they learned that their friends were arranging for them to go to Washington to call on President Wilson. A fund was started among their neighbors for that purpose, and it is hoped that enough money will be subscribed to provide a private car for the journey. Besides the call at the White House, the “two Muncy boys” are delighted with the prospects of seeing William J. Bryan, secretary of state. Both are high in their praise of Mr. Bryan because of his sentiments on the liquor question.

The twins were enthusiastic about demonstrating their robust health to Secretary of State Bryan, emphasizing that they abstain from alcohol – a practice aligning with the secretary’s strong support for Prohibition.

William married Marietta Treadwell Fleet and Samuel married his cousin Rebecca Sammis, and several descendants are still around today. For more intel on the family check out: “The Descendants of Francis Muncy I: With Allied Families.”

Samuel died on 19 April 1914, and William died on 7 February 1915.

Christmas Birthday of Woman Aged 111

Mary Vermett (also spelled Vermette) had celebrated a lot of Christmas Days by the time she turned 111 in 1922.

This article reports:

CHICAGO, Dec. 24. – Mrs. Mary Vermette, who lives on a farm near Woodstock, Ill., will celebrate tomorrow her 111th birthday anniversary. It is believed she has lived through more Christmas celebrations than any other person in Illinois.

Mrs. Vermette was born on Christmas Day, 1811, in Cork, Ireland, and came across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel in 1840. Soon thereafter she came to Illinois in an ox-cart.

She will enjoy the celebration today, for she moves around the house with freedom. Her son Richard, 76 years old, will help in the Christmas festivities. There is another son who is still three years older.

When questioned recently about the difference between the girls of today and those of her girlhood, she replied with decision:

“The girls in my day were just as pretty as the girls are now, but they didn’t paint their faces or roll their stockings to make themselves attractive to young men.”

Mrs. Vermette’s greatest enthusiasm is the freedom of Ireland.

What’s Christmas for All Is Birthday, Too, for Some

Here are a couple of Dallas-area children celebrating Christmas Day birthdays.

In 1930 this little fellow featured on the left in the Dallas newspaper photo was celebrating his first birthday at his home located at 3718 Cragmont Drive in North Dallas: David Wendel Moss was born on Christmas Day in 1929 to Clifton Lowther Moss Jr. and Virginia Wendel (Spence) Moss.

The little girl in the photo on the right is also celebrating her first birthday. Her picture was a Christmas present for her parents so they could remember how she looked turning a year old. Dorthy Mari Munden was born to Homer Munden and Alma (Lund) Munden of 5118 East Side Avenue on 25 December 1929.

Birthday Party for Christmas

The photo caption reads:

December’s children are lucky when there’s time for a birthday party. A birthday party for Christmas Eve kids can be mighty rare. But Mrs. Eugene Marchant, 627 Willomet, finally got around to baking their first birthday cakes for daughters Nita, 6, and Carol, 5, both born on Dec. 24. The Christmas tree in the background momentarily is forgotten as Carol shows an interest in Nita’s chocolate cake. Carol’s was coconut.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Note on the header image: “The Christmas Tree” by Albert Chevallier Tayler, 1911. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.