{"id":5799,"date":"2014-01-09T16:35:29","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T16:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=5799"},"modified":"2021-04-21T11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T15:10:58","slug":"did-your-ancestor-live-to-100-centenarians-in-the-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/did-your-ancestor-live-to-100-centenarians-in-the-newspaper.html","title":{"rendered":"Did Your Ancestor Live to 100? Centenarians in the Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d In this guest blog post, Gena writes about ancestors who lived to be 100\u2014and how newspaper articles about them can help your family history research.<\/em><\/p>\n

How old was your oldest ancestor? A 2011 Huffington Post<\/em> article<\/a> reported that the \u201cNumber of Centenarians Is Booming in U.S.\u201d It went on to comment that the number of people who celebrate a triple digit birthday has doubled in the last 20 years and today numbers approximately 72,000 people. It is predicted that in the future the number of centenarians will likely at least double again.*<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that the number of people reaching 100 years of age is increasing; decreases in infant mortality, combined with better medical and preventative health care, have enhanced life expectancy. While there\u2019s a greater chance of someone today knowing or being related to a centenarian, in an earlier time\u2014lacking these modern improvements\u2014living to be 100 years of age would have been something short of a miracle.<\/p>\n

When one of our ancestors did reach the age of 100 it was a newsworthy event, most likely reported in the local newspaper. Searching through an online newspaper collection like GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> is a good way to find these centenarian articles\u2014and they can be very helpful with your family history research.<\/p>\n

Newspaper articles reporting these birthday milestones largely concentrated on the birthday celebration, often interviewing the honoree about historical events witnessed and their recommendations for longevity. Along with being interesting news stories, the added benefit to these articles is that they often include genealogically relevant information\u2014including the date and place where the centenarian was born, their parents\u2019 names, and other family information.<\/p>\n

100 Years of History<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the benefits of living a long life is the history that you witness. I like this article about Jabez Chapman, whose life was written up during his 99th<\/sup> year in 1895. This interview has him reminiscing about the War of 1812, the death of President George Washington, and his interactions with James Fenimore Cooper, the author of the classic novel Last of the Mohicans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Near<\/a>
Idaho Register (Idaho Falls, Idaho), 20 December 1895, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you want to know more about Chapman\u2019s life, check out the timeline following him through federal and state censuses in the blog post titled Point of View: State Censuses Fill the Gaps<\/a>, by Jean Chapman Snow. So you may be wondering: did Chapman make it to his 100th<\/sup> birthday? After finding his death certificate, Snow confirms that Jabez Chapman died at 100 years, 3 months and 16 days.<\/p>\n

The Oldest Living Spinster<\/strong><\/p>\n

While some newspaper articles about those who are 100+ center around what history they\u2019ve lived through or what famous people they met, in some cases it\u2019s what the centenarians can still accomplish that is the biggest news. Consider this article from a 1905 Nebraska newspaper about Miss Eliza Williams. The article points out that she is in such good shape for her age that she is the first person up in the household and is able to dress herself. Once ready for the day she reads a hymn and a chapter from the Bible. The article gives the impression that she would do much more including sewing (which she gave up at 98 years of age), but her family persuaded her to \u201csave her strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Oldest<\/a>
Omaha World Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), 23 August 1905, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>Of course no discussion of those who have reached such a momentous milestone would be complete without getting some advice about what the centenarian\u2019s secret is. Miss Eliza Williams replies to this question: \u201cobedience to her parents, and not meddling with other people\u2019s business when it could do her no good.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a Birthday without a Stiff Drink?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The great thing about being older is the ability to say what you want and not worry what people will think. That\u2019s also what makes reading these articles about 100th<\/sup> birthdays so much fun. Consider this short but sweet newspaper article, including a photo, of the birthday \u201cboy\u201d John H. Whitmore, a former prison warden. Unfortunately, due to prohibition, he didn\u2019t get the alcoholic beverage he would have preferred to celebrate with\u2014but instead tried his first ice cream soda. Judging from his comments, ice cream sodas are not the preferred beverage of 100-year-old men.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>
Miami District Daily News (Miami, Oklahoma), 12 August 1919, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check Your Family Tree<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have someone in your family tree that lived to be 100 years old? It wasn\u2019t too long ago that such a feat was rewarded with recognition in the newspaper. Just as we should research newspapers for milestone celebrations such as a 50th<\/sup> wedding anniversary, don\u2019t forget to search for mentions of an ancestor who lived a long life or celebrated a milestone birthday.<\/p>\n

Be sure to read our related Blog article: Find the Oldest People to Ever Live, as Reported in Newspapers<\/a> and please share the names and ages of your centenarian ancestors in the comments.<\/p>\n

—————————————–<\/p>\n

* Number of Centenarians Is Booming in U.S. by Matt Sedensky. April 26, 2011. Accessed 29 December 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d In this guest blog post, Gena writes about ancestors who lived to be 100\u2014and how newspaper articles about them can help your family history research. How old was your oldest ancestor? A 2011 Huffington Post article reported that the \u201cNumber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[6129,1965,6124,6126,1658,2233,12,465,6123,6125,6127,1964,2020,27,4818,5647,6128,5458],"class_list":["post-5799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-aging","tag-centenarians","tag-chapman","tag-eliza-williams","tag-family-history-2","tag-family-research","tag-genealogy","tag-historical-newspapers","tag-jabez-chapman","tag-jean-chapman-snow","tag-john-h-whitmore","tag-longevity","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-newspapers","tag-newspapers-for-genealogy","tag-snow","tag-whitmore","tag-williams"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70451,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5799\/revisions\/70451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}