Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1881 — Long-Lived People. [ARTICLE]

Long-Lived People.

Betsey Trautham, of Tennessee, died in 1834. aged 154 years. The following f>articulars of this individual are given n the National Gazette, from an account dated Murfreesborougb, Tenn., February 22d, 1834: She was born in Germany, and emigrated to the British colonies in America at the time when the first settlement was made in North Carolina, in the year 1710. At the age of 120 years her eyesight became almost extinct, but during the last twenty years of her life she possessed the power of vision as perfectly as at the age of 20 years. For manj years previous to her death she was unable to work, and is said to have required great attention in her friends to prevent the temperature of her body from falling so low as not to sustain animal life. At the time of her death she had entirely lost the senses of taste and hearing. For twenty years before her death she was unable to distinguish the difference between the taste of sugar and vinegar. At the age of 65 she bore her only Child, who is now living and promises to reach an uncommonly advanced age. Solomon Nabit, of Laurens county, N. C., died in 1825, aged 143 years. Nabit was a native of England, where be lived until he was 10 years of age. He then came to this country, and resided in the State of Maryland till about fifty five years before his death, when he removed to South Carolina, where he passed the rest of bis life. He never lost bis teeth or his sight, and, a few days before bis death, he joined a hunting party and actually killed a deer. Henry Francisco, of Whitehall, N. Y., died in 1820, aged 134 years. Francisco is stated to have been born in France, in 1686, but at the age of 5 years left that country in company with his father, who fled from religious prosecution, and went first to Holland, and afterward to England. He was present at the coronation of Queen Anne, and was at that time 16 years old. He fought in the wars of that Queen,under the Duke of Marlborough. In the early part of the last century he came to New York, with his father.

He was wounded in Braddock’s defeat was carried to Quebec during tbe Revolutionary War, and suffered much from wounds. Wonder Booker, a negro, of Prince Edward county, Va., died in 1819,aged 126 years. This individual was a slave belonging to George Booger, of Prince Edward county, Va. He received his name from the circumstance that his mother was in her 68th year at the tune of his birth. He was of great strength of body, and his natural powers, which were far superior to those of people of color in general, he retained in a surprising degree. He was a constant laborer in his master’s garden till within eight or ten yean of bis death. The most extraordinary instance of longevity in modern times, with regard to satisfactory evidence that can be found, is that of Peter Torten, of Zorten, a native of Kafrock in Hungary. He died January 5, 1724, at the age o f 185. A few days before his death he walked, with the assistance of a staff, some miles to ask charity of the travelers. He had but little sight, and his hair and beard were of a greenish white color, like moldy bread, and few of his teeth remained. His T food consisted if pulse and bread with a little brandy. John Bovin and his wife, also na tives of Hungary, died in the year 1841 —the former in the 172 d and the latter in the 164th year of her age, having been married 147 years. The most extraordinary instance of longevity in Great Britain was exhibited in the person of Henry Jenkins. He was a nativeof Yorkshire, lived to the amazing age"of 169 years, and died on the Bth of December, 1670. Next to Jenkins we have the famous Thomas Parr, who was a native of Shropshire, aged 159, and died in January, 1768. James 1 Bowels, aged 152. lived in Killingwor b, and died on the 15th day ot August, 1656. Colonel Thomas Winslow, a native of Ireland, aged 146, died on the 20th of August, 1766. The Countess of Desmond, in Ireland, saw her 140th year. William Evans, aged 145, lived in Caernavon, afid in the year 1872 still existed, and Du miter Radudoy, aged Jl4O, lived in Harmenetead, and died on the 15th day of August, 1656.