Centennial Anniversary of William Abbott Holcomb, Ohio

Article from Leon, Iowa area, 1904

Mrs. Helen J. Close has returned to Mt. Pleasant recently from Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, where she attended the family reunion and one hundredth birthday anniversary of her relative, William Abbott Holcomb, which was celebrated on Monday, September 5th. Mrs. Close writes that she has just completed a delightful two weeks' tour through the state of Ohio and after a few days' rest at the home of her sister at Mt. Pleasant she will leave for a brief visit at the St. Louis Exposition.

The Ravenna Republican contains a well written account of the Holcomb reunion and picture of Mr. Holcomb and some of his descendants. From this article we learn that William A. Holcomb was born in Westfield, Conn., Sept. 5, 1804. His great-great-great-great grandfather was Thomas Holcomb born in Devonshire, England, in 1590, and afterwards became one of the founders of Dorchester, Mass. Caroline Holcomb married John G. DeWolf and died in 1891.

When William was 18 years old he set out afoot for the Ohio wilderness carrying on his back an 18 pound package containing all his earthly possessions. He remained one year in the wilderness and then returned on foot to Westfield. He worked as a brick mason and also in the iron works. On Sept. 24, 1826, he married Lydia Olmstead, a demure Quaker maiden. They emigrated to Portage county, Ohio, where Mr. Holcomb engaged in farming and later on as a railroad contractor. He built Hiram College in 1840. In 1865 he moved to Ravenna and purchased residence property. Besides his elegant city home he owns a valuable farm of 205 acres near Ravenna.

Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb were the parents of ten children, only two of whom are living. The wife died in 1894. The living descendants of this remarkable centenarian number two children, 17 grand-children, 25 great-grand-children, and one great-great-grandson.

'Healers' Swindle Aged Norfolk Man

1939

NORFOLK, Va., April 23.—(U.P.) Police Sunday night were seeking two negro men and a white woman "healer" who swindled a 100-year-old negro out of $1000 life savings by promising to cure his many ills with a "money poultice."

Charles Gandy, the victim, said they made a huge poultice from the bills, put it in a sheet and applied it to his side. Later, when no improvement came, he opened the sheet to find only paper.

She's Going To Be 100 — Gets to Bed Early, Doesn't Dance

Syracuse, NY, 1918

Go to Bed Early, Don't Dance and Don't Worry and Live to Be 100

Mrs. Ann Land, Who Will Celebrate 100th Anniversary Next Saturday Says People To-day Are in Too Great Haste.

Says Too Many People Get to the Other Side of the Hill Without Any Reserve to Hold 'em Back.

Mrs. Ann Land of No. 1210 Grape street will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of her birth next Saturday.

"All my life I've followed a set of rules," said Mrs. Land. "They are: Go to bed early. Eat carefully. Don't dance. Don't worry. It's because I've followed them that I'm going to have a birthday it is given few women to have.

"Young folks in this country live in too much of a hurry while they are young. Then when they get onto the other side of the hill they haven't anything in reserve to hold 'em back. They just slip down and get to the bottom quick."

Mrs. Land wasn't born in this country. She came here when she was 35, a bride. Her husband had a brother in this city and Mr. and Mrs. Land came directly here. She has lived in the little house in Grape street sixty-five years.

For thirty years she has been an invalid. Stepping from a street car in the days when the motive power was horses instead of electricity, the car started too soon. She was thrown violently to the pavement and her spine was injured.

But the fact that her legs have been helpless all these years has not impaired her usefulness. She does all the mending for herself and daughter, Mrs. Sarah Henry, who lives with her. She sews rags for carpets and makes ironing holders.

She has never worn glasses and just of late she has confessed to a growing dimness of sight.

"I'm only bothered in threading needles," she added hastily when she told of this affliction. "Sarah threads a lot of them for me and when I've used 'em all I call her to thread more."

She has been a widow since 1864, when her husband, John Land, was killed in the Battle of The Wilderness. She had four children, but all have died excepting Mrs. Henry.

It has always been a source of grief to her that she did not receive sufficient education in her youth to enable her to read extensively.

"In the old country large families educated their boys in those days, and let their girls shift for themselves. I had eight brothers," she concluded simply.

Mrs. Land likes to talk of the days in the old country, when, as she grew old enough, she filled positions as cook in the homes of various personages of high degree, lords and such.

She likes to tell of her trip across the Atlantic, which was her wedding trip, and attended by so many disagreeable occurrences that she never wanted to go back.

"In the first place I was seasick every inch of the way until we got near enough the shores of New Jersey to smell the peach orchards, which were in bloom," she explained.

"There was mutiny on board. A lot of sailors had been shipped at Liverpool and paid full wages for the trip. A day out we ran into bad weather and they made trouble. My husband saved the captain from being shot by knocking down a man who had a pistol pointed at his head. Those men made the remainder of the trip in irons. Maybe a trip isn't so difficult now, but I don't want to take it."

She doesn't understand why the world is at war.

"War is bad business," she said shaking her head. "It makes so much unhappiness and is so useless. It made a widow of me."

She hasn't any ambition to "live to a great age," she declares, but "rather expects she will."

My grandmother was 104 years old when she died. My father was nearly a hundred. All my people lived to be old, so I may as well be resigned," she said.

—The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, June 23, 1918, page 17.

Dr. Z.V. Purdy, Logansport, Indiana, Nearly 104 Years Old

Riverdale, Illinois, 1915

NEARLY 104 YEARS OLD

Still Enjoys a "Shot" and a Chew of Tobacco

Dr. Z. V. Purdy, who resides near Logansport, Ind. returned home Wednesday after a five weeks visit with his son J. Purdy of Harvey. The doctor will be 104 years old if he lives until next March. He was born at Harper's Ferry Virginia, March 5, 1812. He practiced medicine for many years in Kentucky and Indiana before retiring some years ago. He is quite strong for one of his years; his mind is clear and his hearing and eyesight good. The scribe had the pleasure of quite a chat with the old gentleman last Wednesday morning while he was waiting for the Panhandle train at Riverdale. He was accompanied by his sons J. W. of Star City, Ind., and J. Purdy of Harvey. He served nearly six years in the army and carries a silver mounted cane presented to him by Gen. W. T. Sherman at the close of the war.

The doctor takes a little stimulant of whisky toddy about four times a day and always keeps his plug of tobacco handy and uses it frequently. He says he has never taken any great care of his health, but lives "one day like another" and expects to live for many years yet. He is still interested in current events but likes to talk of the old days and can remember dates very clearly.

The scribe has heard and read about people a hundred years old, but this was our first experience to meet and greet a person of that great age. Wonder how many of our subscribers know a man or woman 100 years old. Write us about it if you do.

—The Pointer, Riverdale, Illinois, December 24, 1915, page 1.