The last leaf on the 1800s tree
There is only one person alive who was born before 1900, and she is Emma Morano of Italy.
My grandmother was born in the 1880s, and when I was a child I knew plenty of people from that century. Now there’s just one, who said yesterday—on learning that the torch had been passed to her with the death of the only other 1800s survivor: “My word, I’m as old as the hills.”
Articles about very old people always emphasize their life habits that may or may not have contributed to their longevity. My guess is that it’s mostly heredity. But for those who want to follow in her footsteps, Morano goes to bed early and gets up before dawn, and has eaten two eggs a day (one raw, one cooked) since the age of twenty. Good luck with that.
[NOTE: If you’re wondering about the title of this post, it’s from a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes that I discussed at length here along with the phenomenon of an entire generation slowly dying out.]
The previous holder of record that died on May 12 was Susannah Mushatt Jones who, it is noted, “For breakfast, she always ate four strips of bacon along with scrambled eggs and grits. She also ate bacon throughout the day.” So it is obvious that bacon is extremely unhealthy and will kill you in the end.
Humm, now I’m hungry. I guess I’ll have me sum of them immortality eggs and bacon.
vanderleun:
Ah, but don’t you know that if she hadn’t eaten the bacon, she would have beaten out Emma Morano.
Years ago from the comic strip “The Born Loser”:
“Hey, old timer – how did you get to be so old?”
“I never died.”
My father smoked and drank all of his life and it finally killed him at age 93. My mother doesn’t do any of those things and she turned 100 last September.
The stepbrothers of some cousins had a grandmother who lived to 107. She told one of my cousins that her dietary “secret” was to eat one big fish a week, piece by piece. The head went into soup.
The grandmother of some other cousins lived to be 97. She ate a lot of bacon and eggs. Though she had her doubts about the advantages to living so long, as she once told me, “Being 94 isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.” It is frustrating to see your mental and physical powers deteriorate, bit by bit.
I too have known many people who were born in the 1800s. Funny to think that all of them (well, except one whom I don’t know) are gone. My daughter is 22, but I don’t think she ever met a person born in the 1800s. She did have a great uncle whom she met born in the 19-aughts.
I recall reading in Junior Scholastic in grade school that the last Civil War soldier had just died, and being impressed with how very long ago that was. I once tried to figure out who was the earliest-born person I remembered. I had a great-grandmother who was born in 1858 who died when I was a year old, but I didn’t remember her; and had another near-miss with an old man who lived across from my grandfather who would have been about 1855. I finally worked it out to a woman at church who would have been born around 1870. It’s a fun game to play.
Why is it that centuries are now referred to as the “1800s,” “1900s,” etc.? This is a usage that was found in elementary school textbooks in years past. I suppose adults are no longer expected to know what the term “19th century” means.
Of the people I have met and have memories of, only two of my great-grand mothers were born in the 19th century.
I read not too terribly long ago that the last British veteran of WWI died a few years back–within the last five years, I think….
The WSJ just had an obituary about the death of the oldest living World War II veteran (US, I suppose). He was 110 years old,which means he enlisted when he was 38 or 39. That took guts!
When I was a Cub Scout (what is that, about 8 or 9?), we marched in our town’s Memorial Day parade, and there were still Civil War veterans marching in it.
My wife’s grandfather was born sometime in the 1890’s — he wasn’t exactly sure when — and died in the 1980’s — I’m not exactly sure when. He traveled on ox-carts as a boy, and lived to travel on his son’s private jet — and to see a man land on the moon. I can’t imagine that there will ever be a 100 years with that much transformation again.