DID you ever personally know anyone born in the 1800's ?

[james_bond_007]

I came across the fact that William Frawley (Fred Mertz from I Love Lucy) was born in 1887.

That got me to think about the question: "Did I ever personally know anyone born in the 1800's"

So I called my mom. She got out the family Bible.

We found 3 people that I knew: Great-Grandparents and a neighbor lady.


The funny part of the story was that there were some people that we both THOUGHT were so old they MUST have been born in the 1800's.
My mom said "Oh God, they looked real old when "I" was young".
To our surprise, we discovered they were MUCH younger that either of us thought.

So I can now honestly say I have known people from 3 different centuries : 1800's, 1900's, and 2000's.

[KestrelBike]

when I was in high school (pre 2000) we visited a nursing home to socialize and pass out treats. I talked with a woman who was 103 (so born in 1800's). She said she couldn't wait to die.

[GilpinGuy]

I have a picture of me as an infant with my mom, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. My family tended to have kids young LOL. Both of my great grandparents died when I was in college so I knew them well.

I'll have to check with the family to see if great great grandma was born in the 1800s. I don't remember her at all of course.

[BREATHER]

There were, I don't know if there are any left, people that used horse and buggy for transport and then saw men land on the moon.

[Tinelement]

If I remember correctly, one of my Great Grandmas was born in Dec of 1899.

[spleify]

My Grandpa Jasper was born in 1899 and died at the ripe old age of 99 in 1998. Greatest man I knew, came right off the boat from Sicily and was a real pistol, he smoked 3 packs of non filtered camels for 72 years, of course when he started he was rollin his own!! God bless him! All of 5'2" tall and a buck-o-five soakin wet but carried himself as a humble giant!

[Gman]

My grandfather was born in 1896. He fought in WWI (US Army Artillery), was a self-taught civil engineer, did engineering work in mines in Mexico during the Great Depression, and worked for the US Forest Service in California for over 30 years. He passed away in 1988.

He experienced the Wright Brothers through the Space Shuttle and how far this country had come in that span.

...now we have such great inventions as social media.

[BuffCyclist]

During Christmas break of my first year of college (2004), I was home and getting an eye appointment. They had to dilate my eyes, so my Mom dropped me off and went back to work. When I was waiting for her to come pick me up afterwards, this old lady was talking to me in the waiting room. She asked me what I was there for and I told her (general checkup). She just got lasik on both of her eyes. She said she couldn't believe the technology would ever exist to do that. She was 106 years old and recently got in a car accident because her eyes were delaying updating. Like when you stare at a newspaper then you look up and see the words. No one was hurt in the accident, but that was the final straw that made her kids convince her to get lasik. She couldn't believe how well she could see. It was remarkable, not only because of her age, but because she was so freaking spry. She got up and walked off, looked like she was only 50yo. Wish I had gotten more time to talk to her.

[h2so4]

my great grandma was born in 1901. Pretty close. I was really young when she could still communicate well, so i didnt get alot of good stories from her. I need to ask my grandparents about all of her and their stories. So much to learn about.

[Dave]

My great grandmother was born in 1906 and died in 2000, but I remember her oldest brother still being alive when I was young and he was born in 1897, died in 1988. He was one of those types that had to constantly be doing something. Even when he visited he would sit at the table drinking coffee and sharpening her knives. He owned and operated FATSCO in Benton Harbor, MI which started out as a tin shop but he kept branching out as he came up with new ideas. For a while he had a top selling ant poison in the MI and IN areas. Simple thing really, sweetened solution of arsenic was basically all it was. Had to be taken off the market since a couple of people didn't heed the warning about it being lethal to people and kept it in places kids and pets could get to.