Oldest Woman Living!

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Once A Resident Of Circleville

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     The Lafayette, Ind., correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer says that there arrived in that city on Wednesday evening, Mrs. Mary Beneman, from Ames, Iowa; Mrs. Beneman is 112 years old. she having been born at Lewiston, Delaware, March 14, 1773.

     The aged lady is the guest of relatives in Lafayette. The correspondent says; "Mrs. Beneman's maiden name was Mary Perry, as is gleaned from her relatives.  She is a daughter of Captain Christopher R. Perry of Revolutionary fame, and sister of Commodore Oliver Perry, one of our noted naval commanders. Another brother was Matthew Colbreth Perry, who framed the treaty with Japan.

     "On arrival at womanhood Miss Perry married Wm. Colter. In 1806, with their two sons, they started for Circleville, Ohio. Their journey was long and tedious, but they arrived there and began farming. Four sons were born to them. Three still living—Peter Colter, who resides at Rensselaer, this State, aged eighty-one years, and Charles and James Colter, living at Booneville, Mo. Taken altogether, it is said she now has 120 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren living. At Circleville Mr. Colter died, and Mrs. C. afterward became Mrs. John Beneman. He lived 'but a short time.

    "Of Circleville, and their trip to Ohio, the old lady says they started with a, horse and wagon, but the horse died about sixty miles from Circleville. They put the two children in a wheelbarrow and wheeled
them to Circleville. At that time there was but one house there and that was a log cabin. The Indians did not trouble them there, but the wolves and wildcats were very numerous, and they had to nightly encircle their house with fire.

"Asked if she had ever seen General Washington, she answered: "0h, yes; I have seen him, and remember him very well. He was tall and fine looking, and was a great friend of my father. He has been where we lived, and everybody turned out to see and shake hands with him.

"Brother Oliver, she said, was a sailor, and he had been to sea a good many times. Once they were from home when his ship came in and he had only time to write his name in chalk on the door of the house.
She never saw him again. Soon after his ship was wrecked, and the family heard he was drowned. It was after she went to Ohio that she heard that Oliver was saved and was a great officer."

Of the aged lady's appearance the correspondent says; "Her form much bent with age, was clad in black and wrapped in a heavy shawl, her head partly hidden in a snowy cap of the old style of architecture. The face, elongated by age, is traversed by countless wrinkles and of a sallow yellow hue. Her mouth is sunken, and her lips tightly drawn and puckered. Her brows are heavily overhanging, and from beneath them gleam eyes that are still sharp and bright. The face remains an expression of shrewdness, and there are yet evidences of a powerful mind. A few locks of hair as thick, white and soft as wool, were visible beneath the cap, and Mrs. B. said that about two decades ago a new growth of hair came out, and so vigorously did it grow that repeated cuttings were necessary.


NOTE—Mrs. Beneman is reputed to have lived to the age of one hundred and fifteen years.
 

Source: From Daily Evening Herald, April 14, 1885.