An old woman who died in 1858 in St. Patrick-street, Dublin, at the age of 110 years, distinctly remembered and described the appearance of Dean Swift, and added, that he never went outside the Deanery-house that he was not attended through the streets by a vast crowd of washed and unwashed admirers.
Mrs. Keith, of Newnham, Gloucestershire, who died in 1772, aged 133, left three daughters, aged 111, 110, and 100.
In 1862, a lady residing at Cheltenham received a second donation of 5l. from her Majesty the Queen, for an old man of 107 years of age, named William Purser, a native of Redmarley, but living in Cheltenham.—Worcestershire Chronicle.
In 1862, a curious fact occurred at Downton, showing how few individuals are required to connect distant periods of history with the present time. A man was buried in this parish whose father was born in the reign of William III., and that father lived in three centuries, having been born in 1698 and died in 1801.—Salisbury Journal.
In 1853, the Irish newspapers announced the death of Mrs. Mary Power, aunt of the celebrated Mr. Shiel, at the Ursuline Convent, Cork, at the age of 116 years; but this statement lacks legal evidence to prove it.
The obituary of the Times of January 21, 1863, records the decease of persons who had attained the following advanced ages, viz.: 92, 90, 82, 82, 82, 80, 78, 78, 76, 74, 72, 72, 72, and 70 years respectively.
Dr. Mead, grandfather of the celebrated physician and antiquary, died at Ware, in Hertfordshire, 1652, aged 148.
In Scawen’s Dissertation on the Cornish Tongue, written in the reign of Charles II., is mentioned a woman recently deceased, who was "164 years old, of good memory, and healthful at her age; living in the parish of Gwithian. She married a second husband after she was 80, and buried him after he was 80 years of age."
A Philadelphia Correspondent of Notes and Queries, No. 213, 1853, records the death of "Aunt Polly" (Mary Simondson), near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of 126 years.
Among the legacies bequeathed to the Middlesex Hospital in 1863, was one which is deserving of special notice, inasmuch as the donor, Mr. Cropper, exhibited a singular instance of rigid economy in his personal expenditure, combined with a bountiful and almost princely benevolence towards the poor. Mr. Cropper, who was 90 years old when he died, had, it appears, survived all his relations. He was a barrister-at-law, and lived in the most frugal manner in his chambers at Gray’s-inn. The amount of his property at the time of his decease is estimated at about 4000l. per annum, and 10,000l. in money, the whole of which he has bestowed on London charities, selecting Middlesex Hospital as his residuary legatee.