The following * are instances of longevity which occurred
in America or the British colonies, in persons either of European
descent, or born in Europe,- but resident abroad during
the greater part of their lives.
Mr. C. dotterel died at Philadelphia, aged one hundred
and twenty years and three days, afterwards his wife, aged
one hundred and fifteen, after living together ninety-eight
years.*f
At Laurens district, South. Carolina, died Mr. Solomon Ni-
bel, aged one hundred and forty-three years: he emigrated
from England in 1696, aged nineteen. %
At Whitehall, near New York, Henry Francisco, aged one
hundred and thirty-four, died in 1820. He was present at the
coronation of Queen Anne of England*!
At Campbell,-Virginia, died in l8 2 1 , Mr. C. Layne, aged
one hundred and twenty-one. He was bom in Buckingham
county, in 1700. He has left a widow aged" one hundred and
ten, and a numerous and respectable family to the fourth generation.
|J
In Fairfax county, Robert Thomas, aged one hundred and
seven, died in 1821. At Bow, in New Hampshire, in 1823,
died Samuel Welsh, aged one hundred and twelve years and
seven months.^
Died a t Spanish Town, Jamaica, Nov. 21, 1829, Mrs. Ju dith
Crawford, aged one hundred and fifty-one years: she rer
tained her bodily strength and her faculties until within a few
days of her death. She remembered the earthquake in
1692.**
Died at Goshen^ in Union district, South Carolina, July,
1630, Samuel Selby, upwards o f one hundred and one years
of age. f-j- *
§* These instances were communicated to mehy the late Dr. Edmund Fry, who
collected them from various authentic sources.
+ Benj. Martin’s Miscellaneous Correspondence in Prose and Verse.—Jan. 1761.
t Times, Sep, 22,1820.
§ Baldwin’s London Mag.—Jan. 1821.
f| London Mag.—Aug. 1821.
- Morning Herald.—June 2, 1823.
** Gent. Mag.—April 1830.
• f t Gent, Mag,—Sep. 1830.
Died at Mount Grace, in Jamaica, December, 1830, Mrs.
Mary Innés, aged one hundred and twenty years.*
Died in the island of St. Helena, in September last, Mrs.
Eliz. Honoria Frances Lambe, aged one hundred and ten
years and four months* In the year 1731, she was housekeeper
to General Pike. She was married eight times, and
left many descendants, of whom two hundred and sixty yet
live. She' died in the full persuasion, that the Millennium
will happen in 1836, and that the charter will be renewed to
the East India Company.’’-f-^-Extract from the Times, Sep. 8,
1831.
Paragraph 2.—Of the longevity of the Africans.
It has been supposed by some, that the Negro race is of
shorterlife than the European.^
Dr. Winterbottominforms us,, that “ few óf the inhabitants
of^kiineaarrive.ajt old'- age.*,\ He says, that “ they turn old
much sooner than Europeans, and appear in a state of decrepitude
when the latter have scarcely reached the grand climacteric.’’
M. Adanson makes a similar remark. ,of the natives
óf Senegambia. “ The Negroesof ^enegal,'” he sayS,
“ are really, old at the age of forty-five, and. sometimes earlier/’
Accounts j ^ t h e aame pnrpoft 8-re given by Bosman and
others, respecting the natives of Guinea and Congo.
The shortness of life .observed among the Africans by these
authors, appears to be the result of circumstances^ .The condition
of savages, their exposure to . noxious influences, and
the particular situation of these tribes on the African coast
sufficiently accounts for the fact, without supposing any peculiarity
in the race. ,
We are informed by Mr. Oldfield, th a t the coast of Africa,
near the river Nunn, is extremely unhealthy, being covered
with a luxuriant vegetation of mangroves and plants of the
* Suppt. Gent. Mag.—Dec. 1830,
f M. Virey gays, that the Negro race is in general more short-lived than die
European.—Hist. Nat. du G. H. par M. Virey^tfcM. 1. p. 143—365.