I love stuff like this. I have a very early memory of meeting my great-grandma - I have a phote with her when I was two. I believe she was born in 1878. The friendly old lady who lived next door to my grandma, Mrs Morris who used to give me pop and sandwiches was even older. Other than that, I had a school teacher who served on the Somme. He was a very old man even in the seventies - was our woodwork teacher and smoked his pipe in class Imagine that these days?? He wasn't a boy soldier so I assume he was born late 1800's. I'll spend the day trying to remember more now ........... lovely topic.
Mine and @Thrappo Tyke's great grandmother 1896-2004 (so like @Tyke_67's wife's grandma also spanned 3 centuries), age 108 and died when I was 17. She had many stories to tell, and wanted to see the millennium and go, but lived another 4 years much to her annoyance.
My wife's grandparents were born in in 1883 & 1888 and were married in 1907. Crystal, at about 10, was once doing a jigsaw of the photograph below with her grandmother and asked her her if she remembered it. Her grandmother laughed and replied "We'd been married five years!"
My Great Grandad. Born in the late 1890's. Wounded at the Somme in 1916. Lived to 97. Attended my wedding in the 80's. Was one of the last survivors of the Somme.
The oldest in the family I remember was my Dad's Uncle Joe who lived to be 98. He was the Grandfather of Stuart Manley who was a Director of the club who also became the stadium manager. My Mum was 42 when she had me so I didn't get to meet 3 of my Grandparents. The Grandmother I did meet was born in 1885 she passed away in 1968.
Downtown Abbey was so far fetched, servants would never talk to the family of such a large estate, especially about personal matters. Step out of line or get pregnant and there were plenty more to take your place.
My daughter keeps telling me she wants me to live to 100 ( great grandma got to 99) . I think as you get older that doesn't seem to be so desirable.
This is a photograph of Conrad Heyer, who was born in 1749 and fought in the American War of Independence. the photograph was taken in 1852 when he was 103. He is quite possibly the earliest born person to have their photograph taken.
If you triple my age now (34) I still wouldnt be as old as my great nana. She must have felt like she lived so many lifetimes! Hard to imagine at this stage of my life, living another 74 years.
I believe my old piano teacher (in my youth) was 1880's. Long gone, obviously, but a hell of a character. I'm not sure I truly appreciated him at the age of 14.
I wish i wasnt so thick as a kid how great would it be now to ask your great grandparents all the question you could. Im 50 now so my great grandma who i remeber must have been born 1900 ish.
Sorry I can't put the link up just now but there are interviews from the 1930's on YouTube with some of the last surviving American Civil War veterans....the one that struck me most was one chap saying how he was born and bred in a particular place and apart from the war he had spent his life there from birth, the funny thing was he sounded english, a mild west country accent....no hint of the american accent we know today.
Our neighbour was 100 - she invited us and many on the street out for her big birthday. She paid for everyone there! She was proud to show off her card from the Queen. Sadly passed away in a care home at 103
everytime I went to see my gran she used to say "I am ready to go now, 90 years on earth is a long time, you get tired", then she would thrash me at scrabble 5 minutes later, was hard though because she would say you can not have that word its not in dictionary , only thing is dictionary was from 1930s, I had modem once to actually win, check if its in she said ,changed it to dome , what was the point
Snap. My Nan still does this, but takes it one further and uses a dictionary from 1874 because “it still does the job”.