O is for Oldest-Old - Blogging from A to Z April 2020 Challenge!

Today O is for Oldest-Old in British Columbia

Blogging about British Columbia Genealogy Resources

Oldest-old is a term I hadn't thought of much before - it seems an odd one - but it is a real term, although it doesn't seem to be strictly defined. Some studies and discussions define oldest-old as over 80; sometimes over 85. (Before that we are just old, and then old-old). 

If we are over 90, we Canadians get a birthday letter from the Governor-General of Canada, nice, eh. 'Kinda wish I was 90 now; it would be exciting to hear from our current GG.  (Long way to go still!) But if we are over 100, we're centenarians - so much nicer sounding and we get a letter from the Queen! (Apply early; details here.)  And now there are supercentenarians (110 or older).

In British Columbia, as in other places, our newspaper people have often been eager for a local story, so much of the time you can expect to see an article in the local paper about your long lived relatives, either around the time of a significant birthday or their death. 

And I think Canadians in general (and even the government) were interested in the 'long-lived'. as we are today. 

I've often been collecting these articles and obituaries for women. They may be the best sources we find about them. As with obituaries though, sometimes the articles are all about their families, or the husbands. But some do offer more. And, as now, people were often asked about 'life lessons they've learned' or their best moments or happiest times.  I would advise you to check newspapers around the birthday date (and check again) if you have anyone over 75 or so. (This applies to significant wedding anniversaries as well.) 

Here are two different examples, both women acknowledged in their time as centenarians. Neither is a family member of mine. (That I know of.)

From The Daily Colonist, Thursday, 8 July 1915, page 7, about Margaret Levine who died in Victoria, BC in 1915. 

DEATH OF AGED LADY

Mrs. Margaret Levine Passed Away at Great Age of 104 –Born in Belleville, Ontario.

Probably the oldest inhabitant of Victoria passed away yesterday at the Aged Woman’s Home in the person of Margaret Levine, who had reached the advanced age of 104. Up to the last Mrs. Levine, despite her great age, was in full possession of her faculties. Here was a remarkable constitution, for during her whole life, she had suffered from no serious illness, and up till comparatively few years ago was an exceeding hard-working woman, capable of performing many kinds of manual labor which are usually considered to belong to men. She was possessed of a remarkably clear memory, and was wont to relate many interesting stories of olden days in Ontario.

Mrs. Levine was born in Belleville, Ontario in 1881. She lived there until 1889, when she removed to Victoria, her husband having died two years before she came to the Coast.

Mrs. Levine had six children, but only one of them, Mrs. Harris, who died in Victoria some ten years ago, lived to reach maturity. Mrs. Harris had three sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, with the exception of one son, who was lost on the sealing schooner Triumph, which put out from Victoria ten years ago and was never heard from again. Mrs. Levine’s surviving grandchildren are: Mrs A. H. Yurat and Mrs. Samuel Martin, who are living in the State of Washington; Mrs. William Hutcherson of Glasgow Avenue, Victoria; Charles Louis Harris and Edward Harris, of Victoria. There are also twelve great-grandchildren living. Announcement of the funeral arrangements will be made later. 

Her story illustrates one sad consequence of long life - that she outlived her children. And perhaps her friends too. This is one thing my Na told me once, although she did want to make it to 100, she had already outlived her sisters and brothers and most of her friends. (And due to an accident, she didn't quite make it to 100.) 

But I note the remarks about Margaret Levine's faculties, her remarkable constitution and her remarkable clear memory. We wouldn't learn this from her death registration which under "Immediate or final determining cause" only shows - "senility".  

Her funeral arrangements were reported in the Victoria Daily Times. Similar articles announced her death in newspapers in Vancouver, Montreal, and in Saskatoon. I wonder if her stories still survive in the family today?

And now these two articles about Mrs. George Debeck (Eliza Ann Dow) who celebrated her 107th birthday in 1921 in Vancouver, BC.  Both articles included photographs. (The New Westminster Archives has other photographs of her online including this one of her in front of her home (early 1900s?).

From the Columbian, New Westminster, BC, Monday, 27 June, 1921, page 1.

Receiving Congratulations on 107th. Birthday.

5 Generations of the Debeck Family. 

British Columbia’s oldest resident, and possibly the oldest in the Dominion, Mrs. George Debeck, is today receiving congratulations and greetings on the 107th anniversary of her birthday, at the home of her son, Mr. Ward Debeck, Heather street, Marpole. New Westminster residents are joining in theis celebration, for Mrs. Debeck has been a resident of this city since she came from New Brunswick in 1868, accompanied by her husband and children.

The affair at Marpole today is a quiet one by reason of the illness of Mrs. Debeck which had extended for several weeks and caused her relatives to fear that she would be unable to survive her anniversary. The above photograph shows no less than five generations of the Debeck family who are alive today, though scattered in three different countries, Canada, the United States and New Zealand.

Reading from left to right are: Mrs. George Debeck; Mrs. Olive Bell, Long Branch, Cal., a daughter; Mrs. H. A. Wilson, of this city, a grand-daughter; Mrs. Courtenay Biggs, Aukland, N.Z., a great grand-daughter; and little Miss Margaret Biggs, a native daughter of New Westminster, who resides with her mother in the southern continent.

Mrs. Eliza Debeck was born in Canterbury, N. B. in 1814, a year prior to Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. She married George Debeck, of Frederickton, N. B. in 1834 and, after 34 years’ residence in their native province, came west to British Columbia via the isthmus of Panama. 

And then this on Saturday, 2 July, 1921, New Westminster, BC, page 1.

Passes Away at Age of 107 

Mrs. George Debeck

British Columbia, and possibly the Dominion, lost its oldest white resident yesterday evening with the passing of Mrs. George Debeck, which occurred at the home of her son, Mr. Ward Debeck, Marpole where she had been staying for several weeks. Mrs. Debeck celebrated her 197th birthday on Monday last, although she was in very poor health. 

The funeral will take place from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 with interment in the Masonic cemetery. Rev. Y. H. Mitchell will officiate, while W. K. Fales has charge of the arrangements.

Born in Canterbury, N. B. in 1814, deceased came west in 1868 and has been a resident in or near New Westminster since that date. She is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Olive Bell, Long Branch, Cal., and Mrs. J. C. Hughes, Queen’s Avenue, city; three sons, Howard Debeck, Penticton; Ward Debeck, Marpole, and Clarence Debeck, of this city. Twenty-three grandchildren, forty-eight great grandchildren, and six great grand children. 

Mrs. Debeck was very active with needlework until a year or so ago and many are the prizes which she has won at provincial exhibitions.  

Her birthday and her death were covered in the Vancouver papers and others too, including Victoria, Edmonton, Regina, Montreal and Ottawa in Canada, and in California, Washington State, Oregon, Montana, and Minnesota in the USA. 

While newspaper articles do often contain contradictions, and even obvious mistakes, and many people never get mentioned in the papers, articles like these are still exciting to find! 

As genealogists we know that people didn't (and don't now) always know their exact age or report it, but if our research substantiates their long life, let's show that evidence clearly in our genealogy work, no matter if they attained a 'super' age or not. 

The BC Archives and other archives hold information about these two women. I look forward to learning more about them once the world is open again. If you are related to them, please do be in touch.

Further References

Canada Today: There are more of us and we're getting older, statistics show, National Post, 30 September 2019:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada-today-there-are-more-of-us-and-were-getting-older-statistics-show

"Mortality Statistics for the Oldest-Old: An Evaluation of Canadian Data" by Robert Bourbeau and André Lebel, © 2000 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Published in Demographic Research, Vol 2, Article 2, 15 March 2000: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol2/2/2-2.pdf

Canadian Centenarians, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_centenarians

List of Canadian supercentenarians (110 years old or over), Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_supercentenarians

List of oldest living people in Canada, Gerontology Wiki:

https://gerontology.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people_in_Canada