Some of the Experiences of Mrs. Rebecca McGirr in a Century of Life.
WHEELING, W.VA. Dec. 15 1888.
A remarkable old lady is Mrs. Rebecca McGirr, now living at Clover Hill, in the adjoining county of Washington, Pennsylvania. "Aunt Beckie," as Mrs. McGirr is familiarly called by those who know her, was born in the Cumberland valley, on the Conecocheague River, on Oct. 16, 1788, and now, after the lapse of 100 years, still lives, which the bloom of health upon her cheek, and is as bright and lively as the average woman a generation less in age. She belongs to the Society of Friends, and is an unwavering follower of Elias Hicks.
"Aunt Beckie" has been twice married. Her first husband was Isaac Griffith, whom she wedded in 1809, and to whom she bore one child. Her husband died in 1811, and in 1818 she married William McGirr, who spent a long lifetime as a Hicksite preacher. To them were born four children, and of these a son and daughter still live with their venerable mother, both looking, to the casual visitor, more aged than she.
"Aunt Becki's" memory is clear, and she can recite many stirring but now forgotten incidents of her youth and yearly life. Think what a panorama unrolls before this ancient dame as she looks back over a hundred years of what Gen. Garfield called "a century crowded with peril and crowned with triumph." She has seen Washington, and heard the hurrahs of all the campaigns of all the Presidents. She has seen the Indian living near her on the waters of the Monongahela, she has visited Pennsylvania soil the wigwams of the Mohawks, Mingoes, and Delawares, eaten venison with them, and looked out on the streams while they glided by in their bark canoes. She remembers the War of 1812 very distinctly, and with her own hands fed the hungry soldiers on their way to fight the British. She fairly recalls the whiskey insurrection, and she shook hands with Santa Anna as he passed along the national pike on his way to Washington city. She has listened to the preaching of Whitfield, Spencer, Asa Shin, Elias Kicks , and men like them, and recalls most of the prominent incidents of western Pennsylvania during nine years. She has seen Pittsburgh grow from a small frontier trading post to be a city of 200.000 inhabitants, and watched the expansion of the American population from 3,000,000 to 60,000,000.
"Aunt Beckie" seems good for half a dozen years of life, and looks forward to the celebration of her 105th birthday with confidence.
WHEELING, W.VA. Dec. 15 1888.
A remarkable old lady is Mrs. Rebecca McGirr, now living at Clover Hill, in the adjoining county of Washington, Pennsylvania. "Aunt Beckie," as Mrs. McGirr is familiarly called by those who know her, was born in the Cumberland valley, on the Conecocheague River, on Oct. 16, 1788, and now, after the lapse of 100 years, still lives, which the bloom of health upon her cheek, and is as bright and lively as the average woman a generation less in age. She belongs to the Society of Friends, and is an unwavering follower of Elias Hicks.
"Aunt Beckie" has been twice married. Her first husband was Isaac Griffith, whom she wedded in 1809, and to whom she bore one child. Her husband died in 1811, and in 1818 she married William McGirr, who spent a long lifetime as a Hicksite preacher. To them were born four children, and of these a son and daughter still live with their venerable mother, both looking, to the casual visitor, more aged than she.
"Aunt Becki's" memory is clear, and she can recite many stirring but now forgotten incidents of her youth and yearly life. Think what a panorama unrolls before this ancient dame as she looks back over a hundred years of what Gen. Garfield called "a century crowded with peril and crowned with triumph." She has seen Washington, and heard the hurrahs of all the campaigns of all the Presidents. She has seen the Indian living near her on the waters of the Monongahela, she has visited Pennsylvania soil the wigwams of the Mohawks, Mingoes, and Delawares, eaten venison with them, and looked out on the streams while they glided by in their bark canoes. She remembers the War of 1812 very distinctly, and with her own hands fed the hungry soldiers on their way to fight the British. She fairly recalls the whiskey insurrection, and she shook hands with Santa Anna as he passed along the national pike on his way to Washington city. She has listened to the preaching of Whitfield, Spencer, Asa Shin, Elias Kicks , and men like them, and recalls most of the prominent incidents of western Pennsylvania during nine years. She has seen Pittsburgh grow from a small frontier trading post to be a city of 200.000 inhabitants, and watched the expansion of the American population from 3,000,000 to 60,000,000.
"Aunt Beckie" seems good for half a dozen years of life, and looks forward to the celebration of her 105th birthday with confidence.
Some of the Experiences of Mrs. Rebecca McGirr in a Century of Life.
WHEELING, W.VA. Dec. 15 1888.
A remarkable old lady is Mrs. Rebecca McGirr, now living at Clover Hill, in the adjoining county of Washington, Pennsylvania. "Aunt Beckie," as Mrs. McGirr is familiarly called by those who know her, was born in the Cumberland valley, on the Conecocheague River, on Oct. 16, 1788, and now, after the lapse of 100 years, still lives, which the bloom of health upon her cheek, and is as bright and lively as the average woman a generation less in age. She belongs to the Society of Friends, and is an unwavering follower of Elias Hicks.
"Aunt Beckie" has been twice married. Her first husband was Isaac Griffith, whom she wedded in 1809, and to whom she bore one child. Her husband died in 1811, and in 1818 she married William McGirr, who spent a long lifetime as a Hicksite preacher. To them were born four children, and of these a son and daughter still live with their venerable mother, both looking, to the casual visitor, more aged than she.
"Aunt Becki's" memory is clear, and she can recite many stirring but now forgotten incidents of her youth and yearly life. Think what a panorama unrolls before this ancient dame as she looks back over a hundred years of what Gen. Garfield called "a century crowded with peril and crowned with triumph." She has seen Washington, and heard the hurrahs of all the campaigns of all the Presidents. She has seen the Indian living near her on the waters of the Monongahela, she has visited Pennsylvania soil the wigwams of the Mohawks, Mingoes, and Delawares, eaten venison with them, and looked out on the streams while they glided by in their bark canoes. She remembers the War of 1812 very distinctly, and with her own hands fed the hungry soldiers on their way to fight the British. She fairly recalls the whiskey insurrection, and she shook hands with Santa Anna as he passed along the national pike on his way to Washington city. She has listened to the preaching of Whitfield, Spencer, Asa Shin, Elias Kicks , and men like them, and recalls most of the prominent incidents of western Pennsylvania during nine years. She has seen Pittsburgh grow from a small frontier trading post to be a city of 200.000 inhabitants, and watched the expansion of the American population from 3,000,000 to 60,000,000.
"Aunt Beckie" seems good for half a dozen years of life, and looks forward to the celebration of her 105th birthday with confidence.
WHEELING, W.VA. Dec. 15 1888.
A remarkable old lady is Mrs. Rebecca McGirr, now living at Clover Hill, in the adjoining county of Washington, Pennsylvania. "Aunt Beckie," as Mrs. McGirr is familiarly called by those who know her, was born in the Cumberland valley, on the Conecocheague River, on Oct. 16, 1788, and now, after the lapse of 100 years, still lives, which the bloom of health upon her cheek, and is as bright and lively as the average woman a generation less in age. She belongs to the Society of Friends, and is an unwavering follower of Elias Hicks.
"Aunt Beckie" has been twice married. Her first husband was Isaac Griffith, whom she wedded in 1809, and to whom she bore one child. Her husband died in 1811, and in 1818 she married William McGirr, who spent a long lifetime as a Hicksite preacher. To them were born four children, and of these a son and daughter still live with their venerable mother, both looking, to the casual visitor, more aged than she.
"Aunt Becki's" memory is clear, and she can recite many stirring but now forgotten incidents of her youth and yearly life. Think what a panorama unrolls before this ancient dame as she looks back over a hundred years of what Gen. Garfield called "a century crowded with peril and crowned with triumph." She has seen Washington, and heard the hurrahs of all the campaigns of all the Presidents. She has seen the Indian living near her on the waters of the Monongahela, she has visited Pennsylvania soil the wigwams of the Mohawks, Mingoes, and Delawares, eaten venison with them, and looked out on the streams while they glided by in their bark canoes. She remembers the War of 1812 very distinctly, and with her own hands fed the hungry soldiers on their way to fight the British. She fairly recalls the whiskey insurrection, and she shook hands with Santa Anna as he passed along the national pike on his way to Washington city. She has listened to the preaching of Whitfield, Spencer, Asa Shin, Elias Kicks , and men like them, and recalls most of the prominent incidents of western Pennsylvania during nine years. She has seen Pittsburgh grow from a small frontier trading post to be a city of 200.000 inhabitants, and watched the expansion of the American population from 3,000,000 to 60,000,000.
"Aunt Beckie" seems good for half a dozen years of life, and looks forward to the celebration of her 105th birthday with confidence.
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