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MRS. MARGARET BLACK, Aged about 110 years, probably the oldest person in the State, if not in the United States, died in the old mansion of Capt. William Vicary, deceased, near Freedom, on Friday morning March 4. Rev. Mr. Shafer of Beaver, conducted the funeral services on Saturday at 2 o'clock P.M. and the remains were laid in Oak Grove Cemetery. At the time of her death the deceased lived with her daughter, Mrs. Joseph Kelly, who herself is 73 years of age. In April 1876, "Cousin Jed", the Leader correspondent had an interview with the old lady, which we reprint below:
Freedom, Pa., April 10, 1876. About half a mile from Freedom, in New Sewickley Township, along the public road, live Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Kelly, and with them Mrs. Kelly's mother, who according to all calculations based upon what she remembers, must be at least 102 years old.
Yesterday through the kindness of Mrs. Kelly we were favored with an interview, and found the old lady seated upon a cushioned chair, beside the fire, smoking a pipe in a very contented manner. She is in possession of all her faculties, her mind being very clear and her health good, and if it were not for rheumatism in her back, she thinks she could work as well as "Polly," her daughter, yet. Her hearing is not very good, but still she is by no means deaf. She has no record of dates - not the slightest memory of them - but she can remember names and occurrences far back into childhood. She states that she was born in Philadelphia, before the men came home from the wars, that her father was a soldier and lost all his Continental money, and ruined his health while in the wars, by reason of the great privations endured,having had nothing to eat for days but bread and water. Her maiden name was Margaret Keller, and when she was four years old her father rented a farm in York county, four years old her father rented a farm in York County, Pa. Afterward a farm was purchased on time, and before the payments were made her father died, leaving her mother, herself and a brother, who worked day and night, to pay off the debt. The town of Columbia, Pa., then contained a few scattered houses, and Lancaster and York were not very big.
She never saw General Washington, but remembers of him passing through Columbia (after he was President) one Fourth of July, when they were making a fuss, and he asked them what was the matter, although of course he knew. They told him, but he wouldn't stop and that offended the quality.
Her father said Washington was a true man to his soldiers; as true a man, she added as a preacher is to his church now. According to her father they all had to pray every day for God's help to gain the battles for liberty. Lafayette was a true man too, and her father and all the old "revolutioners" loved him.
We asked the question "Were not all the people glad when General Washington became President?" Some were, some were against him. They thought he was such a great warrior that he would keepthe men all the time."
"How old were you when Washington was first President?"
She could not remember, but said, "I could do almost anything; chop wood, and work like a man."
Taking this as a basis, and assuming her to be fifteen years of age at that time 1789, she would now be one-hundred and two years old.
In answer to what kind of work she could do when Washington was President the second time, she replied: "I tell you if you had made as many rails after night as I did then you wouldn't be here to tell the story."
We haven't the least doubt of it. As near as we can ascertain she was married at the age of thirty to Thomas Strawbridge at a tavern in Little York, by a Lutheran minister named Geistweit. She says:
"They had a brick church built, with a gallery in it, and the "Lutherians" and Presbyterians built it in partnership, and the preachers got their heads together to do it; we had two corner-stones, one for the Lutherians and one for the Presbyterians. Some heard an organ and wanted one in our church, but the Presbyterians thought themselves too big for us Lutherians and wouldn't have it because it would bean ornament, and they used to fight going to church so that they could not take sacrament. Us young folks that didn't care got the organ after all and put it in, and then you had to go to church before daylight if you wanted a seat, the Presbyterians all crowded to hear it so and we never bothered them when they had church, so when the Presbyterian girls would come we would push, and push them out of their seats; we were full of mischief, but not bad; we had manners, too, more than children have now, and were as good to neighbors as to our own fathers and mothers. The Presbyterians got to like the organ too, and the preachers never cared, but let the people fight it out, and, when everything was paid for, each congregation had $150 left; but we all worked, and the preachers published about it in the papers in Philadelphia, and got some money.