Great stories. The oldest person I've known was my grandmother's cousin, born 1896. He knew lots of people who served in the Civil War.

Not me. But my father was a limo driver and drove Herbert Hoover. Was around 1959 some event to celebrate the start of building Verrannaza Bridge in NY . Funny my daughter went to Herbert Hoover middle school.

I shook hands as a kid with Abe Beame when he was running for NYC mayor and I was the same height as him!

My grandparents were born in the late 1800s. It was a deep shock for me when I realized that for them and even for my parents, many of the elderly people that they knew when they were young had most likely been enslaved.

I went on vacation in Ireland last summer and my 104 year old relative was there. She was born 1918.

What was interesting she was in perfect health and she was telling me about my relatives.

To be specific a story from 1927. We were actually in house born in and room it happened in. When she was 9 her formal schooling ended and she was being sent to be a servant.

But it was not so much she was telling a story from 1927 but her grandfather was in story. A man around 72 in 1927 which ment he was born 1850. Remember Potato Famine was 1847. She told a story about his horrible childhood and also the hardship her grandfathers father had a man born around 1815.

It was almost time traveling. She inherited the house she was born in. So I was with a 104 year old woman in same house the events happened in.

I had my iPhone and I did a video on some of conversations

My grandmother was born in 1898 and has since passed away. My youngest child was born in 1998, and I love that DD is another end-of-the-century individual.

My DH's parents are both still alive and doing moderately well at 93. My sister's FIL just turned 99 and is still going out to restaurants!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My grandmother, still alive and well, born in 1920

Same here! Mine is 102 and drinks white Zinfandel every day.

The secret to her longevity!

My ex’s grandmother was born in 1900. She’s passed now, but was the oldest person I actually knew. Technically, I met my great-grandfather born in 1893, but he died when I was a month old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great-grandparent generation — early 1880s

+1

We had five generations, at one point (for a few years, actually) - and grew up all in the same area, so saw each other regularly. I thought everyone did that, until I became older and realized that is very much not the case. Sadly, my kids only have one grandparent, but not the warm, fuzzy kind.

Sorry, c. 1877 - to answer the question.

Anonymous wrote:It always weirds me out to think about this. If you knew someone born in 1885, and they knew someone who was 101..... it's a very short leap to us being connected to people from a very, very long time ago.

It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon but with time, not connections.

My grandfather’s uncle was infamously the last confederate soldier executed by the Union army during the civil war. He didn’t know him but it was his mother’s brother.

It always weirds me out to think about this. If you knew someone born in 1885, and they knew someone who was 101..... it's a very short leap to us being connected to people from a very, very long time ago.

It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon but with time, not connections.

My grandfather was born in 1914, died at age 97 in 2011.

On the other side of my family, there were great grandparents still alive when I was born - there are a couple of pictures of them with me as a baby/toddler, but I have no memory of them. They were probably born in the late 1880s or early 1890s.

I love thinking about the span of their lives. They saw the invention of the airplane and man walking on the moon.

1884, great grandparent.

My great uncle and grandparents were born between 1908-1912. All lived into their late 80s.

Anonymous wrote:My grandmother, still alive and well, born in 1920

Same here! Mine is 102 and drinks white Zinfandel every day.

This thread pleases me. It was always a kind of an odd but real point of pride for our family that we had a member born in another century--my grandmother was born in 1895 and died at age 98 so I knew her my whole life. She lived with our family starting two years before I was born, so I really did know her well and was so fortunate to have been able to talk to her about almost the entire 20th century! Glad to see others here also knew grandparents like her.