Self, Nancy – 100th Birthday 1900

SELF, PAINTER, YOUNG, HALL, BLOOMFIELD, THAYER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 6/6/2020 at 13:46:06

Source: Decorah Republican June 14, 1900 P 2 C 2

Hundredth Birthday.
Tuesday at the home of her grand-daughter, Mrs. Joe Young, in West Decorah, Mrs. Nancy Self celebrated her one hundredth birthday. Such events are so rare that they cannot be passed without proper recognition and in honor thereof a party was given to which all the relatives in this vicinity and a few friends were invited. Although she had lived thirty years longer than the allotted span of three score and ten, Mrs. Self was able to greet all who came to enjoy the occasion with her, and enjoyed it fully as much as some people of sixty might.
Mrs. Self was born in Virginia and was married to John Self when she was in her eighteenth year. In conversation with her grandchildren she said she could not remember when she was a little girl, though she did remember when she was twelve years old because her father and brothers went to the war. She came to Decorah about forty-three years ago, joining here her oldest daughter, Mrs. Wm. Painter, who recently died in South Dakota. The latter was the last of her children, so it will be noted that she outlived her entire family. The remaining relatives hereabouts are Geo. Painter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Painter and the first white child born in Decorah, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Myron Hall, of Ossian, Mrs. P. C. Bloomfield and Miss Maude Thayer, all grandchildren.
Mrs. Self is a pensioner of the war of 1812, her husband having served in that war as well as in the Mexican war. She enjoys a degree of good health which is remarkable for one so advanced in years. The history that has been made during her life covers almost all the important events of this nation, the like of which few are privileged to pass through.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows she was born June 12, 1804 and that she married John Self in 1821 which agrees with the age as stated above when she married; however, her gravestone in Phelps Cemetery shows she was born June 12, 1795.