Longevity: Guy Blodgett and Sadie McIsaac - 52 Ancestors, #55

My direct-line ancestors aren't particularly exceptional in their longevity. Some time ago, for a couple of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posts, I looked up ages at death for five generations, and found that my oldest known male ancestor was only 91 – 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Hodsdon (1787-1879), whom I already profiled; among the ladies, two 3rd great-grandmothers were allegedly over 90: Hannah R. (Gould) Green (ca 1787-aft 1879), at about 92, and Sarah (Chamberlain) Brister (ca 1790 - 1881), at about 91, but as you can see, I don't have exact years of birth for either of them, so I can't be sure.

Given this uncertainty and the relatively unimpressive ages involved, for this week's 52 Ancestors prompt of "Longevity" I decided to look for other (non-direct-line) relations for whom I had convincing documentation of demise at over 100.

The oldest male in my database turned out to be a second cousin twice removed named Guy Cleveland Blodgett, who died at the ripe old age of 109. Guy was born 17 January 1885, probably in Dummer, Coos County, New Hampshire, to Nathan Freelan Blodgett and Lillian Rush, the daughter of my 2nd great-grandaunt Hannah Washburn. Although I can't find a New Hampshire birth record for Guy, the birth date – as listed in the SSDI¹ and on his gravestone² – is corroborated by his WWI draft registration³ and is consistent with all census enumerations, including the 1900 census giving his birth as Jan 1885.⁴ His older brother Merlin, is listed in that census with a Jun 1883 birth, which matches his New Hampshire birth record, so it seems highly likely that Guy's Jan 1885 birth is accurate.

WWI draft registration card, Guy Cleveland Blodgett

Guy married Anna "Annie" Elizabeth Jones on 28 February 1911, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.⁵ They had three children: Freelan, James, and Catherine. Annie died in 1970 at the age of 85, and Guy outlived her by 24 years, dying 28 June 1994 in West Boylston, Worcester Co., Massachusetts.⁶ He and Annie are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Milford, N.H.⁷

Guy C. and Annie E. Blodgett gravemarker, Riverside Cemetery, Milford, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire

My relationship to Guy Cleveland Blodgett

Sterling Elias Chatterton-Sadie Rosella McIsaac
marriage, 29 Nov 1929, Loch Lomond, N.B.

Discounting my half  7th great-grandaunt Lucy Hodsdon, who supposedly lived to 115 (her birth date is recorded as "about 1660" in The Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon;⁸ I am frankly skeptical), the oldest well-documented female in my database lived to 104. Born 17 April 1904 in Johnville, New Brunswick, Canada, to Gabriel McIsaac and Mary Sutton,⁹ Sarah "Sadie" Rosella McIsaac was my second cousin once removed; Gabriel was the son of my great-grandaunt Hannah McIntyre. Once again I don't actually have a birth record.¹⁰ What I do have is an obituary transcript giving a birth date of 17 May 1904. While clearly not a primary source, it's bolstered by the 1911 census (May 1905, age 6)¹¹ and 1921 census (age 17, implied birth year 1904).¹²

Sadie graduated from the Provincial Normal School and was a schoolteacher.¹³ She married lumberman Sterling Elias Chatterton on 29 November 1929 in Loch Lomond, New Brunswick.¹⁴ (Her given age of 25 on her marriage record again implies a 1904 birth.) They had two children, Fred and Patricia.¹⁵

Sadie died 7 February 2009 and was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery (probably in Loch Lomond).¹⁶

My relationship to Sarah Rosella McIsaac

(This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge.)

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SOURCES

1.  Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017), entry for Guy C. Blodgett, 15 Jun 1994, SS no. 017-36-8426.
2.  Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi  : accessed 19 Jul 2017), memorial 156452200 for Guy Cleveland Blodgett, with digital photo of Guy C. and Annie E. Blodgett gravestone; both by Shan Clark (28 Dec 2015); citing Riverside Cemetery, Milford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. 
3. "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jan 2018); card for Guy Cleveland Blodgett, serial No. 3418, order no. A846, Medford, Massachusetts.
4. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, New Hampshire, Hillsboro County, Milford, enumeration district (ED) 116, sheet 6A, p. 188 (stamped), dwelling 131, family 135, Nathan F. Blodgett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017).
5. "Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1785-1934," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017); Guy Cleveland Blodgett-Anna Elizabeth Jones marriage, no. 004305, 28 Feb 1911, Kingston.
6. "U.S. Social Security Death Index," entry for Guy C. Blodgett, 15 Jun 1994, SS no. 017-36-8426.
7.  Find A Grave, memorial 156452200 for Guy Cleveland Blodgett.
8. Andrew Jackson Hodgdon and Almira Larkin White, ed., Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon of Hingham, Mass., and Kittery, Maine, 1635-1904 (1904),  p. 20; digital images, Open Library (http://openlibrary.org).
9. "Obituaries," database, Fitzpatrick's Funeral Home (http://www.fitzpatrickfh.com/obituaries/42627 : accessed 18 Jan 2018); Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary, died 7 Feb 2009. 
10. Frustratingly, out of nine McIsaac children, Sarah is one of the two whose birth records seem to be missing from the New Brunswick Provincial Archives. Probably the surname is simply misspelled; the search engine requires an exact surname with no wildcards. It does have a Soundex search that will show you all the "sounds like" surnames in the database, but none of the variants turns up Sarah. 
11. 1911 census of Canada, New Brunswick, district 25, Carleton, sub-district 8, ED 19-1/2 in Kent Parish, p. 19, dwelling 184, family 191, Gabriel McIsaac household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2018). 
12. 1921 census of Canada, New Brunswick, district 48, sub-district 21, [Kent Parish], p. 5, dwelling 49, family 49, Gabriel McIsaac household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2018). 
13. Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary.
14. "Federated Database Search," database and digital images, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/FEDS/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA); Sterling Elias Chatterton-Sadie Rosella McIsaac marriage, 29 Nov 1929, Loch Lomond, reg. no. 003475. 
15. Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary.
16. Ibid.