INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY. 1 67 



Mrs. Huse's maiden name was Parker ; and she died at 

 Harvard, on September 14, 1869, at the age of 104 years, 2 

 months, and 12 days, according to the records of that town, 

 which say also that she was a daughter of Ebenezer and Dinah 

 Parker, of Groton, Her parentage, as there given, is probably 

 wrong. The only Rebecca Parker whose name is found on 

 the Groton records, and whose age at all corresponds with 

 that of the centenarian, is the eldest daughter of Oliver and 

 Eunice Parker, who was born on November 22, 1760; while 

 there is no entry of any Ebenezer and Dinah Parker. It is 

 true that at that period the records are somewhat imperfect, 

 and omissions of names are often found. Mrs. Huse outlived 

 most of those who came immediately after her, as well as her 

 own generation ; and it would not be surprising if the returns 

 made to the town-clerk at the time of her death were inaccu- 

 rate. But the fact which has 'the most weight in deciding the 

 question is the following incident, related to me by the late 

 Reverend John Barstow Willard, of Still River, a long time 

 ago, but w^hich I did not try then to verify or corroborate. 



Mr. Willard told me, perhaps thirty years ago, that he never 

 saw Mrs. Huse but once, and then she told him of a drowning 

 accident that happened on the Nashua River, when she was 

 four years old. It occurred on Election Day, and she could 

 just recollect the event. Her account of the accident is sin- 

 gularly confirmed by the following item from "The Boston 

 Post-Boy & Advertiser," June 4, 1764, a file of which news- 

 paper I have examined with particular reference to this clew : — 



Last Wednesday [May 30, Election Day of that year] five Men 

 going in a Canoe in Harvard [Nashua] River to catch some Fish, the 

 Canoe sunk, and three of them were unfortunately drowned. 



An occurrence attended with such fatal results would natu- 

 rally leave a deep impression on a child's memory, and par- 

 ticularly in a small country town, where for a long time it 

 would have been the subject of general conversation. 



Another account of Mrs. Huse, taken from " The Fitchburg 

 Sentinel," July 27, 1867, says that: — 



