Montgomery County MD Archives News.....100 Years Old - Mrs. Matilda Stansbury FETED, July 8, 1941 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/md/mdfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Allison Farnitano farnitano@comast.net July 13, 2009, 7:42 pm Newspaper Clipping Dated July 1941 - Unknown Publication July 8, 1941 100 Years Old Mrs. Matilda Stansbury Feted Was Twenty When Civil War Began Mrs. Matilda Stansbury, who was twenty when the Civil War broke out, celebrated her one hundredth birthday with a special party and a very special cake at her home, Hampstead, MD. Md. Woman, 100, Serene At Party by Caroline Kirwan She didn't want to put on any airs, she said, and she didn't really care to tell her age, but Mrs. Matilda Stansbury of Hampstead, Md., nevertheless had her one hundredth birthday party yesterday. She was dressed in black with a frosted white lace collar neatly fastened with a gold and black traced pin that had three gold tassels hanging from it. Her wavy white hair was parted in the center and held back with two opalescent combs. INFLUX OF FLOWERS The room in which she sat was having its spaciousness threatened with an influx of flowers -- they encroached upon the rockers of the chair in which Mrs. Stansbury sat. Relatives and friends made their way through the flowers, answering the doorbell, kissing Granny and jerking open telegrams. Granny sat serenely, not letting the excitement get her. She owes her long life to quiet living, she said, and even a hundredth birthday is not worth getting excited over. MANY RELATIVES Among the visitors at the white clapboard farmhouse which snugs into a declivity of green lawn on Route 30 in Hampstead were five of Mrs. Stansbury's own children, about 10 of her 13 grandchildren and a few of her eight great- grandchildren. Another distinguished guest was Mrs. Penelope Stansbury, ninety- four, a sister-in-law. "Miss Penelope" came in bonnet and black-fringed shawl and she and her sister-in-law sat in rockers opposite each other and wished each other health and long life. They said they regretted that Maggie (Mrs. Maggie Hyatt of Washington, D.C.), who is Mrs. Stansbury's sister, couldn't be present. Mrs. Hyatt is ninety-seven. Mrs. Stansbury, according to her daughter, Miss Mary H. Stansbury, is the doctor's delight. Her health is excellent. She reads easily and without glasses everything but very small type. Her taste in reading is confined to the Bible. She hears everything that is said when the room is quiet. Her favorite diversion is crocheting and she keeps all her family supplied with doilies. REMEMBERS LINCOLN Mrs. Stansbury remembers Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. She married her husband, a Hampstead merchant, just after he returned from the fray. They lived all their lives in Hampstead. She has been a widow for many years, living in her own house with her daughter, Mary, and her son, Charles, who are both unmarried. Additional Comments: [Actually they didn't get married until 1870, and they lived in Hancock and Barnesville before moving to Hampstead] This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mdfiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/md/montgomery/newspapers/feted-ms.txt