Biography of Nancy Hollifield - Rutherford County, NC - Biography contributed by ladybug22@sprintmail.com Biography of Nancy Hollifield - by Christenberry Lee, c. 1900. Rutherford County, NC This is an excerpt from "The Reminiscences of Christenberry Lee". The copy that I have is a photocopy of a handwritten manuscript, and I don't know if it was ever formally published. If ever published, it would have been in the newspaper near the turn of the century. I am Nancy (Leake) Hollifield's 3x great grandson. She died November 19, 1900 and is buried at Providence Methodist Church up in that neck of the woods. Her tombstone indicates that she was born in 1794, rather than the 1785 date that Mr. Lee suggests. The "Mrs. Smart" referred to in the letter was Mary Louise Hollifield Smart (1833-1914), wife of William Kinchen Smart, Sr (1815-1893). This was recently transcribed from a handwritten account, Transcript follows: Biography of Nancy Hollifield - by Christenberry Lee, c. 1900. (Mr. Lee was probably the half-brother of Mary Louise Hollifield) About two years ago I saw it stated in a North Carolina paper that a colored woman had just died in one of the Eastern counties, aged one hundred and fourteen years. It was also stated that she was, at the time of her death, the oldest person in the state. The name of this very aged person, so far as I remember, was not given. It is very unusual for such an advanced age to be reached. It is only now that we hear of any person passing, or even reaching, one hundred years of age. Some few years ago I remember to have heard it said that Aunt Anne Carpenter was one hundred and five years old when she died. I am invited to be present at a birthday dinner on the twenty-sixth of this month (June), which is given in celebration of the 99th anniversary of Mrs. Deidamia Henson, but such occasions are certainly like angels' visits, "few and far between." But it is left to me to chronicle a case, which breaks the record for longevity since the days of Moses. "Moses died when he was 120 years old; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." I furnish a brief biography of my old nurse, Mrs. Nancy Hollifield, who is now just about 115 years old. I have no doubt but that she is the oldest person now living in NC, and perhaps the oldest in the US. I stated in some of my early reminiscenses that Katy Moreland came to this country from Ireland in the year 1756. She was the daughter of John and Betsy Moreland. This family settled in Columbia, SC. Their daughter Katy married a man by the name of John Leake. He was raised in the mountains of Western NC, and while wagoning to Columbia he met Miss Moreland, wooed and married her. To them were born several children. One of them they named Nancy, and she is the heroine, of whom we now write, and she is certainly worthy of the title, which we have given to her. She is certainly a wonderful specimen of our common humanity. I have tried to philosophise a little on her case, and to see if certain facts could be reconciled to, or made to harmonize with, what seems to be some of the established laws of nature. ... This old lady has been marvellously endowed with vitality and natural force. There are two facts that may be stated in proof of this last assertion. First,... she has done more hard work, real drudgery than any one woman, I am almost ready to say any two women, in all the country around. While I am writing, her daughter, Mrs. Smart, has just said to me, "Why, mamma, when she was sixty years old, could bind wheat after two cradles, and when she was sixty-five could do more hard work than any of the girls can do now." Second, the fact that she gave birth to a child when she was a full 3 score years old is proof not to be controverted that the vigor of her body was unequaled, amounting to a phenomenon. When she was quite a little girl , her mother gave her to John Liles, who lived near the High Shoals. He raised her until she was nineteen years old. She then lived about with different families for a long time, probably 20 years. During all this time she was doing hard work and much drudgery. Her hands were always willing and her feet nimble, and wherever she went it seemed to be understood that she was to take the foremost row. About this time 1821, she went to live in the family of my father. Here she remained about 11 years. It was in the second year after she came into my father's family that I was born. She was kind to my mother,... She was married to Jacob Hollifield when she was well advanced in life, by whom she had two children, but they are both dead. She has made her home with her only living child, Mrs. Smart near Ellenboro, for some years past whre she is well cared-for and treated with great kindness. She remembers distinctly the first grave that was dug in the graveyard at old Providence church. She said the first person buried there was a woman by the name of Goodwin. The second person buried there she remembers to have been her brother, Henry Leake. Tradition tells a very pathetic story connected with the second grave. There were a company of ladies going to church there shortly after the 2nd grave had been opened. and when near the church they heard an unusual oise in the graveyard, which so alarmed them that the most of them were afraid to go any nearer, but one of them said she must know what it was, for it seemed to be a person in great distress, and when near enough to see they saw a person prostrate on the newly maide grave, moaning and making lamentations with strong crying and tears... they found it was little Nancy Leake, who had gone to weep over the grave of her dead brother. This incident occurred when she was about 9 or 10 years old is proof of the real tenderness and sympathetic nature of her disposition... This old lady has lived far beyond the expectation of her friends or physicians, and from her I have been able to learn many things. She is now awaiting the time of her departure with patience and submission though she sometimes expresses a desire for the day to be hastened. ============================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogy information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must contact the submitter or the listed USGenWeb archivist.