Possibly the most celebrated case of longevity on record is that
of Henry Jenkins. This remarkable old man was born in Yorkshire
in 1501 and died in 1670, aged one hundred and sixty-nine. He
remembered the battle of Flodden Field in 1513, at which time he
was twelve years old. It was proved from the registers of the
Chancery and other courts that he had appeared in evidence one
hundred and forty years before his death and had had an oath
administered to him. In the office of the King's Remembrancer is
a record of a deposition in which he appears as a witness at one
hundred and fifty-seven. When above one hundred he was able to
swim a rapid stream.
Thomas Parr (or Parre), among Englishmen known as "old Parr," was
a poor farmer's servant, born in 1483. He remained single until
eighty. His first wife lived thirty-two years, and eight years
after her death, at the age of one hundred and twenty, he married
again. Until his one hundred and thirtieth year he performed his
ordinary duties, and at this age was even accustomed to thresh.
He was visited by Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and was
persuaded to visit the King in London. His intelligence and
venerable demeanor impressed every one, and crowds thronged to
see him and pay him homage.
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