This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Spencer, Canada, Buckner, Nay, Gill, Voorheis, Long, Lincoln, Jackson Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Ue.2ADI/1335 Message Board Post: Grandma Deborah Canada, Oldest Citizen of this County Dies at Her Home in Hutsonville Monday Morning From Injuries Received In Fall Dies at 102 Years The above picture of "Grandma" Deborah Canada of Hutsonville, who died Monday morning was taken when she observed her 100th birthday, May 10, 1832 "Grandma" Deborah Canada, 102 years of age, and this county's oldest citizen, died at her home in Hutsonville Monday morning at 12:30 o'clock. The aged lady had been in failing health for several years and her infirmities together with injuries received in a fall, at her home Friday afternoon, caused death. Mrs. Canada appeared to be of frail constitution, but must have possessed unusual vitality to have preserved her for more than a century. Though she failed noticeably in the past year, she managed to sit up in her chair each day until last Friday when she fell in her bedroom, fracturing her left hip. The shock and pain from the injury was too much . Grandma Canada received wide publicity on the advent of her 100th birthday and the two anniversaries that followed. She was the oldest of the few remaining pioneers in the country and following the death of Uncle Joe Ford of Flat Rock several weeks ago she was the only living person 100 years old in Crawford county. She was born in Terre Haute, the daughter of Thomas Spencer, a veteran of the War of 1812, who came west from Virginia. When a little girl, her father was rewarded for his services by a grant of land in Clark county and the Spencer family moved to Illinois. She married William Canada in 1850 and soon after they moved to the river village of Hutsonville where they were to rear their children and live the remainder of their lives. Her husband preceded her in death some thirty years ago. When 100 years old an Argus reporter visited Grandma Canada and found her an alert little old woman with a vast fund of historical information and with a keen interest in the present day. The span of her lifetime reached back past the administration of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States. She remembered the talk about Abraham Lincoln, the akward young boy from Illinois who was making a name for himself and was prominently mentioned as a candidate for president. When she came to Hutsonville steamboats paddled up and down the Wabash. Deer and wild turkey abounded in the wooded lands hereabout. In late years she was unable to walk alone and spent most of her hours sitting in a chair in the living room of the very house her husband erected more than a half century ago. Had it not been for her fall she might have lived for several years. Coronor John W. Long conducted an inquiry into the death Monday afternoon. Clifford Canada, grandson of the deceased, who has lived at the Canada home for several years was the only witness questioned. He said that his aged grandmother fell shortly after noon Friday after he had assisted her to her bedroom. Dr. Voorheis was called to the home and it was learned her hip was fractured. She failed steadily and died quietly early Monday. The deceased in survived by three children, Mrs. Cora Lee Gill of Hutsonville, Mrs. Estella Buckner of Shelby, Montana, and Charley Canada at home. Funeral services were held at the Christian church in Hutsonville Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock with the Rev. E. P. Nay officiating. Interment was made in the Hutsonville cemetery.