Good afternoon, listmembers, I ran across this article concerning one of the oldest citizens of our county and I wanted to share it with the list. This way, too, it will be permanently archived. >From the CENTRE DEMOCRAT of 1 Apr 1943: "It was at the Old Chimney Spring where the famous centenarian of the Barrens, Mrs. Elizabeth Stanton, spent some of her days, about which many legends cluster, so said old folks with whom this writer visited during the first visits to the Barrens, 1898-1902. Mrs. Stanton, a sprightly, kindly, and well-liked old lady, died at her home between Waddle and Scotia in Patton Township on September 23, 1892, aged 117 years. A family Bible given to one of her ancestors by a missionary among the Conestoga Indians attested to her birth at Big Chickies, Lancaster County, in 1775. On her death bed she said, 'I am ready to go. I have lived two lives already.' The venerable lady had some of the noble blood of the Conestogas, exterminated by the Paxton Boys at the Conestoga Village, and the Lancaster Work House, late in 1763. Mrs. Stanton's life was an eventful as well as busy one. At 80 she was able to do a man's work in the harvest field. Strangely enough she had never seen a railroad train until within two years of her death, when she walked 12 miles to Bellefonte and was given a ride on a locomotive by Steve Cresswell, a kindly Bald Eagle Valley engineer. She was a great hiker, and up to about 1850 when 75 years old it was nothing to hike 150 miles through an unbroken forest from the Barrens to Stanton's Creek, McKean County, where she had a number of relatives. Under the barrel of her rifle was stuck a needle, so she could shoot straight in case of attack, as she had to pass through the same dark forests where Betsy MacCumber, E. E. 'Doc' Lewis tells us mysteriously disappeared." Justin Justin Kirk Houser Genealogist and Historian of Central PA and Beyond View my homepage: http://members.aol.com/JKHouser84/index.htm Main Lines: Houser, Breon, Shawley, Ranio/Hrynio (and others) President, Bellefonte Area HS Class of 2003 Student Representative, Bellefonte Area School District Board of Education Listowner, PACENTRE-L@Rootsweb.com Historian, Schürch Association of North America (specialty Central PA lines) Member, Valley View United Methodist Church (near Bellefonte, PA) "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"