FYI Charleston Gazette, Wednesday, September 9, 1931 1812 WAR WIDOW DIES NEAR DAWES AT AGE OF 111 YEARS Funeral Services for Woman Who Had Lived Through Terms of Office of 26 Presidents Will Be Held Today at Cabin Creek Residence Mrs. Eliza N. Asbury Pettry, 111 years old, whose husband fought in the War of 1812, died yesterday morning at her home near Dawes, on Cabin Creek. Early this year government records showed that only ten widows of soldiers and sailors who defeated Great Britain in 1812 were receiving pensions. Mrs Pettry was one of that diminishing number. Eleven children, 74 grandchildren, 98 great grandchildren and eight great great grandchildren survive her. Practically all of Mrs. Pettry's life has been spent in the Kanawha valley. Her maiden name was Asbury. The Christian names of her parents, perhaps, had long been forgotten by all but herself and a close circle of relatives. She was married to Peter Pettry when a young girl. Peter was much older than herself. He died many years ago. Mrs. Pettry was strong and active until a few weeks before her death. Her eyesight was better than that of the average middle-aged person, friends said. The aged women's span of life extended through four major wars and the Indian conflicts of the old west. She heard news directly from the bloody fields of the Mexican, Civil, Spanish-American and World wars. In the earlier part of her life, the pioneers were always in conflict with the savages who roamed the western plains. The United States was but 44 years old when Eliza Asbury was born. It was in the stormy days of the Monroe doctrine. James Monroe was president, the fifth since Washington. Washington, himself, had been dead only 20 years. She had outlived 24 presidents who had served during her life-time, and had voted in the elections in which the two who survive her were chosen. The chief executives under whose terms of office she had lived were Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchannan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Funeral services will be held at two o'clock this afternoon at the residence. Burial will be in the Asbury cemetery. The Rev. R. L. Maness will officiate.