Canadian Centenarians

Old Blowers

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns, and Money (one of the classic history blogs, though often more about American politics) takes a deep dive into the history of centenarians. He wonders how many people lived to be a hundred before the start of the twentieth century. His conclusion -- damn few -- is based on an ingenious research method: trawling through Wikipedia in search of any pre-1900 centenarian famous enough to have acquired a Wikipedia entry.

He comes up with fifteen individuals who turned 100 before 1900 -- and here's the oddity, two of them are "Canadians," or at least people who became well known for activities in what is now Canada. Both are more or less Nova Scotians, in fact.  One is the Nova Scotian lawyer, politician and judge Sampson Salter Blowers (1742-1842).  The other is Joseph Wallet Frederick DesBarres (1721-1824), British military officer, surveyor of Atlantic Canada, and governor of  the colonies of Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island,

The DCB entry on DesBarres -- by my old friend and mentor Robert Morgan, I see -- affirms his 1721 birth date, but the sources for it seem skimpy and the place of his birth is uncertain. Even the Wikipedia entry Campos relies on offers an unsourced alternative date of 1829 1729.  

So maybe only one Canadian -- in a list of fourteen. Still a curiosity.