Found! Serial Centenarians

BY MEGAN SMOLENYAK SMOLENYAK

END OF AN ERA? Hiram Cronk, whose funeral is depicted here, had a life that spanned from the 18th century to the 20th—but could a descendant whose life crossed Hiram’s still be alive in the 21st century?

T di erent
from my usual orphan heirloom
mysteries, and I suppose I should start
out by fessin’ up that I came up a little
shy in terms of resolution. But just as I was
about to select a typical submission to research,
I received an e-mail with a conundrum I simply
couldn’t resist. It focuses on an objective, rather than
an object, but is otherwise much like the many other
genealogical puzzles I wrestle. Plus, how could I not be
intrigued by a query like this?

We would like to nd out if there is anyone still alive in America who met a relative that was born in the 18th century. We gure this would take someone who is at least 100 years old and who had an ancestor who lived to be over 100. Hypothetically, it could be someone who was born in 1901 and who, in that same year, met a great-grandparent who was born in 1799.

Is It Possible?

Was it even worth contemplating? Was there any chance that anyone out there t the bill? Should I ght the urge to take on such a daunting case and nd a more readily solvable one. Or should I give in to temptation?

I caved.

As I pondered the case, I recalled writing several years ago about the grandsons of President John Tyler, who was born in 1790. e grandsons were still very much alive.

is was due to remarkably long generations. Presi-
dent Tyler fathered a child when he

was about 63, and this child had a son when he was about 75.

e result? Generation spans
about three times the norm—or
almost 70 years per generation. To
be sure, this was impressive, but the
20th-century grandsons never came close

to meeting their 18th-century-born

grandfather. In fact they didn’t enter

the stage until more than half a

century a er their presidential