Centenarian or Not?
In her obituary my three times great grandmother Margaret Sandiman was claimed to be 100 years and 6 months old at the time of her death in June 1909. This was a truly remarkable claim for someone born in the early nineteenth century, however it wasn’t until I started to put together the facts of Margaret’s life that this claim didn’t quite add up.
Margaret was born to George Sandiman and Mary Torbet in a tiny Scottish village known as the Bridgend of Lintrathen. Lintrathen is around 20 miles north of Dundee. According to the parish records, George and Mary were married on 7 September 1811 and Margaret was baptised on 19 December 1813, however the register didn’t note her date of birth.
Following a move to Dundee, six more children were born to the family between 1815 and 1828. All six of these younger siblings were baptised within a few days or weeks of their birth, as their birth dates were also recorded on the baptism registers.
On 27 February 1834, Margaret married David Martin a flax dresser from Dundee. Margaret and David had six children during the years they lived in Dundee, unfortunately three of those children died in infancy. At the time of the 1841 Census, the family were living at 31 Princes Street Dundee. Both David and Margaret were described as being aged 25, with surviving children Margaret aged 2 and Henry aged 5 months.
By the mid-1840s, the colonies of Australia were crying out for labour and they likely decided to move their family to the other side of the world in search of a better life. In July 1848 the family set sail on the Ship Nelson, arriving in Point Henry Geelong on 11 November 1848 – a voyage of 103 days. Margaret was about six months pregnant at the time the ship set sail. The family were listed as David Martin aged 36 Labourer and Margaret Martin aged 33 Housekeeper. With their parents were Margaret Martin aged 8, Henry Martin aged 7 and David Martin aged 2. David died onboard on 13 August 1848 from Scrofula, a form of tuberculosis and was buried at sea.
The voyage was described as difficult for Margaret, as she suffered from rheumatism in her legs which rendered her unable to walk. On 21 September, Margaret Martin gave birth to a daughter they named Mary. Sadly, Mary died onboard two days after arriving in Point Henry on 13 November aged 53 days, with her cause of death noted as inanition. This term meant inadequate nourishment or starvation, commonly due to a mother having insufficient milk. This must have been heartbreaking for the parents having also lost David Jnr three months earlier. At the end of the voyage, the immigrants of ship Nelson banded together to present the captain with a ‘piece of plate’ as ‘a mark of respect and gratitude for his gentleman like manners, uniform kindness and attention to their comfort during the voyage from London to Port Phillip 1848’. This was quite unusual given the tales of terrible deprivations on similar voyages of other immigrant ships.
On arrival at Geelong, David and Margaret were employed as a shepherd and wife at Mount Elephant Station in the Western District of Victoria. David and Margaret with their children journeyed via a dray pulled by 10 bullocks, taking three weeks to travel the 90 miles from Geelong to Mount Elephant Station. During their time at Mount Elephant, a daughter Jessie was born in November 1849.
After two and a half years at Mount Elephant, the family decided to move to Geelong. They settled in Irishtown (these days part of Newtown) and started to build a house; another son, James, was born during 1851. Money was scarce as were building materials and the house was described as humble.
Before the house was completed and following the discovery of gold in Ballarat in August 1851, David Martin headed off to the goldfields along with thousands of other hopeful men. After some small success on the goldfields, he returned to Geelong to complete his home. Another son, William was born in Irishtown in 1854.
The family moved to Germantown (now known as Grovedale) sometime between 1854 and 1856, where Margaret gave birth to another son Alexander in May 1856. Around this time David and Margaret separated and he departed to the goldfields once again. Eldest daughter Margaret had married in 1855 and was living in Buninyong with her husband and first child. That left Margaret with five children to support. Margaret kept chickens and from the sale of eggs, together with washing and nursing she managed to keep her family together.
David Martin died in the Pleasant Creek Hospital (Stawell) in 1867 from a cancer in the groin. David’s death certificate describes him as a male of 55 years of age, born in Scotland and a labourer. All other fields are completed with ‘not known’ and marital status was described as ‘not married’. It would seem that news of his death didn’t reach Margaret for some years, as it wasn’t until December 1872 that Margaret applied for administration of David’s estate. His estate consisted of five acres of vacant land in Grovedale.
Margaret and the children moved to Curlewis with son Henry around 1873, when Henry leased a farm of 100 acres. His mother, brothers and sisters assisted him on the farm – Margaret took charge of the dairy and the poultry and made weekly trips to Geelong with produce to private customers.
Youngest son William married Ellen Kingsbury in 1874 and went on to have 7 children between 1875 and 1884. When Ellen died in 1884 following the birth of her last son Albert, Margaret took charge of the baby and the other children.
In 1902, Margaret appeared in a newspaper article in The Leader. It was claimed that she was ‘born on24th December1809andthereforenowinher93rd year’Thearticlewentontoreportthatshehad at that time 90 descendants, including 12 children, 46 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. It also stated that ‘Notwithstanding her great age, Mrs Martin enjoys the best of health and delights to participate in amusement, such as singing and dancing’. Also, ‘The old lady’s faculties are all good and she is most entertaining in conversation, particularly on her experiences of the early days’.
Source: www.findagrave.com
Margaret died at Drysdale on 22 June 1909. Cause of death was stated as senile debility and she had been in a coma for 48 hours. She was buried in the Drysdale General Cemetery. (see left)
So, what does the evidence tell us about Margaret Sandiman’s birth, and age at death? Her baptism took place on 19 December 1813, which following the tradition of all of her younger siblings’ baptisms points to a birth date earlier in December of 1813. Throughout her life, her stated age on various documents supports 1813 as being her year of birth. It was only in the newspaper article of 1902, her obituary and her death certificate that this is
different. In her later years, she may have become vaguer about the actual year of her birth and at her death her family understandably may have sought some recognition for her long life by claiming her to be 100. An age of 96 at the time of her death was still a rare achievement for someone born in the early nineteenth century and one that deserves celebrating.
Contributed by Brenda Day – PPPG Member No. 1521