Posted By:	Roger Kammerer
	Email:
	Subject:	Frances Ann Rebecca Todd Fillermax Somerville, born 1769; lived in New York
	Post Date:	November 30, 2008 at 21:41:04
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/todd/messages/5989.html
	Forum:	Todd Family Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/todd/

The following news item appeared in the newspaper, Tarboro Southerner, Tarboro, NC, Nov. 14, 1889: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF THE OLDEST LIVING AMERICAN WOMAN Mrs. Frances Ann Rebecca Todd, living four miles from Novi, is supposed to be the oldest woman living, writes a Detroit correspondent. She was born December 29, 1769, and is of Norwegian descent. Her father, Simon Todd, was for many years an officer in the Norwegian army, and won honors in the Battle of the Rhine in 1774. After her parents death she was brought to America. She married Slocum Fillermax in 1800, and bore eight children, five boys and three girls. He died sometime after the War of 1812. Finding herself the mother of so large a family she decided to remarry. Her second husband's name was Somerville, of Schenectady, N. Y. Their married life was not happy, and in 1816 she was granted a divorce. She added four more children to her family by this marriage, one girl and three boys. She acquired a small piece of land from the government in 1830, through the aid of friends, and for eight years she gained [WORDS MISSING] She used to make "wee-no-ho-uskin" baskets, and carry them forty-six miles on her back to Buffalo, where she sold them at fair prices. Her experience in the wilds of New York would fill a volume. Indians were plundering the country, and more than once she aimed the fatal rifle at the red man. In 1837 she again married, and to none other than the famous "Buckskin Joe." He died six years later, leaving the widow ewith three more children to care for. The loss of the third husband did not discourage her. She finally removed to her present farm of three acress, where she has been since 1844. She claims to have walked to Detroit and back sixty-seven times before wagons could be run. She has a very tender way of telling her life, and tears flow copiously down hger care and time-worn cheeks. She chews and smokes, but never drank a drop of liqour except once, after she had lain in a snow-bank six hours, and when found was nearly dead. Mrs. Todd is quite feeble and can't live much longer. I have no interest in this family and only post this as a resource.