Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
An era in New England has ended. The last person born in the region during the nineteenth century died 3 January 2015 at the age of 115. Bernice Marina (Emerson) Madigan was born on Hill Street in West Springfield, Massachusetts, on 24 July 1899. Her birth record appears at American Ancestors.org; her obituary may be read here.
She was the daughter of Harry G. and Grace E. (Bennett) Emerson, who were married at West Springfield on 15 September 1897. Her father was a barber in West Springfield; her mother was a native of Cheshire, Massachusetts.
Bernice’s grandparents were John and Catharine (Gibson) Emerson and Everett P. and Donna J. (Lewis) Bennett. According to her entry at Wikipedia.org, Bernice moved to Cheshire in 1906 and worked for the U.S. Treasury Department after graduating from Adams High School in 1918.
Bernice Madigan was the fifth oldest person in the world according to the Gerontology Research Group. There are three remaining Americans born in the nineteenth century (between 1898 and 1900), but Bernice was the last born in New England. The current oldest New England-born baby is Louise Silva, who was born in Rhode Island on 7 June 1903 and is fast approaching her one hundred twelfth birthday.
.jpg)
About David Allen Lambert
David Allen Lambert has been on the staff of American Ancestors since 1993 and is the organization’s Chief Genealogist. David is an internationally recognized speaker on the topics of genealogy and history. Lambert has published many articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the New Hampshire Genealogical Record, Rhode Island Roots, Mayflower Descendant, and American Ancestors magazine. He has authored and or co-authored in the published genealogies presented to David McCullough, Ken Burns, Angela Lansbury, Michael and Kitty Dukakis, Nathaniel Philbrick, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. He has also published eleven books including A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries (American Ancestors, 2018), and Vital Records of Stoughton, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1850 (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2008). David received his B.A. in History from Northeastern University. David is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Mass., and a life member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati and the General Society of the War of 1812. David also serves as the tribal genealogist for the Massachusett Tribe at Punkapoag in Massachusetts. Areas of expertise: New England and Atlantic Canadian records of the 17th through 21st century; American and international military records; DNA research; and Native American and African American genealogical research in New England.View all posts by David Allen Lambert →
Courtesy of Wikipedia.org