Person Page - 971

     Hon. Theodore Harmon Ristine was born on 8 January 1845.¹ He was the son of Ben Taylor Ristine and Rhoda Florinda Humphrey.¹

Theodore enlisted in the Union Army, for the ninety days' service, while a student; graduated at Wabash College in 1865, and studied law with his father. He was a lawyer; was in 1882 and again in 1884, a member of the Indiana Senate. Resided in 1884 in Crawfordsville, IN. Elizabeth's father was a professor in Wabash College.²

     Hosea Humphrey Ristine was born on 19 March 1847.¹ He was the son of Ben Taylor Ristine and Rhoda Florinda Humphrey.¹

Hosea graduated at Wabash College in 1869. They resided in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he was a lawyer.²

     Oliver Bailey was born in 1738 at Haddam, CT.¹ He married Hannah Scovill in 1761. Oliver Bailey died in 1822 at Bradford Co., PA.¹

Oliver served as a private in Capt. Cornelius Higgins' 8th Company, 5th Battalion, General Wadsworth's brigade.²

     Hannah Scovill was born in 1739.¹ She married Oliver Bailey in 1761.

     Scoville Bailey was born in 1775.¹ He was the son of Oliver Bailey and Hannah Scovill.¹ Scoville Bailey married Jerusha Hale in 1796.¹ Scoville Bailey died in 1843.¹

     Jerusha Hale was born in 1776.¹ She married Scoville Bailey, son of Oliver Bailey and Hannah Scovill, in 1796.¹ Jerusha Hale died in 1857.¹

     Lydia Holcombe was born on 20 May 1842 at LeRoy, Bradford Co., PA. She was the daughter of Eli Holcombe II and Harriet Bailey. Lydia Holcombe died on 8 September 1842 at age 0.

Lydia only appears in Neil's information.

     Ella Dele Taylor was born on 12 April 1849 at Granville, Bradford Co., PA. She was the daughter of Luman D. Taylor and Betsey Matilda Holcombe.

     Jasper N. Holcombe was born on 27 March 1846 at LeRoy, Bradford Co., PA. He was the son of Harvey Holcombe and Diana Rockwell. Jasper N. Holcombe married Rosilie McKee, daughter of Robert McKee and Hannah Holcombe. Jasper N. Holcombe died before 18 June 1900.

Jasper only appears in the notes of Neil McDonell.


Jasper and Rosaela were enumerated in the 1880 LeRoy, Bradford Co., PA, federal census. He was a farmer age 34, she was 30. Children in the household were James 9, Carrie E. 7, and (twins?) Minnie F. 4 and Florence M. 4. Living next door was father(?) Harvey age 64.


Widow Rosalia was enumerated in the 1900 Leroy, Bradford Co., PA, federal census. She was 50. Children in the household were James E. 29, Carrie E. 27, twins Minnie and May 24, and Ray M. 19.


Widow Rosalie was enumerated in the 1910 LeRoy, Bradford Co., PA, federal census. She was 60. Children in the household were James E., 39, and Minnie 34. Living next door was son Ray M.

     Rosilie McKee was born in July 1849 at PA. She was the daughter of Robert McKee and Hannah Holcombe. Rosilie McKee married Jasper N. Holcombe, son of Harvey Holcombe and Diana Rockwell.

     Odessa Holcombe was born on 9 January 1851. Odessa Holcombe was the child of Ulysess Holcombe and Louisa Bullock.

     Delbert Holcombe was born on 20 May 1853. He was the son of Ulysess Holcombe and Louisa Bullock. Delbert Holcombe died on 7 March 1916 at age 62.

     Warren Henry Ristine MD was born on 3 February 1850.¹ He was the son of Ben Taylor Ristine and Rhoda Florinda Humphrey.¹

Warren left college when a Junior because of poor health; graduated at Bellevue Medical College in New York City, in 1844. A physician residing (1884) in Crawfordsville, Ind.²

     Florinda Caroline Ristine was born on 6 May 1854.¹ She was the daughter of Ben Taylor Ristine and Rhoda Florinda Humphrey.¹

Florinda graduated n 1874 from Glendale Female Seminary, Ohio. William graduated from Wagash Colelge, in 1873. He was a lawyer, and a member of the House of Representatives in 1882.²

     Charles White Ristine was born on 29 June 1856.¹ He was the son of Ben Taylor Ristine and Rhoda Florinda Humphrey.¹
Charles was a farmer residing in 1884 in Crawfordsville, Ind.²

     Hon. Oliver C. Adams was born on 21 May 1820.¹ He was the son of Gen. Ezra Adams. Hon. Oliver C. Adams married Susan Maria Humphrey, daughter of Hon. Loin Humphrey and Rhoda Case, on 2 September 1841.¹

     Eugene A. Adams was born on 21 June 1842.¹ He was the son of Hon. Oliver C. Adams and Susan Maria Humphrey.¹

     Mary Abigail Adams was born on 1 December 1844.¹ She was the daughter of Hon. Oliver C. Adams and Susan Maria Humphrey.¹

In 1844 they resided in Westfield, Massachusetts.²

     Ezra S. Adams was born on 29 September 1846.¹ He was the son of Hon. Oliver C. Adams and Susan Maria Humphrey.¹

     Benjamin Harrison Holcombe was born on 3 July 1889 at Robinson, Brown Co., KS. He was the son of Chestnut Wade Holcombe and Nancy Sarah Jane Sharp. Benjamin Harrison Holcombe married Ollie Leona Rich, daughter of Holmes Marshall Rich and Nancy Jane Allison, on 10 August 1910 at Anadarko, Caddo Co., OK. Benjamin Harrison Holcombe and Ollie Leona Rich were divorced on 11 January 1940. Benjamin Harrison Holcombe died on 2 December 2000 at Carnegie Nursing Home, Carnegie, Caddo Co., OK, at age 111.¹ He was buried on 8 December 2000 at Fairview Cemetery, Caddo Co., OK.

Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, always ate a big breakfast, cried often, rarely drank and never smoked, and he lived in three centuries.

He was given the title "The world's oldest man" by the Guinness Book of World Records He farmed wheat, dabbled in cotton and raised cattle and children for most of his life. His family says he had few vices but he did divorce twice before his third marriage stuck.

From his birth in 1889, his life has mainly ebbed and flowed with Oklahoma's land, weather and waving wheat.

So what is life like for a man entering a third century? "Feels like it did yesterday," Ben, whose descendants number into five generations, told daughter Leona Ford, in June 2000 when he received the title

Exhausted by phone calls from around the world after he made it into the Guinness Book, he slept through most of the following few days. But his children spoke for him at his side in the Carnegie nursing home, where he received daily visits from Ford, his other daughter, Lucille, and son John.

"He says they (the callers) are probably mixed up," Ford said. "he's never known he was old. He's just one of these people who lived one day at a time."

"Life's been fairly good for my daddy," Ford said. "Of course, it was hard."

Benjamin was the 7th and youngest child of Chestnut Wade Holcomb, 45, and Sarah Jane Holcomb, 41. His father fought in the Civil War as an officer on the victorious union side.

The year he was born was also the year of the Oklahoma land run, when huge sections of the future state were opened for white settlers. He was an infant when his family came in a covered wagon and started a farm near the town of Seiling.

They made part of their home a school and Ben started classes at age four. Part of his longevity may have begun then, Ford said. She said his mother breast-fed him until the age of 5, a practice not uncommon in pioneering days.

"I think that might be part of it. He would come home from school and she had a special little rocking chair. She would sit in it and he would stand next to her to nurse."

Learning to read at an early age led to a lifelong pursuit. By the time he entered the nursing home, Ben subscribed to and regularly read about a dozen magazines and newspapers.

Tragedy struck the family when Benjamin was a boy. His father, in his 50s, decided to take the family on a trip to climb Pike's peak in Colorado. On the way, his father contracted pneumonia and died in garden city, Kansas. After that, his mother was left to raise the family.

When he was 15 the boys at school were starting to drink and smoke and she extracted a promise: if he would not drink, smoke, curse or chew tobacco, she would give him a gold watch when he was 25. "I have the watch," Ford said. "It's beautiful."

Eventually Ben started his own farm and he worked it most of his life. He was not called up for the draft in the First World War because he was a farmer with four children, and he was 51 at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Benjamin and Olive were enumerated in the 1920 Taloga Twp., Dewey Co., OK, federal census, ED 216, page 5A. He was a farmer, born in KS, his father born in WV. Olive was born in TN, her father in AL. Children in the household were Vivian age 6, born in KS; Lucile age 4, born in OK, Leona age 3, born in OK, and Chester age 1, born in OK.

But with two sons fighting the Nazis in Europe, he briefly left farming and served as a cook in a military hospital.

Tragedy visited his family again when his oldest son, Chester, a turret gunner in a B-17, went down over the English Channel. His surviving son, John, was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge and nearly died in an Allied bombing raid.

Holcomb's way of dealing with sorrow has been another key to his long life, Ford said. "He's a darlin'," she said. "He cries if a kid gets hurt or an animal gets hurt but he's over it real quick. He just cries and then it's done."

If there is another secret, she said, it is that Ben ate a big breakfast - a big bowl of oatmeal - and not much else for the rest of the day.

"He'd have a real hard day and then he'd kick back when it was done," she said.

Ben did a stint building roads but that did not last long. He traded horses on the side and in later years bred a line of bird dogs. But farming shaped most of Holcomb's life.

Growing wheat on about 200 acres (81 hectares) for more than 70 years, his farm on the edge of Cache Creek near Apache, Oklahoma, yielded enough to feed an estimated 500 people a year for most of his life. He only left it when he moved into a nursing home in Carnegie in 1996.

Ford, her sister, Lucille Bridwell, and her brother, John Holcomb, visited their father every day for six years.

Holcomb over the years was asked the secret to his longevity. "I'll tell you this," Holcomb once said. "If you live one day at a time and you don't die, you'll live a long life."

Holcomb was interested in politics his entire life, Ford said.

He was also an avid hunter, featured in a 1998 Outdoor Life Magazine for being the oldest man, at 107, to shoot a deer.

The two interests collided on a hunting trip to Arkansas.

"All these guys were drinking beer and telling wild tales," Ford said. "Daddy noticed one man who didn't really do any of that.

"He came over to my daddy and his friends and asked them to vote for him for governor. My dad said 'If you ever run for president, I will.'"

The man was future President Clinton.

"Daddy has always been here. This is another day he's still here. I always wonder what it will be like for us when he's gone," Ford said.

"If he's living for a purpose I hope we are fulfilling that purpose. He did the best he could to make our lives good."

Leona Ford, 84, held her father in her arms as he died.

His funeral was at 2 p.m. Friday, December 8, 2000, at First Baptist Church in Apache, arranged by Crews Funeral Home in Apache. Burial was in the Fairview Cemetery in Apache near other members of his family.^2,3

     Chestnut Wade Holcombe married Nancy Sarah Jane Sharp.

     Susan A. Adams was born on 6 October 1870.¹ She was the daughter of Ezra S. Adams and Sarah C. Rathbun.¹

     Albert R. Adams was born on 5 October 1875.¹ He was the son of Ezra S. Adams and Sarah C. Rathbun.¹

     Oliver C. Adams was born on 26 October 1876.¹ He was the son of Ezra S. Adams and Sarah C. Rathbun.¹

     Mary L. Adams was born on 10 January 1883.¹ She was the daughter of Ezra S. Adams and Sarah C. Rathbun.¹

     Dr. Albert R. Adams was born on 14 August 1848.¹ He was the son of Hon. Oliver C. Adams and Susan Maria Humphrey.¹

Dr. Adams resided in 1884 in New York City.²

     Ellen M. Adams was born on 12 August 1850.¹ She was the daughter of Hon. Oliver C. Adams and Susan Maria Humphrey.¹