52 Ancestors :: Week 3: Longevity

I know, it's tiny.* Let me read that for you:

​IN MEMORY OF
JOHN OGILVIE
DIED
Nov. 20 1856
Aged 105 yrs
Also his wife
ELIS
DIED
16 Jul. 1854

*Many thanks to the Find A Grave volunteers who created and maintained this memorial page.[1]

105 years old - isn't that amazing? To my knowledge, John Ogilvie is my longest-lived ancestor [by the way, he and Elis had 13 children!]. Longevity runs in my family - in addition to John, on the Ogilvie side, my grandpa, Kendal M. Ogilvie, died at the age of 97. His mother, Ida Jorgensen Ogilvie, was 95, and his wife, Lila Mitchell Ogilvie was 94. In addition to these nonagenarians, I have many other ancestors on both sides of my family who lived into their 70s and 80s, surviving challenges such as pioneer life, the Spanish Flu, or the Great Depression without modern medicine. Let's just say, with this in mind, I have been pacing myself in patient anticipation of my personal longevity.

John Ogilvie's story is particularly remarkable. Thanks to this beautiful headstone, we know when he was born (1751), and where he died (Meagher's Grant, Nova Scotia), but we still don't know where he was born. John and his older brother, Peter (who died at a respectable 88 years old), arrived in Nova Scotia as Loyalist refugees from Georgia in 1784.[2] Although not mentioned by name, they were both included (along with their mother and a third sibling), in their father, James Ogelby's, petition for land in St. George's Parish, Georgia in 1759, soon after Georgia became a royal colony in 1852.[3] Peter eventually owned his own land, which was described in his repeated petitions to the British Crown for compensation for all that he lost.[4] Some people have supposed that this family came straight from Scotland, however, considering historical context, they likely arrived from South Carolina, and the family may have been Ulster Scots prior to that (it might be a long time before we get back to Scotland!). Unfortunately, despite what we do know, many details have been lost over time.

With it concerning my paternal line - the surname I carry, this sweeping story has held my fascination for decades. Where did we come from? Isn't it amazing how far these two brothers traveled? Why were they Loyalists? How in the world did John manage to live so long? Questions like these are what have inspired me to keep researching this family. I hope to live long enough to learn more about their story!

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1. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 17 January 2018), memorial page for John Ogilvie (1751–20 Nov 1856), Find A Grave Memorial no. 52135878, citing Meagher's Grant Cemetery, Meaghers Grant, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, Canada ; Maintained by Calcat (contributor 47061806); photo credit Okanagan Researcher or Glenn MacKenzie.

2. Leonard H. Smith, Jr., and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Volume 1, page 190, column 2, entries for Ogilvie, John and Ogilvie, Peter, Genealogical Publishing Company (Baltimore, Maryland), 1992-1994; indexed digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 February 2018).
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3. Surveyor General, Survey Records, Colonial Plats and Warrants, RG 3-3-56, CWPOglesbyJames01a/01b/02a, James Ogleby (incorrectly indexed as Oglesby), St. George's Parish, 1759, Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia; database with images, GeorgiaVault (vault.georgiaarchives.org : accessed 1 February 2018).
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4. American Loyalist Claims, Series II, class AO 13, piece 025, Memorial for Peter Oglevie; The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England; indexed digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 February 2018).