I confess. I watch a lot of news. And there is a lot of news to watch these days.
I have been following the investigations of The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and their recent findings from the Social Security Administration are shocking. From their research, it appears that there are millions of individuals in the United States that are very, very old. Record-breaking old. Over 20 million people who are over 100 years old.
DOGE found that 4.7 million individuals are listed between the ages of 100-109, although data from other sources indicates that there were approximately 101,000 individuals 100 years or older in the US in 2024.
But the numbers get even crazier than that, showing that there are over 15.6 million people listed between the ages of 110-229 years, and one person listed between 360-369 years of age.
An individual 365 years old would have been born in 1660 and could have come over on the Mayflower. The US wasn’t even the US then.
What history these people would know! The stories they could tell.
Perhaps there is an explanation for all this. I know what I think and time will tell.
Maybe some alerts on the government computer programs would help. My Roots Magic genealogy program alerts me when the data looks unusual or unreasonable.
My grandmother Hilda (Scaer) Schumm lived to be 101 and Roots Magic sees that as an unusually old age. So, it puts an alert by her name.
Hilda (Scaer) Schumm, Roots Magic alert.
Roots Magic gives me alerts for other things, too, if the data shows a child is born before the mother’s birth or after the mother’s death, a child born to a woman past the child-bearing age, a child born before the parents were married, etc. The alerts are helpful because they draw my attention to data that may be unusual or incorrect, data that I may have entered in error. Or, the data may be correct and the person lived over 100 years or other instances.
There are a number of individuals in my family tree and in Joe’s family tree that lived to be 100 years of age or older. I knew several of them. Here is a list of them:
Schumm family:
- Paula Henrietta Buechner (1901-2004), d/o William A. & Katherine Magdalena (Schumm) Buechner, married Walter Leonard Allmandinger.
- Edna M. Germann (1896-1997), d/o Stephen E. & Anna E. “Rosina” (Schumm) Germann.
- Pauline C. Germann (1903-2005), d/o Frederick & Clara C.M. (Pflueger), married Otto A Wimmers.
- Viola E. Germann (1900-2001), d/o Stephen E. & Anna E. “Rosina” (Schumm) Germann.
- Edith Hausling (1888-1990), d/o Ferdinand & Katherine (Rheinfrank) Hausling, married Rev. Otto Paul Schinnerer.
- Estella Rosine Elizabeth Merkle (1909-2010), d/o Ernest Theodore & Sarah Mathilda “Tillie” (Schumm) Merkle, married Martin D. Habegger.
- Paula Katherine Merkle (1911-2011), d/o Ernest Theodore & Sarah Mathilda “Tillie” (Schumm) Merkle, married Kurt R. Henkel.
- Dorothy Grace Ott (1914-2018), d/o Charles J. & Maude O. (Yountz), married Col. Norman H. Lankenau.
- Anna Elizabeth Peters (1879-1979), d/o Claus & Anna A. (Kleye) Peters, married Rev. John Louis Roehm.
- Hilda Magdalena Scaer (1895-1997), d/o John & Elizabeth (Schinnerer) Scaer, married Cornelius Schumm. My grandmother.
- Bertha Henrietta Schinnerer (1896-1997), d/o Rev. Johann Jacob Friedrich & Anna Margaret (Evers) Schinnerer, married Walter Adolph Wier.
- Anna Augusta Schmidt (1885-1985), d/o _ (Sclezner) Schmidt, married August William Lankenau.
- Bessie Schumm (1887-1988), d/o Ludwig George & Catherine (Bonnewitz) Schumm.
- Emma Sophie Barbara Schumm (1911-2017), d/o Philip Frederick Martin & Leona Barbara (Schumm) Schumm, married Otto L. Boerger.
- Karl George Schumm (1913-2019), s/o Gustavus Jacob & Dorathea Elizabeth (Bienz) Schumm, married Margaret “Isabelle” Wermer.
- Velma Louise Schumm (1914-2016), d/o Philip Frederick Martin & Leona Barbara (Schumm) Schumm.
- Lena Strobel (1869-1969), d/o John Michael & Margaret (Endres) Strobel, married August “George” Bienz.
- Harold Ervin Thieme (1917-2017), s/o Walter Henry & Paula Marie (Bienz) Thieme, married Alma Margaretha Roehm, married Ellen L. Fuelling.
- Margaret “Isabelle” Wermer (1916-2016), d/o, William & Grace (Hawkins) Wermer, married Karl George Schumm.
Miller family:
- Ruth Headington (1840-1940), d/o William & Mary Ann (Cottrell) Headington, married John Huey
- Ruth E. Miller (1919-2020), d/o Carl F. & Gertrude E. (Brewster) Miller, married Robert Werner.
- Jane Newton (1840-1940), married James Henry Brewster.
- Hazel Virginia Nussbaum (1907-2008), d/o Sam & Mary (Liechty) Nussbaum, married Theodore “Dore” Brewster.
Bennett family:
- Sarah Elizabeth Cain (1860-1960), d/o Rev. David B. & Narcissa (Manning) Cain, married James Francis Monroe.
That is a nice-sized list of centenarians. I apologize if I missed some centenarians in our families.
In the meantime, I hope DOGE can figure out and resolve the problem of all these extra, exceptionally old people.
