Show GIVEN CREDIT FOR LONG LIFE Inscription tin cm Tombstone Made Man Rival l of In memory of ot Adam r who who departed this lift December th the J aged years This Inscription startling indeed at first glance appears on a tombstone In the old Upper burying ground on the ilie east side of ot Main street above Washington lane Germantown The stranger would naturally suppose sup sup- pose that he had discovered a rival fo for r age record But the natives na na- tives would soon relieve him of at that Idea tombstone ig Is well known know n In Germantown It is one of ot the first firs t objects of childish curiosity Hence every everyone one knows its history This if it how it is accounted for tor When died he was 69 yearn year old The marble cutter who Inscribed the he stone stone stone-no no historical records tel who he was was made made the mistake of ot re the numerals and inscribed the age as 96 Then to rectify the error he inscribed a 9 after aftel the 6 6 and filled the first 9 with mortar mak ing the age read 69 But the ravages of time and the storms of ot years finally wore wore away the mortar and for over half a century the first figure has been visible mak making ing ing- apparently appu the oldest man who ever lived Adam was Mas no doubt an earl early settler although he is not mentioned in any of the historical records HIE His wife Anna Margaret who died two f. f Wn r Tr 21 60 Garmantown's Germantown's Methuselah years after is buried beside him The stones at the head of ot the graves are still inscriptions can easily be discern ed Philadelphia North American |