The 100 Club

There are some good genes out there, letting some of our ancestors achieve the epic age of 100.

Cheers to these centenarians!

Maternal line

105 years: Lillian (Ahrendt) Galbreath lived to the age of 105. Lillian is a double first cousin 3 times removed who died in June 2004. A "double cousin" means she shares more than one set of grandparents; in her case, Lillian's grandparents were my 3x-great grandparents from both my Ahrendt & Weinreben and my Stroh & Mohr family lines.

My software program doesn't display the above visual for both sets of grandparents when there is a double cousin, so below, I'm showing how Lillian's mother, Dorothea Stroh, is related to me.

101 years: Elizabeth (Guhl) Ahrendt joined our tree through her marriage to Albert B. Ahrendt, a first cousin three times removed. 

100 years & 14 days: Anna Ida (Boldt) Albers made the centenarian cut-off by 2 weeks. Those Ahrendts sure have some serious longevity. 

Anna's another one of those double cousins. To me, she's a second cousin twice removed, two times, connected to both my Mann & Ahrendt 3x great-grandparents. Here's a visual of both connections.

100 years: Ida (above) wasn't the only member of her immediate family to make it 100; her sister, Viola (Boldt) Jauert also made the list! Those Ahrendt genes sure are long living.

100 years: I don't yet know if Sherry (Schneekloth) Schwaab had any children to pass her DNA along to, but if she did, her marriage to Nathan Schwaab, added the 100 year long branch of his great-aunt, Sophie (Skiba) Borycyka. Sherry's a 3rd cousin to me, as we share the same 2x great-grandparents, Wilhelm Mann & Louise Ahrendt. The Skiba genes with the Ahrendt could produce some long-living descendants.

100 years: Jean (Schwager) Seewald survived 19 days after her 100th birthday. Thanks to her niece, Patricia Schwager, for alerting me to this centeranian I had not yet identified. Jean passed in 2022, and Patricia noted in our Untiedt Facebook group that Jean often talked about visiting her cousins in Kanaranzi.

Paternal line

101 years: The most legendary centenarian is my great-grandmother, Tillie (Anderson) Morud. Tillie lived in rural Deuel county, South Dakota, passing away in June 2007. Here's a three generation picture of Tillie with myself and her great-great-granddaughter Nadia Mathis.

105 years: Great-grandma Tillie was trying to outlive her brother, Henry Anderson, who lived to the age of 105. Two days before Christmas of 2003, Henry passed away, leaving quite the longetivity target for each of us to achieve.

104 years: Martha Maurud's son, Barney Benson, married into some potentially strong DNA. Barney's wife, Genevieve Hovland, had a half-sibling, Alice (Hovland) Asbe, who made it 104. Maurud + Hovland seems like a long-living combination.

102 years: Our Greg Lambertz's cousins, have the added benefit of the long-living DNA of Fern (Hickok) Vansteenwyk. Fern is the grandmother of Becky Newman, Greg's wife.

100 years & 5 days: The Kaski line may not have produced any known centenarians, but Elton Kaski married in to the Ingalls family who did. Elton's brother-in-law, Kenneth Warren Ingalls, lived 5 days past his 100th birthday! 

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If this interests you, mark this post. I'll keep updating as I identify more 100 club members!