POSSIBLY DOMINION’S OLDEST RESIDENT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 148, 18 March 1939, Page 10

POSSIBLY DOMINION’S OLDEST RESIDENT

Canterbury Man 109 Years Old BORN IN REIGN OF WILLIAM IV By Telegraph—Press Association. TIMARU, March 17. Claiming to have been born in County Donegal, Ireland, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1830, in the reign of William IV, Mr. Patrick Lucas Hamilton, who resides a short distance from Pleasant Point, today celebrated his one hundred and ninth birthday. Centenarians are a rarity these ’days, and at 109 Mr. Hamilton can probably lay claim to being the oldest inhabitant of the Dominion and one of the oldest in the Empire.

Till last Christmas Mr. Hamilton was quite hale and hearty aud retained his faculties to a surprising degree. About this period he had the misfortune to slip and injur® a leg, since when he has not been able to get about his garden, which had been his ehief occupation for many years.

His property is surrounded by blue gum trees and hedges, which he planted from seeds more than 60 years ago. About the same time he planted an orchard and one of the Original trees still exists. The birthday celebrations today were quiet, members of the family only being present. Mr. Hamilton was the recipient of numerous congratulatory letters and telegrams from all parts of the world.