| Notes |
- In 1930 the following newspaper account appeared: "KEOKUK COUNTY'S OLDEST WOMAN PASSES 98TH YEAR - Mrs. Marcia Higgins of Keswick, came to the county in 1853. - Mrs Marcia Ann Higgins of Keswick, Keokuk County's oldest woman, mother of Joe Higgins of Sigourney and Mrs. Effie Messenger, with whom she lives, and Del Higgins, both of Keswick, yesterday celebrated her ninety-eighth birthday.
"This aged lady came to Keokuk County at the age of 21 years, a young mother with an eight months old child. She came with her husband, Warren Higgins and his brother-in-law, Henry C. Otis.
"This was in the year 1853, when Indians roamed Keokuk county and six years after Iowa became recognized as a state. They settled on a farm a short distance east of Keswick, which was homesteaded by another man.
"Mrs. Higgins recalled to the representative of the News Tuesday evening in her home in Keswick, how friendly the Indians were to the early residents of Keokuk County. She remembers how the squaws, after grubbing out hazel brush on the banks of the creeks or at the edge of the timber, unaided by either plows or braves, planted and tended to patches of corn surrounding them by crude fences of willow. Here the men hunted, fished and loafed.
"When the Indians became ill there was usually great attention given to the comfort of the Indians by the white residents and diligent efforts to cure the patient were made. The Indians were continually begging at the door of the Higgins farm house; some times they asked for sugar or salt and some times farm implements.
"Warren Higgins once owned more than 600 acres of land around Keswick, but now it is divided among the sons, with Howard and Mahlon Higgins, sons of Delano Higgins, living on the home farm.
"Keokuk County's oldest woman now lives in the memories of her first years in the county. There is nothing she enjoys more than piecing quilts and talking over the early pioneer life in the county. This unusual little old lady is wrinkled and bent, but nearly always in the best of humor. She sits in a big rocking chair and pieces quilts from Morning until night. Not like most old people, who Goto bed between eight and nine o'clock, she always stays up until 10 and 11 o'clock.
"Eight years ago she fell and broke her hip and has not been able to walk without aid since. Besides her daughter, Mrs. Effie Messenger, to take care of her, there is Mrs. Rose Hanke, who has been in the home since her accident.
"In the home there are many fine quilts which have been pieced by this once nimble-fingered old lady. Many Keswick homes have samples of her work. Mrs. Hanke estimates that the number of quilts made by Mrs. Higigns is between 300 and 400.
"Yesterday was a big day for this head of four generations of Keokuk County residents. Besides her two sons and one daughter, there were visiting her most of her eighteen grandchildren and thirty-nine great-grandchildren."
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1832 - 1931 (98 years)
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