Age Doesn’t Weary the Elford Family

By Elizabeth Binks

Originally Published in the Toronto Telegram, March 16, 1960

Young Charlie runs the farm. He’s the baby of the family. Charlie’s 82.

Angelina’s next in line. She does the housework in the spacious, two-story, farm house, most of the cooking and odd chores like churning butter, and helping Charlie in the garden. Angelina’s 85.

Subtract the total age of the Elford Family, 745 years from the year 1960 and you’re back to 1215 and the signing of the Magna Carta.

Together Charles and Angelina run the 100 acre farm and 92-year-old family homestead about 10 miles north of here [Lindsay].  They help Hester, 90 and Ambrose 101 to get around.

That is, when Hester and Ambrose are not helping them—by pitching straw, carrying pails of water or baking bread. 101… 90… 85… 82… That doesn’t add up to 745, you say. No, there are still four more Elfords. But they will tell you, it certainly doesn’t take eight elderly people to run one home. They keep two going, just so there’s lots for everybody to do.

This is where Lizzie, 103, Will 97, Mary 94, and Katie 93 come into the picture. They live in a two-story frame house in Oakwood, about seven miles south of the farm.

If you’re invited in, you’ll be greeted by four smiling but curious faces. Four pairs of gnarled but strong hands will point you to the chairs in the parlour. Visitors are rare in the Elford’s out-of-the-way home. In their polite, old-world manner they lose no time in sizing you up. If you’re a reporter, you may well end up wondering who is interviewing whom.

Katie is spokesman for this group. “Do you smoke?” she asked me… then nodded in wonder. “It’s a terrible habit, I understand,” she said sympathetically. “A man in the village told me you can’t stop once you’ve started.” She was interrupted by Mary, the unofficial family boss “Katie, comb your hair,” she said. “I will have to get Will into his tie and jacket!”

Will is blind, but he has an independent spirit. “Mary,” he shouted at his near-deaf sister. “That knot’s a bit too tight!”

That evening we learned there were originally 14 Elford children. Only Will and a deceased sister, Sarah, ever married. Their mother lived to be 97, the grandmother 99. “Pa was only 86 when he died,” Will said with a grin.

They don’t get out much. Will sold the car when he lost his sight two years ago. Neighbours bring them supplies and help the shovel the driveway in winter. Sometimes Charles drives over to take them for a ride. Charles drives a sharp green ’55 model—when he isn’t driving the tractor.

On the directions of the town Elfords, we found the Cambray Road next day and had afternoon tea with their “country” relatives. They keep 14 cattle, 12 sheep and some hens, they told us. They have no help, except at harvest time when neighbouring farmers help them cut hay.

Their farmhouse is full of family heirlooms. A set of dishes and tea canister that go back three generations, a sturdy rocking chair where 14 Elford babies were rocked to sleep. In the parlour one of “mother’s” samplers hangs on the wall. The precise embroidery reads, “Anna Maria Werry, age 9, Aug. 23, 1841”

The farm Elfords rise each morning at 6:15 to get all the chores done. “We move so slowly, we need lots of time,” Angelina explained.

What’s their formula for old age? None of them is very sure. “We all help each other,” said Katie.  

“God has been good to us, I guess,” said Angelina. The formula is better left undefined. It’s written much more clearly on their faces.