The world has known some serious events that take the life of innumerable people. But somehow, very few manage to survive to tell the stories. Discover the last survivors of 7 extreme events that have shaken the world.
7. George Robert Twelves Hewes, Survivor of the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre
George Hewes was a modest cobbler Born in Boston in 1742. He was one of the main protesters in Boston in the rebellion of the colonists against British domination. He played a major role in the American Revolutionary War.
He was one of the Bostonian rebels who protested the Tea Act by throwing the tea cargo from England in Boston Harbor On December 16, 1773. Died on November 5, 1840 at aged 98, he was the last living witness to this milestone.
6. Daniel F. Bakeman, Survivor of the American War of Independence
Daniel Frederick Bakeman was born on October 9, 1759, in New York. At the age of 12, He married Susan Brewer, who was two years older (the couple beats the record of the only marriage to have exceeded 90 years). He was the last survivor of the American Revolution.
Although the age is not exactly known, when he took part in the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence), 1775-1783, Bakeman was very young. He died on April 5, 1869, at the venerable age of 109, making him the last living witness of the American Revolutionary War.
5. Mary Allerton, Survivor of the Mayflower
Mary Allerton Cushman was the last surviving passenger of the Mayflower, the ship that carried the Pilgrims from Plymouth (a city on the south coast of Devon, England) to the New World in 1620. She arrived at Plymouth on the Mayflower when she was about four years old.
In 1620, the Mayflower left Leiden in Holland with several passengers out to conquer the New World. One of them, Isaac Allerton, traveled with his family and has never returned to Europe. Her daughter Mary Allerton, who died aged 83 in 1699, was the last survivor of the expedition.
4. Harry Ettlinger, Survivor of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program was a group of about 400 men, including Harry Ettlinger, created in June 1943 by General Eisenhower commonly called the “monuments men”. It was responsible for monitoring the Allies to recover historic and cultural works of art stolen by the Nazis.
Indeed, at Neuschwanstein Castle the group would discover an estimated of several million dollars worth paintings and sculptures stolen from Jews by the Germans during World War II which would become the “greatest treasure hunt in history”. Harry Ettlinger was a common soldier of 19 years old when he was integrated in the program. He is now 89 years. On October 22, 2015 he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
3. Rebecca Tickaneesky, Survivor of the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears is a forced migration of several Native Americans by the United States between 1831 and 1838. These populations were forced to establish in west of the Mississippi and their former lands are given to white settlers, under the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
The forced relocation included many tribes including the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw. Rebecca Tickaneesky was the last survivor of the arbitrary exodus of the Native American peoples. She brought with her many sad memories, when she died in 1932 at the age of 98 years.
2. John Glenn, Survivor of the Mercury Project
The Project Mercury is the first US spaceflight program to have sent an American in space. It was launched in 1958, days after the creation of the US space agency NASA, and was completed in 1963.
The program objectives were to put a man into orbit around the Earth, to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body and to develop a reliable recovery system of the spacecraft and its crew. The project includes seven Mercury astronauts known as “Mercury Seven”. Since the death of his old friend, Scott Carpenter, in 2013, John Glenn is the last survivor of that team.
1. Donald Clifford, Sculptor of Mount Rushmore
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a famous monumental granite sculpture which features the heads of four US presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Clifford Donald worked as a sculptor on the famous recognizable landmark of the country. He is the last survivor of all those who participated in its realization. He wrote a book where he talks about his experience: Mount Rushmore, Q & A.
