Winterset Madisonian
March 31, 1904, page 1
NEARLY A CENTURY - Robert David Tisdale Dies at Extreme Old Age
Deceased was Born in 1804 and Was the Oldest Person in Madison County. Served in the Indiana Legislature in the Early 40"s.
Robert D. Tisdale who died at his home in Patterson, Iowa, on March 22d, was the oldest person living in Madison county. He was born in Stanover county, Virginia (near Richmond), September 27, 1804, and at the time of his death was 99 years, 5 months and 24 days old.
In early life he moved to Marietta, Ohio, and from there to St. Mary's Ohio. In the early 40" he moved to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and while there served his state as a member of the Indiana Legislature. He came to Madison county in 1855 and continued to reside here the remainder of his life. In his youth he identified himself with the Baptist church and later was ordained a minister of that denomination. Deceased was married four times during his life. His first marriage was to Minerva Forsythe in 1828; in 1845 to Sophrona Lewis, in 1849 to Mary Gould and in 1863 to Zerilda Debord, who survives him.
Of a family of fourteen children, only four survive him, Mrs. Sara McKonkey and Mrs. Lois Cason, of Winterset, Mrs. Martha Holmes, of Truro, Iowa, and Mrs. Etta Beerbower, of Warren, Arkansas. Besides his companion and four children he leaves twelve grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Mr. Tisdale was an exemplary citizen, a man of strong convictions and of positive character. He lived uprightly before God and man according to the teachings of his conscience and enjoyed the friendship and respect of a wide circle of acquaintances. To say that he lacked but a few months of being one hundred years old means much, but comparatively few might pause to review the important events that have transpired since the date of his birth, September 27, 1804. Born during Jefferson's second term, he has lived under the administration of every president with the exception of the first two, Washington and Adams. He was three years old when Fulton astonished the world with the Clermont's successful trial trip on the Hudson and twenty-five years old when the first locomotive train was run in the United States. Few indeed there be whose span of life includes so long a time and fewer yet whose life has witnessed such a mighty evolution in the world's progress (findagrave.com)