Talk:John Cary (valet)

This article was nominated for deletion on 8 December 2018. The result of the discussion was keep.

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Longevity

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African diaspora

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Proposed PROD

The reason for the PROD was stated as "Something isn't right here. The only source I can find is a small page on WikiSource, and the claim of someone living to 116 at that time don't make any sense at all." I quickly found 2 additional sources, 170 years apart, with information about John Cary, his service with Washington, his claim to a pension, etc. He did claim to be in his 114th year when he died; that claim is historical fact. The nominator's opinion that it doesn't make sense that someone would live to that age at that time is not a valid reason for deleting the article. RebeccaGreen (talk) 14:03, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

One of the sources supplied was a wiki and maybe circular so I removed it. The other two are very brief mentions in books, not indepth coverage or that in anyway suggest these claims are verified. Twain's mention is only his name and that he was a "body servant" to Washington. The other book is am 1843 published Almanac covering a wide range of topics. I don't think this book is particularly reliable or that is shows signs of being well researched. Lots of people made all kinds of unverified age claims in those days and such claims would be nearly impossible to verify for a slave. Legacypac (talk) 20:03, 8 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I changed the category to Longevity claims, as the sources in question at least show he claimed as much. Whether or not he's notable I'll leave to others. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 20:12, 8 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]