Talk:John Cary (valet)

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

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

Longevity

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Longevity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the World's oldest people on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LongevityWikipedia:WikiProject LongevityTemplate:WikiProject LongevityLongevity articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

African diaspora

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

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]