Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
In this video, we're investigating claims that the oldest man in America is buried in Florida. Could this be the grave of Americas oldest slave? Watch and find out!
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Smith stated that he had been born in Liberia in 1842, kidnapped to the United States at age 12 and sold into slavery in Louisiana to a Texas rancher. Later research indicated that he had been born circa 1874 or even later. In particular, his marriage certificate, issued January 8, 1910, listed him as being 35 years old at the time.[1] He died in Bartow, Florida on October 5, 1979, at the age of 105 (according to researchers) or 137 (according to his own claim). Later subsequent research showed Mr. Smith listed in the 1900 census as 21, suggesting he could have been only 100 years old. It is possible that he was given the birth name Mitchell Watkins and adopted at an early age in the years right after the Civil War with his "memories" embellishments from stories told by older ex-slaves, but evidence of this is spotty and it is unlikely that such an adoption would be verifiable, with records quite unreliable right after the Civil War.
Smith became a minor celebrity in Central Florida after news articles were published about his alleged longevity. He was invited to view the launch of Apollo 17 in 1972 from the VIP area at the Kennedy Space Center. He amused reporters with his skeptical comments, asserting that "th' ain't nobody goin' t' no moon. Me, you, or anybody else" and, after the launch, "I see they goin' somewhere, but that don't mean nothin’."
From the New York Times
Charlie Smith, perhaps the oldest person in the United States — an assertion disputed by the editor of the Guiness Book of World Records — died Friday at the Bartow Convalescent Center, a nursing home in Bartow, Fla. He was said to be 137 years old.
Robert Genert, a spokesman for the Lakeland General Hospital where Mr. Smith was taken for an autopsy, said that Mr. Smith had died of natural causes. A preliminary autopsy report indicated that death had resulted from “old age, chronic heart and kidney failure,” he said.
Mr. Smith's assertion that he had been brought to the United States from West Africa was once verified by Social Security officials who said they had turned up documents that showed Mr. Smith had been sold into slavery in New Orleans in 1859, when he was 12 years old and Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States.
‘I Never Saw Momma Again’
Mr. Smith once said that he had been coaxed into going on a slave ship, docked in a Liberian port by a man who told him there were “fritter trees on board with lots of syrup.”
He was sold in New Orleans to a Texas rancher named Charlie Smith. “I never saw Momma again,” Mr. Smith, whose name before leaving Africa was said to be Mitchell Watkins. The rancher changed his name and gave him July 4 as a new birthday.
When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, on January I, 1863, Mr. Smith became a free man.
Mr. Smith has also said that he had rode with the Jesse James gang and gone off with Billy the Kid to “get the man who killed President Garfield”
Compromise Reached in Diet
“I like to drink rye whiskey,” he told an interview before alcohol was striken from his diet. “I drink it neat and I smoke cigarettes.” Nursing home authorities reconsidered the ban on the liquor when Mr. Smith boycotted his vitamins. A compromise was agreed upon, however: Mr. Smith agreed to take the vitamins washed down with a shot of rum.
He is survived by his 70‐year‐old son, Chester Smith, his only survivor.
In this video, we're investigating claims that the oldest man in America is buried in Florida. Could this be the grave of Americas oldest slave? Watch and find out!
Use my LiquidIV code "backroads15" to save 15% off your order
Link to the store for shirts, mugs and hats!
backroads.myspreadshop.com
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UC9dnvvg1YqxK7d2KQjzoQ_g/join
Support the channel through Paypal:
ffpodcastsec@gmail.com
Support through Patreon!
patreon.com/backroads1
The Second Channel
Back Roads Golf
youtube.com/channel/UC1SyAlmRqg32d4yFA8jt0aA
Youtube Channels to check out!!
Big Daddy's Mississippi
youtube.com/channel/UC_OplD3L30vRFMlys9mnvcg
First church of the Masochist
youtube.com/c/FirstChurchofTheMasochistHikes
Michigander man
youtube.com/c/michiganderman
Grave Tales
youtube.com/watch?v=hcY0xINedO4
What's the Deal with Danny
youtube.com/channel/UCzYoOSS-nWVQjl-FSncwLKQ
Smith stated that he had been born in Liberia in 1842, kidnapped to the United States at age 12 and sold into slavery in Louisiana to a Texas rancher. Later research indicated that he had been born circa 1874 or even later. In particular, his marriage certificate, issued January 8, 1910, listed him as being 35 years old at the time.[1] He died in Bartow, Florida on October 5, 1979, at the age of 105 (according to researchers) or 137 (according to his own claim). Later subsequent research showed Mr. Smith listed in the 1900 census as 21, suggesting he could have been only 100 years old. It is possible that he was given the birth name Mitchell Watkins and adopted at an early age in the years right after the Civil War with his "memories" embellishments from stories told by older ex-slaves, but evidence of this is spotty and it is unlikely that such an adoption would be verifiable, with records quite unreliable right after the Civil War.
Smith became a minor celebrity in Central Florida after news articles were published about his alleged longevity. He was invited to view the launch of Apollo 17 in 1972 from the VIP area at the Kennedy Space Center. He amused reporters with his skeptical comments, asserting that "th' ain't nobody goin' t' no moon. Me, you, or anybody else" and, after the launch, "I see they goin' somewhere, but that don't mean nothin’."
From the New York Times
Charlie Smith, perhaps the oldest person in the United States — an assertion disputed by the editor of the Guiness Book of World Records — died Friday at the Bartow Convalescent Center, a nursing home in Bartow, Fla. He was said to be 137 years old.
Robert Genert, a spokesman for the Lakeland General Hospital where Mr. Smith was taken for an autopsy, said that Mr. Smith had died of natural causes. A preliminary autopsy report indicated that death had resulted from “old age, chronic heart and kidney failure,” he said.
Mr. Smith's assertion that he had been brought to the United States from West Africa was once verified by Social Security officials who said they had turned up documents that showed Mr. Smith had been sold into slavery in New Orleans in 1859, when he was 12 years old and Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States.
‘I Never Saw Momma Again’
Mr. Smith once said that he had been coaxed into going on a slave ship, docked in a Liberian port by a man who told him there were “fritter trees on board with lots of syrup.”
He was sold in New Orleans to a Texas rancher named Charlie Smith. “I never saw Momma again,” Mr. Smith, whose name before leaving Africa was said to be Mitchell Watkins. The rancher changed his name and gave him July 4 as a new birthday.
When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, on January I, 1863, Mr. Smith became a free man.
Mr. Smith has also said that he had rode with the Jesse James gang and gone off with Billy the Kid to “get the man who killed President Garfield”
Compromise Reached in Diet
“I like to drink rye whiskey,” he told an interview before alcohol was striken from his diet. “I drink it neat and I smoke cigarettes.” Nursing home authorities reconsidered the ban on the liquor when Mr. Smith boycotted his vitamins. A compromise was agreed upon, however: Mr. Smith agreed to take the vitamins washed down with a shot of rum.
He is survived by his 70‐year‐old son, Chester Smith, his only survivor.
