In reference to this wonderful old physician the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1896, page 995, says-- "William Reynold Salmon, M.R.C.S., of Penllyn Court, Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, South Wales, completed his one hundred and sixth year on March 16th, and died on the 11th of the present month--at the time of his death the oldest known individual of indisputably authenticated age, the oldest physician, the oldest member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, and the oldest Freemason in the world.

His age does not rest upon tradition or repute.

He was the son of a successful and esteemed practicing physician of Market Wickham, Suffolk, England, and there is in the possession of his two surviving relatives, who cared for his household for many years, his mother's diary, in which is inscribed in the handwriting of a lady of the eighteenth century, under the date, Tuesday, March 16, 1790, a prayer of thankfulness to God that she had passed her 'tryall,' and that a son was born, who she hoped 'would prosper, be a support to his parents, and make virtue his chief pursuit.' The Royal College of Surgeons verified this record many years ago, and it was subsequently again authenticated by the authorities of the Freemasons, who thereupon enshrined his portrait in their gallery as the oldest living Freemason.

The Salmon family moved to Cowbridge in 1796, so that the doctor had lived exactly a century in the lovely and poetic Vale of Glamorgan, in the very heart of which Penllyn Court is situated.

Here on his one hundred and sixth birthday--a man of over middle height, with still long, flowing hair, Druidical beard and mustache, and bushy eyebrows--Dr.Salmon was visited by one who writes:-- "'Seen a few days ago, the Patriarch of Penllyn Court was hale and hearty.