Dr. Vine Utley compiled most of his Observations on Old People 80 Years of Age (87 pages) while interviewing octogenarians and older individuals in New London County, Connecticut, from September 9, 1809-June 17, 1818; one entry is dated April 15, 1827. Utley recorded biographical information about each person he interviewed, including their name, age, hometown or place of residence, marital status, occupation, previous illnesses and medical treatments, number of children, and sometimes their date of death. He commented on interviewees' habits and diets, particularly with regard to alcohol and tobacco, and on their parents' longevity.
Utley wrote about physical health and mental acuity, and noted some trends amongst his subjects, such as octogenarians' tendency to have few, if any, remaining teeth (p. 25). He interviewed men and women from Waterford, Lyme, and New London, Connecticut, including David Harris, a native of Paris who had been held captive by Native Americans (pp. 22-25); E. Jeffry, a Native American woman (pp. 30-33); Celia, an enslaved woman who had been born in Africa (pp. 60-62); and John Utley, his father (pp. 81-84). The volume's cover is a repurposed section of The Witness (June 25, 1806), a newspaper published in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Vine Utley was born on February 9, 1768, in Ashford, Connecticut, to John Utley (June 17, 1738-July 4, 1818) and Alma Utley. Vine Utley started medical practice around 1797. He practiced medicine in Lyme, Connecticut, in the early 19th century, and was a proponent of smallpox vaccinations. He was admitted as a member of the New London County Medical Society in 1807, and he published articles in the Medical Repository about a variety of topics, including epilepsy, epidemics, dropsy, suspended secretion of urine, cold water cures, and a case study about a lumbar injury. He wrote to prominent individuals inquiring about their health and habits, including Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Eliphalet Nott. He served as a ship surgeon aboard the privateer Mars from the Fall of 1812 until February 1813.
He married Rebecca Marcy (b. 1763) in 1799. She might have borne his son, Leander Utler in 1793, and in 1802 they had a daughter, Lydia Marcy (December 18, 1802-November 16, 1873), who married Jirah Kellogg (May 10, 1799-November 6, 1885).
