Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1865-03-08
The Oldest Man in the World,


living men Is q resident Of Wisconsin. but
we challenge any other State or country to
produce q man or woman who has attain
ed the age reached by Joseph Crele now
residing in the town of Caledonia, Column
bia county, in this State.
During the French Revolution, one Jean
Claude Jacob, a member OF The National
Assemb Y, was called the 4" Dean of the
human species" the Eldest of men. On
his scanned worn face were ploughcd the
furrowings of one hundred and twenty
years. But Our Dean of the human spe-
eics " is nearly twenty years older than
Claude Jacob, who did not complete his
one hundred and twenty first year
Joseph Crele was born in Detroit, Of
French parents. The record of his bap~
tiSm in tho Catholic Church of that city
shows that he is now l39 years Of age
Tie has been 4 resident of Wisconsin for
about q century. Whenever mention is
made Of the oldest inhaJitant,' there need
be no question as to the person. Joseph
Crele is undoubtedly the man. lie was
FIRST married in New Orleans, 100 years
ago. Some years after he settled at Pra-
irie du Chicn, while Wisconsin was yet 4
province Of France. Before the Reaolu-
tjona'y ,ra'', he was employed TO carry
letters between Prairie du Chen and
Green Bay, It is but a few years ago that
he was ca led as n witness in the Circuit
Court, in a case involving the title to cer-
tain rea' estate at Prairie du CHEN to give
his testimony in relation to events that
transpired eighty years before lie now
resides with daughter BY his third Wife,
who IS over serenity years Of age.
The residence Of the family is only four
or five miles out Of Portage City. From
citizens Of that place we learn that the old
man is still active, Is able to chop wood.
ana to walk several miles. He speaks
English quite imperfoetly, but conyerses
fuently in the French language. He goes
to elections, ard like q sensible old gen.
tlcman, votes the Union ticket He stoops
a littIe under the burden cf years, but not
more than a man Of seventy. Ia person
he IS ra,her above the medium height
spare in flesh, but showing evidences ot
having been in his prime man Of sinewy
strength. Concerning his habits, . sub
jeot of much interest in connection witt
m instance Of such extraordinary longev-
itv, we have been able to learn but little
except that he was always an inyeterato
smoker.
\ very good daguorrcotype picture Of
him, taken in 1855. may be seen at the
rooms Of the State Historical Society
Some photogra phic artist would do we'll tc
secure a negative Of the " Oldest man in
the World before lie passes
''To that still region whittier all are bound"
Three score years and ten ordinarily
constitute the full span Of II vigorous hu-
man life. This mans existence has been
prolonged for twice that period Those
who hegan the journey OF life with him
are dead, and their very bones are dust
Babes that he might have dandlcd on hi.
knee at an are when most men are bowed
with decrepitude, have grown into man
hood passed through the ordinary yicissi
tudes Of lie, become gray and feeble, and
sunk into old mems graves, and this man
still lives He walks about among q gen
Grafton whose grandsires were unborn af
ter he had passed the usual period Of mau
II prime. All his cotemporaries are gone
No wonder, If at times, as we undcrs nc
is tho case, 4 haunting sense of lnnelnes,
overwhcIms him. Though he has led Z
rude horder life and probably has little O.
sentiment in his composition, vet, in some
dim way at least he experiences the feel
ings 50 touchinely expressed by Words
worth, writing under the shadow Of NOR,
/ than seventy years, Of
Z cone to whom Heaven assign. thst naournful part
The utmost solitude Of age to face"
! And, with his simple and unsophistieateC
conceptions concerning Deity, this feel
( inG Of solitude; Of remaining thus 'one
the sole survivor Of generation; Of wall,
M di4DtL ia SsA4o -sltLtI man Ol tie nine
teenth century, in these days Of telegraph
ic dispatches, monitors, steam presses anC
rebellion, he who was 4 man capable 0
/ bearing arms in the days Of Braddock':
defeat the sense, we repeat, Of this ex
ccptional and anomalous lot, Joined viii
his crude and untutored notions upon re
/ lisious subjects, has induced in his rninc
that perhaps God has overlo5ked him
that Death vino comes to al beside, tn,
otherwise Unsuitable, has IN his case
''Fo-so; the use cf h inevitable hand
and that he may be left to a perpetual OF
age-a Iimotheus without an Aurora, still
feeling more and more the intolerable bar
den OF years, yet nerer to he delivered
from th:ir weary !oad.-Nadison Jonr1al
aa-An irreverent correspondent Of
Massachusetts paper makes the following
strange, and we rather suspect calumniou
report Of clerical and other matters i
Springfield, Mass: