Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-02-25

FROM the wisconsin state Journal.
The Oldest Nan in the World.


We viii not assert that the oldest Of livinl
men Is a resident of Wisconsin, t'u' We chal
.lflenge any other State or country 20 pfenuc
/ a man or woman who has STAINED the az
reached bv JOSEPH CRELE now residingin TIN
town of Caledonia, Columbia county III TIN
| State. pa = - % nfsf ="
During the French Revolution one JEA'
/ CLAUDE JACOB, a member of the National As
/ sembly, was called the "Dean of the human
species" the Eldest of men" On hi
scanned worn face we're ploughed the furr0"
ings of one hundred and twenty years" Bu
our Dean OF the human species Is nearly
twenty wears older than CLAUDE JACOB, wht
did not complete his one hundred andtwenty
/ first year.
JOSEPH CRELE was born in Detroit, o.
French parents. The record of his baptism
! in the Catholic Church of that city shows thai
he is now 1879 years of age. lie has been a
{ resident of Wisconsin for about a century
Whenever mention is made of the :, oldest
| inhabitant," there need be no question as tO
the person. JOSEPH CRELE is undoubtedly
the man. He was first married in New Or
leans, 109 years ago. Some years after he
settled at Prairie du Chen, while Wisconsin
was yet d province of France. Before TIE
Revolutionary lgdr, he was employed TO carry
letters between Prairie du Chen and Green
Bay! 1t is but few years ago that he was
called as witness in the Circuit Court, In a
case involving the title to certain real estate
at Prairie du CHEN, TO give. testimony IN re-
lation to events that TRANSFERRED eighty years
before He now resides with daughter, by
his third wife, who is over seventy years OF
age.
The residence of the family is only four OF
five miles out of Portage City. From citi
zens of that place we learn that the old man
is still active, is able to chop wood, and to
walk several miles. He speaks English quite
imperfectly, but converses fiuently in the
French language. He goesto elections, and,
like sensible old gentleman, votes the Union
ticket. He stoops a little under the burden
of years but not more than many men OF sew
enty. In person, he is rather above the me-
dunn height, spare in flesh, but showing evi-
dences of having been in his prime a man OF
sinewy strength. Concerning his habits, a
subject of much interest in connection with
an instance of such extraordinary longevity,
we have been able TO learn but little, except
that he is an inveterate smoker.
A very good daguerreOtype picture OF him,
taken in 1856, may be seen at the rooms OF
the State Historical Society. Some photo
graphic artist would do well to secure mega
tive of the Oldest man in the World" be-
fore he passes
"To that ill region whittier all are bound"
Three score wears and ten ordinarily con-
stitute the full span of a vigorous human lie.
This mans existence has been prolonged for
almost twice that period. Those who began
the Journey of life With him are dead and
theirvery bones are dust. Babes that he
might have handled on his knee at an age
when most men are bowed with decrepltude,
have grown into manhood, passed through
the ordinary vicissitudes of life, become gray
and feeble and sunk into old mems graves,
and this man still livesi He walks about
among generation whose grandsires were
unborn after he had passed the usual period
of manly prime. All his contemporaries are
gone No wonder, if at times, as we under
stand is the case, haunting sense of lOnei-
ness overwbelms him. Though he has led a
rude border life and probably has little of
sentiment in his composition, yet, in some
dim wav at least, he experiences the feeling,
so touchinglv expressed hy Wordsworth, writ
ing under the shadow of more than seventy
years, of RIO Z.
some to whom Heaven assigns that mournful part
The utmost solitude of age to face"
And, with his SIMPLE and uDsOphisticated
conceptions respecting Deity, this feeling
of solitarinesS; of remaining thus long
the sole survivor of generation; OF walking
about in this latter half of the nintteenth
century, and in these DAYS of Geographic dis
Homie who was u man capable OF hearing
arms in the DAYS OF ,Braddoe ks defeat the
sense, we repeat, oil this exceptional and an
omalous lot, joined with his crude aud untu
tored notions-upon religious subjects, has IN
duced in his mind the curious fancy that per
haps God has overlooked him, that Death
who comes to all beside, the otherwise insa-
table, has, in his case
..Forgot the use of his inevitable hand,''
and that he may be left to a perpetual and
hopeless old age, Tithonus without an Auro-
ra, still feeling more and more the intolerable
weight of years, yet never to be delivered
from their weary load.