Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-11-09
THE OLDEST MAN.
One hundred and Eight Year. o

One Hundred and Eight Years Old.
from the Wayne County Democrat
There is residing at this time in the viii
lage of jefferson, Plain tp., Wayne co., O.,
| five miles west of Wooster, the Oldest man
in the State Of Ohio, and probably in the
| United States.
His name Is John Folgate. He was born
in Lebanon county, Pa, in the month of
February, Seventeen Hundred and Fifty
nine, making him one hundred and eight
years old. He emigrated to Ohio in 1929,
and has lived, since that time, an indus
trious, quiet, and unobtrusive life in Jeffer-
son. He was consequently seventy years
of age when he settled in that village
having already attained the period of life
designated in Holy Writ as the usual limit
of human existence, and at which most
men, under the burden of so many years,
die.
Physically he is rather small-proba-
bly, under medium-but exhibits a COM
pact form and a well constructed body,
which no doubt so years ago was one of
physical excellence and muscular perfec-
| tion. l $500 -. -l' is t'H5iGa1
| He was married at the age of thirty to
Miss Elizabeth Wolgamott-the very mem
| tion of whose name starts bitter tears in
those old eyes that have led him upward
\ through the darkness and labyrinths of a
century. His wife was born in Lancaster
'tcounty, Pa, three years before the battle
of Lexington, and three years after the
birth of the great Bonaparte. She had Of
ten seen and spoken to Washington. Her
death occurred January 29th, lS49, in her
18th year. An only child was their we'd
ded Inheritance and the old man, who car
| ries upon his back the weight Of well nigh
a million hours, weeps and wonders that
the son, aged 80 years, should be dead and
the father here. ..
He was teamster in his early years about
Baltimore, Maryland, and in Pennsylvania,
but for the last sixty or seventy years has
been engaged in mechanical labor. He was
bdrafted in the war of 1872. shOuldered his
musket, bat was discharged on account of his
| old age-so that fifty-tive years ago he was
| too far advanced in life to be soldier. Al
! the time he was drafted he was keeping a
J tavern at a place called "Sporting HILL ~
near Baltimore.
/ In politics he was always an old line
Wing, but in political as well as social life
whilst he had stern convictions, he had but
few prejudices.
! He was thirty years old when Washing.
ton was first made President, and gave hin
his vote. He is old enough to have beer
the father of Generals Jackson and Scott
and the grandfather OF james K. Polk, h'
was eleven years old when Whitefield, th'
leader of Calvanistic Methodists, died; he
might have been the father of Tom. Moor
and Lord Byron, the preceptOr of Charles
Lamb, and schoolmate of Thomas Jefferson
James Madison and Lafayette, who all Ion!
|since have been wrapped in the shroud o
that great unknown mystery of Death.
His ancestors were of the pure German
stock, and his language is the broker
"Pennsylvania Dutch" His seat In tn
Sanctuary is seldom vacant, and he is wha
may be termed true Christian, not one o
Sunday pretention who delights in relig
ious ostentation of manner, but is th
plain, rejecting disciple. In church j
often starts the hymn himself and leads il
the singing. He is invariably in good hu
mor-''all his tickets from nature ar
stamped with smile."
For venerable years, hearty and respect
ed old age, we do not believe his parallel
to be found in the United States. The fact
narrated here were received from the lip
of the old man himself, who is we'll know
in the county and can be seen by any on
wishing to visit him. His mind seem
clear, he is cheerful and communicative
works more or less every day out doors
and bids fair to live another ten years
Memory seems to have failed him mos
but his general faculties are vigorous ant
strong.
Said Madame de Stsel, SIT is difficult
grow old gracefully" but had she seen th
subject of this sketch. she would have add
ed. "but it is possible" He has ''grow
If Byron could say, ..Iu my lifetime
have outlived kingdoms and empires
what might be the eXclamations of tn
old man! ..s
May he, in the sober decline of marve
ously protracted life, continue to enjoy ii
calm and rest which is his glory and her
tage.
Ii we are doomed to be old and gray ar
feeble, let us invoke his happy resignatit
and Sublime TRANQUILITY OF MIND.