The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-01-16
The OIdest lTan in OHIO.


/ There is residing at this time in tht
village of Jefferson, Plain township
Wayne county, Ohio, five miles wes
Of Wooster, the oldest man in the State
Of Ohio, and probably in the United
States.
His name is John Fulgate. He was
born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in the
month Of February, 1853, making him
one hundred and eight years old. He
emigrated to OHIO, In 1929, and has
lived, since that time, an industrious,
quiet, unObtrusive life in Jefferson
BE was, consequently, seventy years
Of age when he settled in that village
having already attained the period
in life designated in Holy Writ as the
usual limit of hU2an existence, and
at which most men, lnder the burden
Of so many years, die. a--ss
Physically, he is rather snalI-prob-
ably under medium size-but exhibits
a compact form and Well-cOnstructed
body, which, no doubt, eighty years
ago, was of physical excellence and
muscular perfection.
He was married at the age Of fhilty
to Miss Elizabeth Welgamot-the very
mention 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 county, Pennsylva-
mia, three years before the battle of
Lexington, and three years after the
birth Of thegTeat BOnsparte. She had
often seen and spoken to Washington.
Her death occurred January 20, I849,
in her seventy-eighth year. An only
child was theiE welded inheritance,
and the old man, who carries well
nigh a million hours, weeps and won.
deTs that the son, aged fifty years,
should be dead and the father here.
He was a teamsteT 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 drafted in
the war Of 1912, shouldered his mus.
ket, but was discharged on account Of
his old age-so that fifty-five years
ago he was too far advanced in life to
be a soldier. at the time he was
drafted he was keeping tavern at a
place called Sporting HilI, near Balti-
more.
In politics, he was always an old
line Whig, but in political as well as
social life, whilst he had stern convic-
tons, had but few prejudices.
He was thirty years old when Wash
ington was first made President, and
gave him his vote. He is old enough
to have been the father Of Generals
Jackson and Scott, and the grand
father of James X. Polk; he was elev-
en- years old when Whitfield, the lead
er of CalYinistic MethOdists, died; he
might have been the father of Tom.
Moore and Lord Byron-the preceptOr
of Charles Lamb, and the schoolmate
Of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
and Lafayette, who all, long since,
have been wrapped in the shroud of
that unknown mystery, death.
His ancestors were of the pure Ger
man stock, and his language is the
broken "Pennsylvania Dutch" His
seat in the sanctuary is seldom vacant. |
He is what may be termed a true
Christian, not one Of Sunday preten-
lions, who delights in religious Osten-
alton of manner, but is the plain, re-
iecting disciple. In church he often
itarts the hymn himself and leads in
he singing. He is invariably in good |
lumor-fall his tickets from nature
ire stamped with smile"
For venerable years, hearty and re-
Ipected old age, we do not believe his
parallel is to be found in the United /
states. The facts narrated here were
from the lips of the old man
himself, who is we'll known in the
county, and can be seen by any one
Wishing to visit him. His mind seems
lear, he is cheerful and communica-
i've, works more or less every day out
# doors, and bids fair to live another
wo years. Memory seems to have
allied him most, but his general fac
llties are vigorous and strong.