Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-05-26
Inhn FOlPate.
THE ONO CENTENARIAN.

y of Jefferson. five miles west of Woos
. ter. Ohio. He was born i'm Lebanon
County, Pa, in February, 1859, and i
: now, therefore, more than one hun.
e dred and ten years old. In 1879 he
e emigrated to Ohio, and has lived there
, since that period. He was a teamsteI
d in his Younger years at Baltimore.
: Nd, and in Pennsylvania; but for the
| last sixty or seventy years has been
principally engaged in mechanical
: labor. He was drafted in the war of
1872, reported Immediately at head
: quarters, but was discharged on nc
.. count of old age; so that fifty-five
years ago he was too far advanced in
life to be an acceptable soldier of the
Republic. His stature and build are
/ hardly up TO the medium, but exhibit
! the characteristics of the old German
z stock from which he descended. He
: is still compact and firm in frame and
2 muscle, and possesses as much vigor
and elasticity as falls to the lot of
most well-organized and healthy men
of sixty. Both our correspondents
speak in admiring terms of his re-
markable healthfulness and of the
liveliness of his mental powers. His
memory is still retentive, and he is
quite communicative and willing TO
relate the varied experiences of his
long life.
After the death of his wife, in lS49,
he resided alone for some years, doing
his own ''hOusewOrk, etc, and filling
up his time making aX-handles. Once
a week, when and after he was more
than a century old, he would take a
& 4 ,,F e., IA.
the distance of eight miles, there and
back, procure his weekly allowance
of bread from the baker, and be home
again before the village people We're
fairly astir, unless, as it sometimes
happened, the lazy shOpkeepers" had
not "opened up, )" and he had to await
their movements. Early rising has
been a ruling passion from his
youth, and to it he attributes in a
great measure his wonderful activity
and strength now.
With regard to his habits of life and
personal appearance, our lady friend
writes:
"He still works in his shop, where
found him a few days ago, perched
on his shaving-bench, vigorously
smoothing an ax-handle, and looking
no older than when / first remember
him, except that he is not quite so
erect. Most men of sixty show as
many signs of age as this man who
has lived through four generations;
who knew Washington personally,
and has voted at every Presidential
election from the Father Of his Coun-
try down to General Grant. His hair
is not sufficiently bleached to be COM
pared with the driven snow it is
only a silvery gray. His eyes, if not
quite so good as they were a hundred
years ago, are still blue and bright,
and he reads and works without
glasses; can not get any, he says, that
improve his sight. His teeth are
gone; otherwise his face is full, COM
pleXiOn fair, and expression mild,
pleasant, peaceful; in short, he is a
nice looking old gentleman. His
hearing is somewhat dull, which is
about the only infirmity apparent.
HE has followed various pursuits,
going and coming he remarked, just
as people wanted him; but his Occu-
patton was mostly of an active, out
door nature; and this, with his strictly
temperate habits, plain, simple living,
and freedom from all the vices and
passions that wear and wreck mind
and body, is no doubt the great secret
of his longevity and exemption from
disease" -...-
His diet, as far back as he can re-
member, has been of the simplest
character. Coarse bread, milk, meat,
most tempting array of "delicacies,n
A. ln.s
carefully avoided, finding in the bub-
bling spring all the refreshment and
exhilaratiOn demanded by his nature.
He works diligently day after day to
support himself and have something
to bestow in charity. A sincere
Christian, all who approach him feel
attracted by his simple grace and per-
feet frankness of manner and speech.
EIe has Outliyed the members of his
own family, and. so far as blood rela-
tiOns are concerned, is quite alone in
the world yet, though he still mOurns
his wife, who died an aged woman
nearly thirty years ago, he maintains |
a cheeriness of spirit which is most Z
beautiful to the thoughtful observer.
Our correspondent last quoted writes |
further in allusiOn to her visit to Mr.. |
Folgate:
I'VE inquired if he did not some
times grow weary of his long, lonely |
and impatient to exchange !
his burden of years for rest. 'Oh, no. !
he replied, with a sweet smile, Pm |
never tired living; L can always find !
something to do, wherever l am. |
When l do 60 / shall 90 happy; Pm I
in no hurry And so this aged man |
is not waiting till the shadows are a
little longer grown, but living, work /
ing, and enjoying life; and we bade /
him goodbye without any PRESENT.
ment that we should never see him l
again"
The following striking comparisons,
drawn by our other correspondent, |
must close this article. They serve TO
impress the reader with the notion /
that he has indeed been considering
the relic of a long-gone time-a deni-
zen of past order of things.
''AIr. Folgate was born the same
year that Robespierre the Revolution
ist was born, and outlives him nearly
years; he was eleven
years old when Whitefield, the leader
Of Calvinistic Methodists, died; he is
old enough to be the grandfather of
the poet Keats, or James X. Polk: he
field Scott, Bolivar, Moore, or Lord
Byron; the preceptor of Charles Lamb
and John Randolph, the schOolmate
Of Macintosh and Madison, Marshal
Ney and Lafayette, who all long since
have been wrapped in the silence and
mystery of death.-Anl. Phren. Jour