The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-06-02
ROBINSON CRUsOE.


He Resides In Versailles, KY, and IL
Descendant of the Original Robinson,
Who was not u Myth ut All, but y Real
Parsonage.
[From the woodford County (Ky.) weekly
The iconoclasts have robbed us OF
William Tell, and reduced Pocahontas
to prosaic savage, and now 1t IS plea
SAINT to give them Roland for their
Oliver by establishing the real existence
of hero of fiction heretofore regarded
IA myth. The story Of Robinson CRU
soc made its appearance III 17l9. Inc
rare simplicity of the style, the natural
ness of the incidents, the interest sus-
tanned throughout and the interesting
lessons inculcated, gave it instant popu--
larity, which it has always retained and
to-day, after the lapse of $50 years, no
simiiiar production possesses such
charms for the youthful reader. Defoe
was q fierce partisan in the struggle OF
thirty years duration, which gave con-
stitutional liberty to England, and this,
together with his great literary success.
aroused the enmity and envy which pur-
sued him relentlessly through life. The
charge that he had stolen his mate
rails from the narrative of Alexander
Selkirk proceeded from his enemies, but
was totally unfounded. Selkirk volun-
tarily welt ashore on the island of Juan
Fernandez, where he spent four years,
but the island was freqnented by ships,
and the duration of his exile was a mat
ter of his own choice. The incidents OF
his story bear no particular resemblance
to those of Crusoe's life. Peter Serrano,
who was ship-wrecked on an islandin the
Caribbean sea in the sixteenth century,
and whose story is related in Garcilaso's
"History of Peru" published in Lon
don about the year 100, probably gave
Defoe the foundation of his romance.
Defoe aimed, above ali else, at proba-
bi'ity, and the story does not contain an
inconsistency nor an impossible Incl
dent. The title has been taken for
granted as an invention of the great
novelist, but this is incorrect. 1t Was
stated some time since in magazine ar
ticle that Defoe first met with the name
of Robinson Crusoe on tombstone in a
grave yard at Lynn Regis, an important
English seaport. The rarity of the
name, and possibly the fact that its
owner had / cen a sailor, commended it
for his purpose. The Crusoe family is
an old one in Lynn, and there is no
other family OF the name known than
the one that halls from that locality
Curiously enough they have usually
been seafaring people. During the war
between France and Great Britain in
the early part of the present century,
John Crusoe, of Lynn Regis, was in the
navy, and participated in the glorious
action of Trafalgar. In 1915 he emf
grated to America, and settled in
Fayetteville. n. c., where he resided for
many years. A diary of his voyages in
his own handwriting is in our possession,
and gives evidence of scholarship and a
mind of more than ordinary caliber. In
1885 Capt. Crusoe revisited Europe, and
his diary is filed with interesting Incl
dents of his journey, some of which we
reserve for future publication. His
| grandchildren are now, and have been
for some years, highly-esteemed resi-
dents of our town, and one of them
bears the name of Robinson Du Brutz
Crusoe. From this gentleman we learn
that Robinson has always been a family
name with his people, and this is con-
hImeu ny tne ulary VI Odpt. CruSOe,
who speaks of a nephew named Robin
son, whom he saw on his visit to Lynn
Regis in 1886.
These facts we believe to be perfectly
authentic and reliable. The antigua
rians are welcome to give them full in
vestigation. Meanwhile Versailles may
let the outside world bubble with Cen
tennial enthusiasm and political excite
ment, content in the possession of a
| genuine Robinson Crusoe.