Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-07-21
THE OLDEST INHABITANr.
How the Oldest Man in Ken
lucky Lives, After an Ex-
peEienee of FiVc-SeOre
and Ten Years.
Greonup CKy.l Independeut.l

Greenup ky.) I~ndependeHt.l
We called one evening last week at
the residence of Squire John Adams.
to see and interview the oldest man
now living in the state of Kentucky.
Andrew Hood, Mrs. Amy Adams
father.
To see a man over whose bent head
the SHOWS of one hundred and eleven
winters have passed, whose now
dlmmed eyes have seen the swallows
leave for their southern home one
hundred and eleven times; whose now
almost deaf ears have heard the mel
ancholy notes Of the whippoorwill re-
turning to the lonely forest over four
score years, whose now STOPPING form
and trembling hands. nearly a hundred
years ago brayely and stoutly faced the
perils OF the wilds, the red skinned
Indians, bear and panther-the light Of
such a man inspires one with awe,
and yet does it awaken ones melan-
choly to consider how in the course of
years mans fullest strength and vigor,
like his proudest aspirations, do pass
their climax and totter to the grave
and to oblivion.
On the 18th of October, 1869, An
drew Hood was born in his fathers
fort, located near where Winchester
clark county, Va, is now situated.
That country was then, in the fullest
sense OF the word, a bowling wilder
ness, and his father, Major Hood, was
stationed there to fight and keep il
check the Indians. Accustomed tc
the wild frontier life, his father got
tired of Virginia as the ADVANCING
civilization approached his settlement
and when Andrew was eleven year,
cid the major removed thence to a
place eight miles below Prestonsburg
whence he later moved to above the
mouth Of Little Sandy, in Greenur
county, where he died and was buried.
Andrew Hood was married but
once, to Miss Mary Cane. who bore
him fourteen children and died in
1873. His children and their oifsprinq
are now scattered like the sands of the
sea, and the old gentleman does not
know where they live nor how many
Of his progeny there are.
He spoke Familiarity of Daniel
Boone, who was a hunting companion
Of his father and whose departure for
Missouri in a hat-bottomed boat he
distinctly recollects.
Were it not for his almost total
deafness many interesting facts might
be learned from him, but as it is, It i.
almost impossible to make y~ourselfin
telligible to him.
his habits are quite peculiar. He
sleeps in spells all day, retiring when
the sun rises and sitting up from sun
set till the next morning, the doors OF
his cabin closed and a fire burning in
the lire place summer or winter, over
which he stoops, poking it necessarily
with one of his walking sticks. He
takes three meals each day, doesn't
smoke, but chews a little, never in his
life took any medicine, used to drink
whisky, but doesn't now, has his face
shaved and is able to walk twenty
yards with the support of two sticks
Unable as he is to help himself, it i!
inspiring and elevating to note tn,
loving tenderness and patience witt
which his daughter, Mrs. Adams. anC
her family are devoted to him, and hov
they all endeavor to render the shor
interval that he may yet remain OF
earth, void Of jars Oh unpleasantness