The Opelousas courier., 1886-04-24
THE OLDEST MAN.
An Ex-Slave Near Detroit
Claims that Distinction.
He is Said to he l27 Years Old and Re-
members the Revolutionary War.

When old Dad" Freeman was buried
across the river in Windsor a short time
ago, says Il Detroit (Mich.) letter to the
New York Herald, it was believed that
the oldest man in the world had been
laid to rest. dad" was 122 years old,
as concluSively proved before his death,
and left 13S descendants. Since Free.
man was buried some relic hunters have
brought forward a man whose authentic
record fixes his age at the remarkable
figure of 127 years. The proof furnished
leaves no room for doubt. The name of
this man is Andrew Lucas. He is the
father of Mr.. P. A. Lucas, who for nine
years past has kept a barber shop in De-
troit. Mr.. Lucas was born a slave under
the father of General Jackson, he OF
eternal" fame, and was a grown man
when the General succeeded to the pa
! ternal estate. He remembers the Revo-
lutionary War distinctly and recalls many
very interesting incidents of the second
war between this country and Great
| Britain. He declares that it is as dis
tinct to him as yesterday when General
jackson went to New Orleans during
that very memorable struggle, when he
accompanied the General as his body ser
want. He describes the cotton bales
piled up as a temporary fertilization.
Soon after this, at a time when the
General was away, Lucas was whipped
for some reason and ran away. He re
members very well why he was whipped,
but does not give the reason. He worked
his way slowly north and crossed into
Canada at Black Rock, on the Niagara
River. Andrew Kirby, then customs
collector at Fort Erie, sheltered him and
helped him to cross into the Kings do
main. Lucas found employment in thu
family of General Brook, who was killed
in the Wal of 1912 at Queenstown
Heights. Next he ran on the Niagara
River, under Captain John Clinch, fol-
whom he worked nine years, and wM
then discharged by his employer because
the latter considered him too old to be
useful. Lucas was then sixty two years
old.
Lucas soon found employment again,
this time at Kingston, Ont, where he
married his second wife. His slave wife
had borne him seven children. His sec.
ond and free wife had bore him seventeen.
One daughter by this union is now living
at Faast Saginaw, Mich. Her name lie
Mrs. Williams, and she is seventy-one
years old. Fifty years ago Lucas removed
to Brantford, Ont. There he got work
from the father of Judge Stevenson, OF
Cayuga. The Judge, though now an old
man himself, remembers Lucas as a man
about seventy years old when he, as a
boy, was going to school.
For twenty-nine years Lucas was q
driver for the express company at Brant-
ford and resigned the place ten years age
for the reason that he was getting along
in years and felt the need Of rest. He
has the frame of a once powerful man
and stands six feet three inches in his
stockings. A year ago he sawed and
split twenty-five cords of wood for vii
liam E. Walling, of Brantford. Up tc
three years ago he never wore spectaeles,
and during the summer of 1883, when
visiting his son in Detroit, Mr.. Lucas
read the City Hall clock fir m in front Of
the Kirkwood House, across the Campu:
Martius. He then walked without the
assistance of a cane, being 124 years old
This is a most remarkable case of lon.
gevity. Lucas is certainly as old as stat
ed, and from his appearance to-day
promises to hang on for some time tt
come. This man is probably the oldest
person living. He has witnessed the de
yelopment of the most wonderful era il
the worlds history, and has personal rec
objections of all the many great events il
the career of this nation.