Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-10-22
JOSEPH CRELE.
story II an AnericansPat riarch who W&s )


JOSEPH cRELE.
Story ofAn Patriarch Who Wxs = !
II ,s s Marvel Of I.ongevity.
It is something more than . hundred
and sixty years since remarkable
man was born here. IL is onlyaa little
more than twenty years since he died.
Joseph Crele was, perhaps. The marvel
of longevity Of this century, He was
born Of French parents in tie then nj
innate frontier post Il Detroit in 172b.
His early years were spent here, and
perhaps it was the salubrious air he
breathed that did something 10 prepare )
his constitution for withdrawing twice
three score years and ten 81 the wear
and tear Of this busy life. When he
had grown young man he went out
in the world and visited the principal
yham1ets of the French possessions in
America. When the English and Co
lonil army under the iu-starred Brad
dock poured ,ver the Alleghenies to
take Fort Du Quesne, Circle was =
French soldier and lent hand to the
defamation Of Braddock' 8 army. CrSle
was then older than the young Wash.
ington, but he lived to see him PresS-
dent and filing q large space In the
history of the world, at Q time, too,
when even Frederick the Great and tho
famous soldiers of the French revolu-
ton were on the field of action He
Fmourned to hear that the great Wash
ington had turned to clay, and sixty
years and six more wept with genera
tions century and hall younger over
the assassination of Lincoln. One Of
the Vctors of Fort Du Quesne, he lived
to see Canada and the Northwest lost
to the banner of the feur de lis. Ha
lived on to see the birth, the growth
and the triumph of the American Re-
public, of which he was good citizen
for ninety years. lie was almost sixty
years old when the revolution closed.
and yet he outlived every man who
served in that struggle for liberty.
Joseph Circle was married in New Or
leans in 1855, and he was quite active
when General jackson thrashed Pack
enham in 1915, and still living when
Farragut and 3utler captured that mo
tropolis of tho Southern ConfsderaSy
in 1862.
About 1860 Cre}e settled at the trad
ing post Of Prairie du Chen, Wis. and
he lived near there for moro than ono
hundred years. His first employment
there, while the country was still IN
the French possession, WAS as letter
carrier between Prairie du Chen and
Green Bay. But getting along in years
he aftcrward settled down on farm
He lived many Of his later years With
his only surviving daughter. He wa
sixty-nine years old when she was born,
and she lived to good round age, but
her old father survived her.
Notwithstanding his vast age the old
man continued hale and hearty, with
health such as would content men ol
half his years. He frequently walked
long distances. and was In the habit ct
daily chopping wood for family usa
1t Is rocited that he was melancholy IN
his Last years, and said that death had
forgotten him. Hs was very religious
through his life, and would nearly
always add to this sad conclusion tbs
bright words: "Bnt God has noo!"
He died January q, 1866, at the house
OF his granddaughter, Mrs Brtsboaa
at Caledonia, Wis, aged ono hundred
and forty-one years, and recognized as
the yeritable' @oldest man In the Neu
World"
Many other cases Of remarkable lon,
gevity have been claimed during this
century, but they usually lacked proof
This old man, however, authenticated
his age by the record Of his birth in
the old French Catholic Church here
He also demonstrated 1t very stxiking{y
in a law case in which ho was called
as witness some years before bib
death. The case involved the title to
land at Prairie du Chen. aud be test5'
fled to transactions Of eighty and nine
ty years previous
This native Of Detroit was not as old
as the celebrated Thomas Parr, '"ttse
olde, olde, very olde man." of Shrpp.
shire, England, born 1883, died 1858.
but be lived a much more exciting life
Parr merely existed through all BIS one
hundred and 6fty~two years q monot-
onous life in a sleepy English hamlet,
and he died when be was shown Lon
don. Crele was twenty years older III
his death than the noted Jean Claude
Jacob, member of the French Assem-
bly,, who was called by the French Wit.
Of his time the dean of the mman
Species "-Detro& Free Rress