The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-12
CENTENARIAN BRAKEMAN
ITO WHAT HE ATTRIBUTES HIS
 LONGEVITY.
Ills Mode of Iiving-His Feeble Health in Youth-Avoidance of Tobacco ah" Stimulants and of Medicihe-his I"- ceptiOnn1 Activity.

who reached the century mark, nc
 having been born at Derby, october 10
 l799, is the son of Gideon and SaraH
 (French) Blaleman, and a meal ues'
 cendant of the Rev. Adam Blakeliian
 born in Straffordshire, Eng, Ill Ioao
 who came to America and settieu III
 Strafford in 1889, and organized there
 the first church of the town (Cohsre-
 gationaD and was it's pastor Tor tWen-
 ty-five years
 MT Blakeman is the oldest living
 member of the Masonic order III con
 necticut, having been made Mason
 at the age of 21 He is probably the
 second oldest Mason in New England,
 his only senior being the veneraple
 William Earle Cooke of Portsmouth,
 R. l., who was born January 26, li9i,
 and became a Mason in 1919.
 MT. Blakeman carries no wrinkles
 upon his face as evidence of his eX-
 treme age. None of his ancestors, so
 far as he can learn, ever reached ex-
 treme old age. MT. Blakeman's physi-
 cal faculties are wonderfully pre-
 served for one of his great age Mr.
 Blakeman has been an active, suc-
 cessfu business man. He Is of me
 dium size and of compact form.
 MT. Blakeman's life has been re- markable. While young man his health was poor, and so feeble did he become at one time that no one would have dared believed he would live out the allotted time of man, and the thought that he would reach five score years would have been considered pre- tbirtv he was little better than an invalid but he was possessed of ndomitable will and continued at business until he became better, and during the last six ty years of his life has enjoyed re- markable health.
 His habits have always been abstem- inous. He never used either tobacco or stimulants in any form and after the twenty-first year refused to take any kind of medicine, no matter what its nature. He attributed his long life and physical improvement to his refusal since then to take medicine and says had he never taken it he would proba- bly live to be 150 years old
 He believes that nature can take care of all the ills of the body if we see that the body has proper nourish- ment and if taken care of she will do all the rest and no medicine will be needed.
 It is related of him that at one time he was seized with a fever which kept him in bed some time, but he would not see a phyician or take any drugs.
 He has always been careful to eat the most nourishing foods and for over quarter of a century has eaten but bread and milk for breakfast and sup per. At dinner he eats meat, but in very small quantities. He has not drunk tea or coffee since 1883.
 The care he has taken of himself leaves him at the age of 100 quite an active man, both mentally and physi- cally. He Is able to dress himself and walk up and down stairs without as- sistance and, on Saturday, walked over quarter of mile through the lower part of Derby. He drives around the city and enjoys being out in the open air. His mind is not as strong as it was few years ago, but it is wonder fully sound yet and when one stops to consider the long number of years it has been so active he can but wonder it was not worn out years ago.
 One thing about MT. Blakeman makes him an exception to almost all people who reach ripe old age. He does not read the papers every day and IS not up in current history and does not claim to do one or be the other Current events do not interest him much. He prefers hearing a story read | rather than listening to the news of | the day. He Is a great Shakespearean | scholar and can repeat page after page from these plays, doing so frequently | when they are read to him He can | talk interestingly of events which oc- cured between 1920 and 1880 and 1890, | but he does not remember we'll the things which have happend during the past ten years. His hearing is good and his eyesight is very much better than one would expect.
 Mir. Blakeman rises at T:30 a. m and | retires at p. m. Until within the past | year he did not retire until 10 D. m. He sleeps regularly and is seldom dis -urbed.
 A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPHER,
 After Mr Blakeman resigned as sec 'etary and treasurer of the Shelton Co. le took up amateur photography, and over 90 years of age, filled a arge book with excellent pictures of jews taken in this vicinity. He both ook the pictures and developed them md they show that he not only had ar- istic taste in selecting the subjects. ,ut was very skilful in securing them. n his youth he took many daguerreo- ypes.
 He also plays the organ and at one ime was quite an accomplished musi- ian. He has a good tenor voice and when he sings now it 1t strong and Weet.
 MT. Blakeman also has the distinc- ion of being without doubt the oldest Jason living.
 MT. Blakeman has done a great deal oWard the building up of Derby, par icularly the East Side He opened 'ank street and built the house in { ,hich he now lives and the adjoining ne. He remembers when there were nly few houses in Derby and when he West Side was one big farm with he farm house standing where Mrs. lemer's boarding house is situated. 'early all the business which was here then he was young man, has dis ppeared, and in it's place have c0r7e thers. Shipbuilding, cooperage and hoe manufacturing have gone PROBLEMS OF THE FISHERIES. auSPs Affectinp S1IpnIy Co,po+ t,o |