ELWOOD. The Oldest Man.—a correspondent of the St. Louis Republican, writing from Elwood, K. T. (Kansas Territory), says:
“One who lives on his claim, near the edge of this city, is, perhaps, the oldest man in America. If not, I will venture a small wager that he is the most active of his age. He is Mr. James O’Toole. He was born in the County of Donegal, in the North of Ireland, somewhere about the year 1730. He was an old man in the Irish rebellion in 1798, when, becoming implicated with Lord Fitzgerald, he fled his country, to seek freedom in our then young republic. His life has been checkered with many changes. He has been tossed about among various scenes and by many diverse circumstances. He moved to St. Louis thirty years ago, and established the first brewery there. He moved to the Platte Purchase in 1838, and lived in Buchanan County, near Bloomington, until two years ago, when he came to Kansas and made a pre-emption, and he can now walk eight or ten miles with ease, to visit his friends or attend to business affairs. He says his age is about one hundred and twenty-five years.
The White Cloud Kansas Chief, White Cloud, Kansas. Thursday, September 10, 1857. Page 2. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.
