Monday, July 26, 2021

Jack Blue, 105, Still Working on Little River Farm of J.L. Thompson, July 26, 1921

Jack Blue, Colored, Is 105 Years Old, He Says. . . Visits Dunn First Time Since Dunn Had Initial Store

Jack Blue is a negro farmer. He is 105 years old, and he can prove it. He, furthermore, is one of J.L. Thompson’s active farmers, helping tend the Little River farm of Mr. Thompson. He is in good health, gets about like one of the young ‘uns, and as a matter of fact is something of a human curiosity.

Jack came to Dunn yesterday for the first time since the first store was built here. It is the longest trip he has ever taken from home, and he said he got along very well at his old home, and stayed there about all the time. He came to Dunn yesterday after much persuasion by his employer, Mr. Thompson, who brought him here in his car, and introduced him around to the rest of his family and his friends here.

Little old Jack liked Dunn pretty well, but he said the farm suited him. He was a little surprised at the changes made since he was last here. He noticed quite a few improvements have been made, and the old burg seemed to have broadened out a little. But Jack don’t care much about pavement and brick stores and Packard automobiles. He was all in smiles while here but he just as soon be back home.

Jack has marched to the altar three times in his 105 summers and winters, and he has several grownup and married children as the result of his three marriages. He hardly looks to be as old as he is, but he says he can prove it. He was a slave during the civil war and each generation has kept a record f the old negro’s age, and it seems that he really is five years older than a hundred. He has been a tenant on the Thompson farm for several years, and Mr. J.L. says he has known the quaint old negro for a long time.

From the front page of the Dunn Dispatch, July 26, 1921

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