James Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, HETH, RAY, MILES, WORCESTER, HILL, PERRY, HARRISON

Posted By: LuAnn Goeke (email)
Date: 4/17/2010 at 21:15:37

If the Miles Reporter is to be believed, there is an old man living near Miles in this county, named James Lafayette, who is as great a curiosity as was Barnum's Joyce Heth. He is said to be 92 years of age, and a cousin of General Lafayette of Revolutionary fame. John S. Ray and Willard Miles interviewed this old gentleman the other day and this is his story as reported by them:

John Lafayette, his father came to America from France with General Lafayette during the Revolutionary war. He, James, was born at Sackett's Harbor in 1785. When about 20 months old his father, with his family, moved to a small French town thirty-six miles south of Detroit, on the Maumee river, near where General Worcester was defeated by the British and Indians, which event occurred when James was but 21 years of age. At that time, he enlisted in the militia. In the war of 1812 he participated in an engagement at Brownstown. His company lay in ambush, and as a British vessel passed fired upon her. She returned the fire and he was wounded in the knee by a grapeshot. His company was then ordered to Detroit, about seventy miles distant, to join General Hill's forces. Lafayette was taken prisoner and paroled soon after. While on parole a British press gang tried to press him into service to fight Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. He ran from them and was followed about half a mile; taking refuge in a narrow passage in a trading house, he kept his pursuers at bay with an ax until they became discouraged and left him. That night, he patched up an old canoe and paddled thirty-six miles to Sackett's Harbor. Arriving there he found the fort abandoned by General Harrison's troops, who had gone to Sandusky. He paddled on in his canoe to Fort Wayne, where he enlisted in the regular army for five years. When his term expired, he re-enlisted for five years; but after serving two years and a half paid a substitute $170 to take his place. He then went to Green Bay; thence to Prairie du Chien; thence to the Galena lead mines; and came to Jackson county in 1851, where he has since lived.

Such are the brief outlines of the old veteran's career. He proudly says his reminiscences would fill a large volume.

Mr. Lafayette is active for a man even twenty years younger than 92. He frequently walks from his place into town. He often drives alone a span of horses not nearly so old as he is, though they do not seem to take much pride in their comparative youth. He manages his own affairs, and lives simply and temperately. He has never been under a doctor's care in his life. - City and Country Pencilings, 12 Apr 1877, Jackson Sentinel, Maquoketa, Iowa.

James Lafayette Grave
 

Jackson Biographies maintained by Nettie Mae Lucas.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen