>A CenlenHriuu. 

 Co5coBi>. Pa., February 3, 1W}». 

 Totlie Editors of the Eitninq I'oiU .- 



IlavinfTlrcquenlly seoa iu your Journul notice) 

 of cttPCB ot_rofnarkable lonjcevity, 1 havo thought 

 thflt ft few uotes of a contoonial blrthilay cclo- 

 bralion which took place in this noighbDrhood 

 ycbterduy ni^ht have eufflcient Intcrcat for you to 

 pnblit*h. ** 



Thomas Button was ono hundred yoarn old on 

 the L'd insUiul, havlnc; been bom In Aston, Dala' 

 ware county, Pa., (his present resldeuoe; on't^ie 

 2d ot February. 17C«. The anniversary was made 

 Jhc occasion for the gathering ot bl8 relatives and 

 friends to the number of three hundred or m»t:o 

 ut his rcbldcncc <or flic purpoae ol ti riderni,' Uim 

 their confrratuluiiDLS. A ijrire tout had boeo 

 erected conlijzuuub ro iho house iu autkiii.i'Jon 

 that thi' house would not b^ larjje enouKh to ac- 

 comnioflatc all, and eaeti family of visitor? brau<r!it 

 a basket or box ot provisiuoB as a contribut'on to 

 the supply tLat was necosaary. The day was a 

 pleaeaut one lor the scuskd, and it was spent and 

 tally occupied in the reading of a previously pre- 

 pared tjenenlocical aciouni i.f the DuUoa family 

 trom 1()S:J to the pre-ent time, takln;^ sti^reo'^eopic 

 views of the ccLtunou, of tbe lamily assombled, 

 and ot the promiscuous cotnpjuy irreapeLtr'e of 

 lamil\. &c.. &c. 



The old gentleman recollects and i elate.'; with 

 great distiiictutss occurreuees of u period more 

 than ninety years back. The British army after 

 the battle ot Brandy wice, on the llth of Si-ptera- 

 ber, 1777, ndvanct'd toward Philadelphia ab>nt 

 nine miles, und encamp.-d lor the nii^ht on bis 

 lather's farm; ard he reincmbers mora partici- 

 larly about what he saw and heard araonz the sol- 

 diery while in search of the cows in the raorninir, 

 tCan about incidents of decade siuce. He has al- 

 ways been a member of the Society of Fiiends, 

 and in 1808 was sent by them iu a semi-missionary 

 capacity amone the Indians at Tcnassasse, in 

 Western New York, where be remained tour 

 years, instructiuE; them in religton aud morals, 

 and in the common duties and necessary know- 

 ledge of their half-civilized focety. Returmna; 

 thence he auain took charge ol his tannery, which 

 he carried on fcxtenaivels betore and ater his visit 

 to the Indians, lor a period of halt a century or 

 more. 



His gineral health remains ffood, and thoujrb 

 not able to get beyond his room without assist- 

 ance, beiug rather ileshy nnd heavy and not able 

 to Bee distinctly, may jet remain a considerable 

 time a living example of the extent to which lile 

 may be Icnjrttencd out bv habits of temperance 

 ip everything, and of the composure and self-sal- 

 isfied cbuiulaisnnce with wLu-h one after a life ao 

 spent can look backou what Is past or torwardbp 

 what is to come. P. 



