Still looking forward with zest is John H. Ryan, Freeport's oldest inhabitant, who is 100 years old today. Seated comfortably in a corner of the davenport, his knees crossed, spruce in a dark suit, hair and mustache white, color good, eyes twinkling, Mr. Ryan looks 30 years younger than he is. He's a bit shaky on his feet and says he has slowed up some these last few years - he usually rests in bed till ____ now - but he makes few concessions to time. His eyesight is excellent. He reads his mail - and still writes a good newsy letter - reads the newspaper and magazines. He said he has been following with interest recent arguments in the Journal Standard about splitting basketball tickets, though he is not a basketball fan himself, never was. He's a Republican, like all his family , but says he doesn't get worked up over politics, never did. Doesn't remember now which president he voted for first - not surprising when you recall he's been a voter now longer than most men live, 79 years.

Miss Pearl Ryan, his daughter, who looks after him and tries to keep his energy within the bounds of his strength, had planned to have an open house in his honor but gave up her plans when Embury church asked to have the reception. However, he is glad to see at his home any friends who cannot come to the church reception. It's fitting that Embury church should have the chance to honor Mr. Ryan. Last year he received national publicity when the Christian Advocate, Methodist church magazine, reported him the oldest known regular attendant in Illinois at Sunday school and church. The Embury reception will be in the church parlors from 9 to 10:30 this evening. Mr. Ryan's memory goes back to the days when he was a small German-speaking boy in a Pennsylvania Dutch farming community where only "low Dutch" was spoken. His father, son of a north Ireland man, knew English but used it only in business, not at home. When John was 10, the family decided to join relatives in this area. The trip was made by rail to Chicago in an immigrant train. It took one week because the train was switched to a siding whenever a passenger train was due. The car in which the group traveled had a stove on which families cooked the meals. From Chicago to Freeport they traveled by passenger train. The group stayed in Freeport that night, but Mr. Ryan's memory doesn't retain his first impression of the 1859 city, population already over 5,000 on the year after the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Next day they went on, in two wagons, one wagon got stuck in the spring mud of the prairie road - to the town of Adeline. "What did it look like then? Better than it does now!" Mr. Ryan exclaimed. "It was a thriving place, a real center. Farmers brought their wheat to the big water mill" (Mr. Ryan was later to marry the millers' niece) "to grind it into flour for Galena. There were still a few log cabins, but there were already plenty of good substantial houses surrounded by trees. It was a pretty town."

His first school days in Adeline, Mr. Ryan recalls wryly, he had to do his lessons - a big boy of 10 - with the beginners, because he couldn't speak any English at all. His first memories of Freeport are concerned with coming to town to see county fairs - later he also saw the two state fairs here in 1877 and 1878 - and the torchlight processions in election campaigns. He remembers a Democratic campaign parade in which an effigy at Lincoln was carried in a wagon mounted on a spring. At intervals a good Democrat would hit "Old Abe" on the head and knock him flat, but he would soon spring upright again only to get another rap. During the Civil war with other boys of his age he carved himself a wooden gun, drilled in the village street, Ryan remembers tension between the community and the few in Adeline who were such strong Democrats that they were suspected of being sympathizers with the Confederacy. At one time some of the army came home on furlough, sending ahead warning they would make the suspected men take the oath of allegiance. Excitement was so great some people left town till danger of violence was past. Some of the suspected men stood right up to the young veterans, Ryan said, and things quieted down when it was understood that there was no disloyalty to the federal union. The boy Ryan had a taste for painting. His father was a tailor - traveling to his customers, as was the custom in those days - and JOhn pulverized his father's marking chalks, mixed the dust with water, and made a pioneer version of today's popular finger paints. After working as a chore boy on a farm for a time - at $2.50 a month and board - he became an apprentice painter. When he knew the trade, he and a friend, Fred Michael, formed a partnership and pained houses, doing the fine interior "Graining" of the period and also finishing furniture and buggies. On Dec. 23, 1880, he married Miss Clara V. Fossler of Adeline.

A son and daughter were born to the couple. Mr. Ryan was active in the incorporation of Adeline as a town, and served as member of the town board and as town clerk. In 1888 they moved to Freeport, where the family has lived ever since, always in the same neighborhood. Mr. Ryan was employed for Many years by John Schwarz & Sons, as a painter first and then as a clerk in the store. He retired 20 years ago. Mrs. Ryan died in 1939 and their son Russell was killed in an accident in 1935. Mrs. Russell Ryan is here from Houston, Tex., for the birthday celebration. Miss Ryan, who formerly taught in the Stephenson county schools, has retired from teaching to run the family home for her energetic but fragile father. Mr. Ryan has been an active member of Embury church since 1898. He has taught in its Sunday school, been a longtime member of the Good Fellowship class - he rarely misses a Sunday - and contributed his talents as sign and scenery painter for the church's activities. A confirmed fairgoer, besides attending the Stephenson county fairs Mr. Ryan has attended every one of the country's World's fairs - the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, the Columbian exposition in Chicago in 1893, and Century of Progress in 1934 and the New York World's fair in 1939. He was photographed this last summer in attendance at the Stephenson county fair with Lucius M. Swanzey, another veteran of most of the county's fairs, who died this fall.

Mr. Ryan is a familiar figure in downtown Freeport. During good weather when he has occasion to be downtown he likes to have Miss Ryan "park him" on the courthouse lawn near the fountain, where he can sit in the sun and greet his wide acquaintance. He was seen at his accustomed post this summer, his 100th. He attributes his good health, sound faculties and long life to a naturally good constitution which he has never abused. " I am here to tell you this," he puts it, "although it may sound braggish. I have always tried to live a clean and moderate life." His friends think the real explanation is that his naturally good constitution was accompanied by a naturally happy disposition, not worried or fretted, with a capacity for finding pleasure in simple, friendly living. Contributed by Karen Fyock - from an undated Scrapbook clipping by Elisabeth Yager

Contributed by Karen Fyock - Undated