FELIX METTY - Our Common Ancestor
History of Monroe County - 1913
"Among the early French settlers upon the River Raisin were several whose vigorous constitutions and simple mode of life carried them to a venerable age, and unusually large number of centenarians having passed nearly their whole lives in Monroe County. One of these notable Frenchmen was Felix Metty, who died here, almost upon the identical spot upon which he had lived for almost a century, at the age of one hundred and two years.
The deceased was born in Canada, nearly opposite Detroit, in the year 1756. And at the period of early manhood removed to Detroit, where he participated in many of the perils and sufferings incident to those times and to this frontier, until after the War of 1812, when he removed to Frenchtown and there remained till the day of his death. The old gentleman retained his vigor of body and mind until almost a year before his death, walking regularly from the residence of his son, some three or four miles to the Roman Catholic church in this city, of which he had always been a devoted and faithful member. He was universally esteemed by his neighbors and friends, as a strictly upright man in his dealings, kind and humane in his feelings towards his fellow man."
NOTE: The above article is perhaps a bit misleading, inasmuch as the Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region 1701-1936 Volume II, page 842, gives Felix's birth as 19 October 1766 on the North East Coast of Detroit. He died at Monroe on 17 November 1858 which means he had reached the age of 92.
"Among the early French settlers upon the River Raisin were several whose vigorous constitutions and simple mode of life carried them to a venerable age, and unusually large number of centenarians having passed nearly their whole lives in Monroe County. One of these notable Frenchmen was Felix Metty, who died here, almost upon the identical spot upon which he had lived for almost a century, at the age of one hundred and two years.
The deceased was born in Canada, nearly opposite Detroit, in the year 1756. And at the period of early manhood removed to Detroit, where he participated in many of the perils and sufferings incident to those times and to this frontier, until after the War of 1812, when he removed to Frenchtown and there remained till the day of his death. The old gentleman retained his vigor of body and mind until almost a year before his death, walking regularly from the residence of his son, some three or four miles to the Roman Catholic church in this city, of which he had always been a devoted and faithful member. He was universally esteemed by his neighbors and friends, as a strictly upright man in his dealings, kind and humane in his feelings towards his fellow man."
NOTE: The above article is perhaps a bit misleading, inasmuch as the Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region 1701-1936 Volume II, page 842, gives Felix's birth as 19 October 1766 on the North East Coast of Detroit. He died at Monroe on 17 November 1858 which means he had reached the age of 92.
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