Ernest Nathaniel Peronneau, who is believed to be the oldest African American male in the United States and the world's oldest living man passed away at his home in Clinton Hills in Brooklyn, New York, USA, on 26 March 2014 at the age of 112 years, 19 days.
Mr. Peronneau was born on 7 March 1902 in Charleston, S.C. to James Finley and Florence Peronneau Sr. He moved to New York when he was 16 years of age to live with his aunts, his mother's seven sisters. Mr. Peronneau was married to Ella Pitts but became a widower in 1939 and single father of two sons, Milton and Robert. Both are deceased. There are no grandchildren. "They wanted to take those boys from me but, it went in one ear and came out the other", he said.
In the 1920's when he came to New York he tried his hand as an entrepreneur when he and a boyhood friend opened a 'fish-n-chips' business next to Harlem's famed Lafayette Theater.
He fought to be in the Bricklayers Union. " They didn't want me to get into their Union. So a friend told me what to do so, I went down south and joined. If they didn't respect me, I didn't respect them and I moved on to the next job". He joined Local 1 South Carolina in January 1948. In May 1949 he transferred to former Local 9 New York, now Local 1 Rego Park. He helped lay bricks for many of the older iconic buildings in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mr. Peronneau was forced to retire at age sixty-six after a brain aneurysm.
Always a 'snappy' dresser, he would often be seen in his straw hat and cane strolling along the broad boulevard of Harlem's Seventh and Lenox Avenues in the then-fashionable week-end parades. He was very active in the Black Movement, working with such leaders as W.E.B. Dubois and Walter White. He worked for the NAACP, which was located at Abyssinian Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem and was a part of the Marcus Garvey Movement. He traveled all over the world, "many, many, times," he would emphasize, by freight ships before passenger airplanes were built. "I traveled all over Africa, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and every place Africans were transported to during slavery. When it came to 'the People', I didn't read it in no book. I was there," he would say.
Mr. Peronneau declared that his secret to longevity was "Take care of that body and that body will take care of you". He never drank whiskey and never smoked. "Be a copycat. If I can do it, you can do it. It's never too late as long as you have life in that body".
As recently as a few weeks ago, Mr. Peronneau was feted in a birthday party celebrating his 112th birthday. He continued to take care of his body and his mind by doing his own laundry, preparing his own meals, going to the store shopping for himself and the house alone and by taking care of his own personal affairs.
He is survived by nieces, nephews, great and great great grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarians/ernest-peronneau/
Funeral services: Piro Funeral Home, 251 DeKalb Avenue.
Interment: Cypress Hills cemetery.
Here is the documentation that verifies his age:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GC7P-NMS
It includes an original birth record for him.
Mr. Peronneau was born on 7 March 1902 in Charleston, S.C. to James Finley and Florence Peronneau Sr. He moved to New York when he was 16 years of age to live with his aunts, his mother's seven sisters. Mr. Peronneau was married to Ella Pitts but became a widower in 1939 and single father of two sons, Milton and Robert. Both are deceased. There are no grandchildren. "They wanted to take those boys from me but, it went in one ear and came out the other", he said.
In the 1920's when he came to New York he tried his hand as an entrepreneur when he and a boyhood friend opened a 'fish-n-chips' business next to Harlem's famed Lafayette Theater.
He fought to be in the Bricklayers Union. " They didn't want me to get into their Union. So a friend told me what to do so, I went down south and joined. If they didn't respect me, I didn't respect them and I moved on to the next job". He joined Local 1 South Carolina in January 1948. In May 1949 he transferred to former Local 9 New York, now Local 1 Rego Park. He helped lay bricks for many of the older iconic buildings in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mr. Peronneau was forced to retire at age sixty-six after a brain aneurysm.
Always a 'snappy' dresser, he would often be seen in his straw hat and cane strolling along the broad boulevard of Harlem's Seventh and Lenox Avenues in the then-fashionable week-end parades. He was very active in the Black Movement, working with such leaders as W.E.B. Dubois and Walter White. He worked for the NAACP, which was located at Abyssinian Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem and was a part of the Marcus Garvey Movement. He traveled all over the world, "many, many, times," he would emphasize, by freight ships before passenger airplanes were built. "I traveled all over Africa, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and every place Africans were transported to during slavery. When it came to 'the People', I didn't read it in no book. I was there," he would say.
Mr. Peronneau declared that his secret to longevity was "Take care of that body and that body will take care of you". He never drank whiskey and never smoked. "Be a copycat. If I can do it, you can do it. It's never too late as long as you have life in that body".
As recently as a few weeks ago, Mr. Peronneau was feted in a birthday party celebrating his 112th birthday. He continued to take care of his body and his mind by doing his own laundry, preparing his own meals, going to the store shopping for himself and the house alone and by taking care of his own personal affairs.
He is survived by nieces, nephews, great and great great grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarians/ernest-peronneau/
Funeral services: Piro Funeral Home, 251 DeKalb Avenue.
Interment: Cypress Hills cemetery.
Here is the documentation that verifies his age:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GC7P-NMS
It includes an original birth record for him.
Ernest Nathaniel Peronneau, who is believed to be the oldest African American male in the United States and the world's oldest living man passed away at his home in Clinton Hills in Brooklyn, New York, USA, on 26 March 2014 at the age of 112 years, 19 days.
Mr. Peronneau was born on 7 March 1902 in Charleston, S.C. to James Finley and Florence Peronneau Sr. He moved to New York when he was 16 years of age to live with his aunts, his mother's seven sisters. Mr. Peronneau was married to Ella Pitts but became a widower in 1939 and single father of two sons, Milton and Robert. Both are deceased. There are no grandchildren. "They wanted to take those boys from me but, it went in one ear and came out the other", he said.
In the 1920's when he came to New York he tried his hand as an entrepreneur when he and a boyhood friend opened a 'fish-n-chips' business next to Harlem's famed Lafayette Theater.
He fought to be in the Bricklayers Union. " They didn't want me to get into their Union. So a friend told me what to do so, I went down south and joined. If they didn't respect me, I didn't respect them and I moved on to the next job". He joined Local 1 South Carolina in January 1948. In May 1949 he transferred to former Local 9 New York, now Local 1 Rego Park. He helped lay bricks for many of the older iconic buildings in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mr. Peronneau was forced to retire at age sixty-six after a brain aneurysm.
Always a 'snappy' dresser, he would often be seen in his straw hat and cane strolling along the broad boulevard of Harlem's Seventh and Lenox Avenues in the then-fashionable week-end parades. He was very active in the Black Movement, working with such leaders as W.E.B. Dubois and Walter White. He worked for the NAACP, which was located at Abyssinian Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem and was a part of the Marcus Garvey Movement. He traveled all over the world, "many, many, times," he would emphasize, by freight ships before passenger airplanes were built. "I traveled all over Africa, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and every place Africans were transported to during slavery. When it came to 'the People', I didn't read it in no book. I was there," he would say.
Mr. Peronneau declared that his secret to longevity was "Take care of that body and that body will take care of you". He never drank whiskey and never smoked. "Be a copycat. If I can do it, you can do it. It's never too late as long as you have life in that body".
As recently as a few weeks ago, Mr. Peronneau was feted in a birthday party celebrating his 112th birthday. He continued to take care of his body and his mind by doing his own laundry, preparing his own meals, going to the store shopping for himself and the house alone and by taking care of his own personal affairs.
He is survived by nieces, nephews, great and great great grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarians/ernest-peronneau/
Funeral services: Piro Funeral Home, 251 DeKalb Avenue.
Interment: Cypress Hills cemetery.
Here is the documentation that verifies his age:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GC7P-NMS
It includes an original birth record for him.
Mr. Peronneau was born on 7 March 1902 in Charleston, S.C. to James Finley and Florence Peronneau Sr. He moved to New York when he was 16 years of age to live with his aunts, his mother's seven sisters. Mr. Peronneau was married to Ella Pitts but became a widower in 1939 and single father of two sons, Milton and Robert. Both are deceased. There are no grandchildren. "They wanted to take those boys from me but, it went in one ear and came out the other", he said.
In the 1920's when he came to New York he tried his hand as an entrepreneur when he and a boyhood friend opened a 'fish-n-chips' business next to Harlem's famed Lafayette Theater.
He fought to be in the Bricklayers Union. " They didn't want me to get into their Union. So a friend told me what to do so, I went down south and joined. If they didn't respect me, I didn't respect them and I moved on to the next job". He joined Local 1 South Carolina in January 1948. In May 1949 he transferred to former Local 9 New York, now Local 1 Rego Park. He helped lay bricks for many of the older iconic buildings in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mr. Peronneau was forced to retire at age sixty-six after a brain aneurysm.
Always a 'snappy' dresser, he would often be seen in his straw hat and cane strolling along the broad boulevard of Harlem's Seventh and Lenox Avenues in the then-fashionable week-end parades. He was very active in the Black Movement, working with such leaders as W.E.B. Dubois and Walter White. He worked for the NAACP, which was located at Abyssinian Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem and was a part of the Marcus Garvey Movement. He traveled all over the world, "many, many, times," he would emphasize, by freight ships before passenger airplanes were built. "I traveled all over Africa, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and every place Africans were transported to during slavery. When it came to 'the People', I didn't read it in no book. I was there," he would say.
Mr. Peronneau declared that his secret to longevity was "Take care of that body and that body will take care of you". He never drank whiskey and never smoked. "Be a copycat. If I can do it, you can do it. It's never too late as long as you have life in that body".
As recently as a few weeks ago, Mr. Peronneau was feted in a birthday party celebrating his 112th birthday. He continued to take care of his body and his mind by doing his own laundry, preparing his own meals, going to the store shopping for himself and the house alone and by taking care of his own personal affairs.
He is survived by nieces, nephews, great and great great grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarians/ernest-peronneau/
Funeral services: Piro Funeral Home, 251 DeKalb Avenue.
Interment: Cypress Hills cemetery.
Here is the documentation that verifies his age:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GC7P-NMS
It includes an original birth record for him.
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