The Longs of Longfield, Tipperary, NY & WI - Part IV
27. RICHARD THE REBEL - RICHARD LONG III
Richard Long III was born in Tipperary on October the 4th, 1824, the eldest son and heir of Edward Long of Fort Edward and Longfield, by his wife, Mary Crozier Clarke. The records of Trinity College Dublin, advise that Richard had graduated from Kilkenny College, and entered Trinity in October 1841 at the age of seventeen. However, he did not graduate.1 The initials “R.L.,” followed by “1847” are carved into the mortar beneath a window of the single storey addition to Fort Edward House. They are probably Richard's.
In the late 1840s, Richard fell in love with Miss Susanna Reid, governess to his younger siblings at Fort Edward. Despite his parents' objections to his mesalliance with a lady of a lower social rank, Richard and Susanna apparently ran off and got married. Richard's brother, Edward John Long, left Tipperary and went to New York City in 1848, and returned to Ireland the following year, then came back to New York in late 1849 or early 1850. In all likelihood, Susanna and Richard and Henry Long accompanied Edward to the New World. Mary Long's July 1850 letter to her son Edward,2 indicates that Edward, Henry, Richard and Susanna were all living at that time in close proximity to each other, if not in the same house.
The final paragraph of Mary's letter reveals that she had become reconciled to Richard and Susanna's marriage: “I must ask you now to give my affectionate love to Susan.” Mary completes her sentence thus: “kiss my dear little grandchildren for me.” Since Richard and Susanna are believed to have gotten married circa 1847, they probably would have had no more than two children by July 1850. The names of the children are presently unknown, though some of Richard's and Susanna's descendants believe that there may have been a Richard Long IV.
No further record of these enigmatic eldest children of Richard and Susanna Long has yet come to light. Perhaps they died young as did so many children in those days, or else, they and their descendants have so far escaped our attention. According to the 1871 Canadian Census for Port Dalhousie (now part of St. Catharines, Ontario), the two eldest children were Edward Moore Long (b 1852), aged 19, and Robert Long (b 1854), aged 17, both of them born in the United States. Edward Moore Long's granddaughter, Mrs Celeste Wimbish of Los Angeles, advises that Edward was born in New York City.3 It's interesting to note that the name of “Moore” has been carried on down to the great-grandchildren of Charity Moore Long.
Richard Long's name first appears in the 1849-50 New York City Directories, wherein he is listed as being a teacher.4 The 1850 Census for New York City, names: “Richard Long, age 26, teacher, place of birth - Ireland.”5 Confirmation that Richard lived in New York until 1855 comes from the Irish Registry of Deeds. A December 1855 Long deed states: “Richard Long and Marshal Long of the City of New York in America.”6
An obituary in the New York Herald reads: “[Died] On Sunday, October 8, [1854], MARSHALL CLARKE LONG, the beloved child of Richard and Susannah Long, aged 10 months and 17 days. His remains were removed to the Cemetery of the Evergreens for interment.”7 Since it's likely that at least one of their two eldest children died in infancy, the death of yet another of their infant children must have been devastating for Susanna and Richard, who had named the baby after its great-grandfather, the Reverend Marshal Clarke.
After the arrival of Richard's father and younger siblings in 1854, most of the Longfield Long Family remained in New York City for no more than several months, before moving out West to Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter, Richard and Susanna and family also left New York, and settled in Covington, Kentucky, where their daughter, Susan Matilda Long, was born on December 4th, 1859.A Long deed dated 1858 refers to “Richard Long of Cincinnati,”8 located opposite Covington, on the north side of the Ohio River. By 1860, Richard and Susanna had a family of at least three surviving children: Edward, Robert and Susan, with a possible fourth and eldest child, name unknown.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Richard and his brother-in-law, Charles Cameron, joined the Confederate Army, whereas four of Richard's brothers in Wisconsin, joined the Union Army. Richard's actions caused a major rift in the Long Family, and an example of his family's feelings toward him at that time, is to be found in the contents of a letter written by his brother, Stephen Moore Long, to their brother, Robert Hare Long, back in Ireland. Stephen wrote the letter February 27, 1862, while encamped with the Union Army at Arlington Heights, Virginia. Since the letter is both faded and torn, missing words are indicated by dots. Here follows an extract from the letter:
“I think Richard is amongst the prisoners taken by us. He was first Lieutenant under General Bragg, and who was taken with his whole ...... Generals Johnston and Pillow were ..... I know Richard had too much ..... and he must be killed or taken prisoner. I hope the latter has been his lot for although I am opposed heart, mind and strength to the cause he was engaged in, I could neither rejoice over his fall, or what would be worse still, his ignominious flight along with the thief Floyd - General Floyd - he robbed the Treasury once of 200,000 dollars.
I blush to think he [Richard] ever took up arms in such a cause - the overthrow of a Government under which he has so long lived, and he was enjoying all the privileges anyone could reasonably desire. And for what did he do this? To aid in the extending and perpetuating of an atrocious and iniquitious condition which causes every man to blush for our race. But as I do not understand all the circumstances under which he engaged in this unholy cause, I had best not prejudge his motives. I will find out where he is before long and will write to him.”9
According to Richard's great-grandson, Robert H. Long of Toronto, Richard served as an officer in the 24th North Carolina Calvary of the Confederate Army. This would seem logical, for although Richard had Southern sympathies, he lived in the border state of Kentucky, which did not secede from the Union, thereby obliging Richard and other Kentucky Confederates to join regiments in states further south. Since there exists no record of Richard's having served in any regular North Carolinan regiment, he must therefore have served with a volunteer regiment, or in South Carolina. Hopefully, future research might yet locate some record of his military service.
Another of Richard's great-grandsons, Robert H. Scott, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has inherited Richard's Civil War pistol. Robert recalls having heard that with the outbreak of hostilities, Richard mounted his horse and headed south to Carolina. Robert Long states that Richard was captured by the Union forces, and was eventually taken, in chains, to Sandusky, Ohio, to the Johnson's Island Prison for Confederate officers. Somehow, Richard managed to escape while enroute to the prison, during the winter of 1862-3 or 1863-4, and he apparently made his way north across the frozen waters of Lake Erie to Kingsville, Ontario, on the Canadian side. From there, Richard headed east to the Niagara region, and there he settled down.
Meanwhile, Susanna Long made the decision to leave the war-striken States and return to Ireland with young Susan, while leaving the boys in the care of relatives in the States, most probably with Richard's brother, Marshal Long of New York City. From the safety of Canada, Richard located his sons, Edward and Robert, who joined their father at his new home in Fort Erie, Ontario, across the river from Buffalo, New York, and some twenty miles south of Niagara Falls. Richard also evidently managed to have one of his former servants come up from Kentucky, an elderly black man.
From his sons, Richard learned the tragic news that his wife and daughter had been lost at sea on their voyage back to Ireland. While down in Carolina, Richard had fallen in love with Mrs Ann Smith Fox, a widow with three children. Upon hearing from Richard toward the end of the war, Ann Fox left her two eldest children with relatives, and taking with her, her youngest daughter, Emma, they headed north to join Richard in Fort Erie, Ontario. Believing himself to be a widower, Richard married Ann Fox, born in 1830 in Derbyshire, England.
The 1871 Canadian Census lists Richard, Ann, five children and a servant, as the occupants of a household in the Village of Port Dalhousie, Ontario, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, northeast of Niagara Falls. The census gives Richard's age as 46 and Ann's as 41. His place of birth is given as Ireland and hers as England, and their religious denomination as the Church of England, while Richard's occupation is listed as that of teacher.
Of the five children enumerated, the first three are stated to have been born in the United States: Edward, aged 19; Robert, 17; and Emma, 11. The two youngest children are listed as having been born in Ontario: Victor Albert, aged 5; and Charles Henry, aged 3. Emma was not a Long but was Ann's daughter by her first husband, Mr Fox. Edward and Robert were Richard's sons by his first wife, Susanna Reid, whereas Victor and Charles were his sons by his second wife, Ann Smith Fox. Richard and Ann subsequently had two more children: Annette Jane Long, born in 1871; and Kathleen Helena Long, born in 1874. Therefore, Richard had four children by his second wife, Ann, and at least six children by his first wife, Susanna.
In August, 1867, a local newspaper commented on Richard's teaching abilities: “PORT DALHOUSIE ....... the teacher, Mr. Long, winning golden opinions for the able manner in which he has managed the school since taking it in charge.”10 From the January 5th, 1870 edition of the St. Catharines Daily Times: “On Saturday last, Mr. R. Long, Principal of the Port Dalhousie Common School, met with a most agreeable surprise, by a New Year's call from a committee of his pupils, who ..... presented him ..... with the handsome present of 20 dollars.” Despite not having graduated, Richard's Trinity College Dublin education enabled him to earn a living by pursuing a teaching career. An 1875 St. Catharines directory lists Richard Long as the proprietor of the the Wood House Hotel in Port Dalhousie, and gives Richard's place of birth as Ireland, and his date of settlement in Port Dalhousie, as 1867.11
The Wood House is said to have been the best hotel in Port Dalhousie, and one wonders where Richard obtained the necessary funds with which to purchase or lease it. It does seem plausible that Richard Long II might have given his brother Edward a reasonable share from the monies obtained through the sale of Longfield in 1846. If that did in fact happen, then Edward Thomas Long could very well have dispersed some of the money amongst his children, thus providing Richard Long III with the necessary capital with which to purchase or lease the hotel. His great-grandson, Robert Scott, has obtained a copy of the transaction which confirms that Richard leased the building rather than bought it.12 Nevertheless, successive St. Catharines directories list Richard as the owner of the Wood House up to and including the 1878 edition. Surprisingly, the 1879 directory lists Ann Long as the owner of the Wood House, which was put up for sale and sold the following year.
Sometime during 1878, Richard's first wife, Susanna, and their daughter Susan Long, now a young woman eighteen years old, came over from Ireland looking for him. They had not drowned in the Atlantic Ocean after all!! Susan and her mother are said to have visited an aunt, possibly in southern Ontario, who claimed not to know her brother Richard's whereabouts. The aunt may have been Eliza Long, wife of Charles Cameron, who, having been a Confederate officer as had Richard, may also have settled in Canada after the Civil War.
Now although the prevailing view in the family has it that Susanna and Susan were unable to find Richard, one alternative story has it that they did in fact locate Richard's residence in Niagara and went there to visit him. As it turned out, he was away at the time, and the story goes that a younger son answered the door, and upon learning who had come calling, protested that his father, Richard, was indeed married to his mother, Ann Long. Susan and Susanna then returned to Ireland. Ann must have discovered that Richard's first wife was alive and may very well have threatened Richard with a charge of bigamy. She forced him to leave and all his property was turned over to her.
Richard, known to some of the family as “the Wayward Richard,” remains somewhat of an enigmatic and mysterious figure to his many descendants in Canada and the United States. Richard has been described as a rebel, a ladies’ man, and very charming, with the refined and cultivated manners of an aristocrat. On the darker side, he is also remembered as a womanizer, a heavy drinker, and as a rather ill-tempered sort. Of his personal appearance, no photographs have yet been found. He is known to have had deep and terrible scars on his wrists, where the handcuffs had cut into his flesh when he successfully removed them after his escape while enroute to the Johnson's Island Prison.
We will never know the actual story of Susanna's and Susan's alleged drowning, or as to whether or not Richard believed it to be true. Once again, Richard had become a fugitive, previously from his Union Army captors, and now from both his wives. Bigamy, a century ago, would have been considered to be an even more serious crime than it is now, even though unintentional.
Richard was all alone now. He had lost the love of both the women who had loved him, and he had probably lost the respect and affection of all his children. He made his way back to the Kingsville-Leamington area where he had first set foot on Canadian soil. He, who had originally been destined to become Richard Long III of Longfield, of the landed gentry of Tipperary, had now become a homeless wanderer, taking teaching positions whenever possible, and if such were not available, he would work at menial farm and labouring jobs if need be, to survive.
During the mid-1880s, Richard's amorous tendencies involved him in an affair with a young woman, and, as a result, Richard became a father again at the age of sixty, to a natural son, William Long, born in 1885 near Windsor, Ontario. When he was only five years old, young William, heartbroken, sobbed uncontrollably when his father departed, never to return.
Chippawa, Ontario, lies about twenty miles southeast of Port Dalhousie, and is now part of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario. One of the oldest churches in the area is Trinity Anglican Church, and in the church graveyard is a tombstone bearing the following inscription: “RICHARD LONG, buried July 6, 1901, age 90. Erected by his scholars.” The age does not match; however, the Trinity Church Registers list only one Long: “Richard Long, age 76, teacher, born in Ireland, buried July 6, 1901.” The preceding entry in the burial register is for an “Alfred McGuire (coloured), about 90 years old, labourer, born in Kentucky, U.S.A., buried Feb. 18, 1901.” Alfred McGuire was probably Richard's faithful servant who had come up from Kentucky after the Civil War.
Therefore, the error in Richard's age resulted from a careless reading of the church register, and furthermore, Richard's gravestone was paid for by a group of his former students [who would not have known his age], and not by any member of his three families, none of whom probably ever saw him again after his disappearance. Richard's great-niece, the late Mae Long Cox (1891-1986) of Vancouver, Washington, recalled that after the Civil War, her Uncle Richard was never heard from again.
Of Richard's first wife, Susanna, nothing further is known. Did she remain in Ireland, or did she return once again to Canada with her daughter in 1882? We do know that sometime after 1880, his second wife, Ann, reverted to her previous married name of Fox, and had her children do likewise, except for Victor, who refused, and therefore continued to be known as Victor Albert Long.
After selling the Wood House, Ann Long, now known as Mrs Ann Fox, managed the Russell House in St. Catharines, from the 1880s until the turn of the Century. Known to her descendants as “Granny Fox,” she is remembered as having been “a no-nonsense person who ran a tight ship and raised her family well.”13 Circa 1890 all her children headed West to Manitoba, and so eventually Ann gave up the Russell House and moved to Manitoba, to be with her family. Ann Long Fox died in Portage-la-Prairie in May, 1910, at the age of 79, having survived her estranged husband Richard, by nine years.
Without a doubt, Richard Long III figures as one of the most interesting and colorful characters in the Long of Longfield Family. Whatever were his faults, Time has now healed the wounds, thus enabling his many descendants to remember him fondly.
NOTES:
1. Alumni Dublinenses, p 510
2. See Chapter 25 for Mary Long's Letter
3. LLC - 1985 Letter from Mrs Celeste Wimbish, great-grand-daughter of Richard Long III
4. Trow's New York City Directories, 1849-50 edn through to 1854-55 edn
5. 1850 United States Census, New York City, Ward 17, p 64(?)
6. RD, Mem. 83, Book 9, 1856, “Edward Long & others to Patrick Hayes”
7. New York Herald, Oct. 10, 1854, Obituaries
8. RD, Mem. 74, Book 34, dated 1858, registered 1863, “Long to Long”
9. LLFP, Brewer Public Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
10. The St. Catharines Constitutional, St. Catharines, Ont., Aug. 1, 1867
11. Patron's Directory of St. Catharines, 1875 edn, p 78, St. Catharines Ontario Public Library
12. LLC, 1996 letter from Robert H. Scott, great-grandson of Richard Long III
13. Ibid
28. THE FAMILY OF RICHARD LONG III
EDWARD MOORE LONG (1852-1828) was born on December 24th, 1852,1 in New York City, the eldest known surviving son of Richard Long III, by his first wife, Susanna Reid. In the traditional fashion, Edward Moore Long was named after his paternal grandfather, Edward Long of Fort Edward, and he was given the middle name of Moore in honour of the Longs' descent from the Moores of Barne.
Young Edward and his family moved to Covington, Kentucky, in 1856, and resided there until 1863 or 64, at which time his sister and mother set sail for Ireland. Susanna left her boys in the care of a relative, presumably their Uncle Marshal Long of New York City, who evidently took Edward sailing out in the ocean while he was still a young lad.2 Edward soon learned the tragic news that his mother and sister had been lost at sea on their voyage to Ireland.
Circa 1865 or 66, Richard Long located his sons and arranged to have Edward and Robert join him at his new home in Fort Erie, Ontario, opposite Buffalo, New York. The boys now met their new step-mother, Ann Smith Fox, who, according to Edward's granddaughter, had previously been Richard's housekeeper at some point.3
Over the next eight years, Edward and Robert were to gain four new half-brothers and sisters. By the mid-1870s, both boys had matured to manhood; Edward then struck out on his own and returned to his birthplace of New York City, where he eventually married, only to lose his first wife and baby in childbirth. Circa 1886, Edward married again, this time, to Araminta Bickham, and they left New York and settled down in Dallas, Texas, where all their children were born.
Edward Moore Long was a big handsome man with thick curly hair and a large strawberry birthmark on his left cheek. After settling in Dallas, Edward found employment as a fireman with the Dallas Fire Department, and worked there until he was hired as an engineer for the Dallas Brewery. Edward and Araminta had a family of five children: 1. Edward William Long (1887-1964), of Dallas, married but no issue; 2. Robert James Long (1888-1975), of Dallas, married but no issue; 3. Mabel Long (1891-1949), married Ephraim David Fried; 4. Ethel Mae Long(1893-1992), of Los Angeles, married Francis Love Cornwell; and 5. Marguerite Long (1897-1920), married Lloyd Napier of Texas. Edward Moore Long lived till the age of 76 and died in Dallas in 1928, while his widow, Araminta, survived him until 1958. Their descendants live in California and Texas. Edward M. Long rarely discussed his childhood with his children, and it leads one to ponder as to what degree Richard's behaviour might have cast a dark cloud over the early lives of his children.
ROBERT LONG (born 1854), was also given a traditional family name. Robert, born in New York City, was the second eldest known surviving son of Richard Long III, by his first wife, Susanna Reid. “Known” and “surviving” have been used in reference to Richard's and Susanna's sons, because of the possibility that they may have had an eldest son named Richard Long IV who survived till adulthood. Since Richard Long II had no children, it would then have been logical for Richard Long III, as the eldest male Long of the next generation, to name his eldest son after his Uncle Richard, who was head of the family, rather than name him after his father, Edward Thomas Long.
In any event, Robert Long lived first in New York City, then Kentucky, and then on to the Niagara region of Ontario. Presently, there exists no record of him beyond the 1871 Census for Port Dalhousie in the Niagara area. Did he die young, or did he also return to New York City circa 1875 or 1880, as had his elder brother, Edward Moore Long? Or, did he remain in Canada? If Robert Long did marry and have children, then his descendants might now number in the hundreds.
SUSAN MATILDA LONG WOODS (1859-1951) was born in Covington, Kentucky, on December 4th, 1859, the daughter of Richard Long III, by his first wife, Susanna Reid. One of Susan's earliest memories occurred one day when she was only four years old. She and her mother were startled to discover Union soldiers at the door of their Kentucky home. Susan became frightened and hid behind her mother's skirts, while the soldiers, apparently looking for someone, questioned her mother.4 Unbeknown to Susan and Susanna, Richard, a captured Confederate officer, had escaped while being taken to a military prison, and had fled north to Canada.
Susanna Long's situation seemed precarious. Since her “rebel” husband was now considered to be a fugitive from justice, she might have felt she could no longer raise her children on her own in such a war-like environment. She would have quickly packed hers and her children's essential belongings and closed up the house. Then they would haveboarded the train for New York City, where Susan left her sons with their Uncle Marshal Long, whereas she and little Susan boarded a ship that would take them to the safety and security of her native Ireland. We will never know if in fact Susan and Susanna's ship did go down. If so, they might have experienced a perilous escape from the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Was it reported in error that there were no survivors?
Susan and Susanna Long lived in Ireland for the next fifteen years before returning to North America. Where they lived, we do not know; probably with members of her family, though possibly with Long relatives in Dublin or Tipperary. Hopefully, mother and daughter experienced a tranquil Atlantic crossing in 1879, when they came to Ontario looking for Richard. Although Susan didn't find her father, she did find a future husband, Francis Bailey Woods (1856-1939), of Brantford, Ontario, eldest son of Frederick Stevenson Woods, of The Bolies, County Meath, Ireland.5
Once again, Susan and her mother returned to Ireland. Three years later, Susan Matilda Long returned to Canada, and on March 8th, 1882, the 92nd anniversary of the marriage of her great-grandparents, Richard and Charity Long of Longfield, Susan Long and Francis Woods were married in an Anglican church in or near Toronto. Perhaps Susan's mother returned with her to Canada; unfortunately, there exists no further known record of Susanna Reid Long.
At this point in the story, I must inject a slight diversion. Up until January, 1985, all I knew about Richard Long III was his name and the fact that he had attended Trinity College Dublin. One day, as I was searching through the pages of Burke's Landed Gentry looking for descendants of Charity Moore Long's sister, Salisbury, I happened to glance at the opposite page, and my eyes expressed astonishment when they focused on the following: “Francis Bailey [Woods] ..... m[arried] Susan Matilda, grand-dau. of Edward Long of Fort Edward, Co. Tipperary, and had issue.”6 Four children were named, all born in Manitoba, Canada, during the 1880s.
I felt compelled to somehow locate these Long of Longfield descendants. It was a long shot, but I decided to place an advertisement in the personal column of Manitoba's biggest newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press. The ad was to appear in the Saturday paper, and you can imagine my surprise when I received a phone call that afternoon: “Howdy, my name is Frankie Johnston, and oh boy, am I excited! I am the granddaughter of Susan Long and Frank Woods!” In a matter of minutes, Frankie and I exchanged volumes of family information, and before long, we both realized that she was the great-grand-daughter of Richard Long III. Back to the story of Frankie's Grandparents.
Francis Woods had already homesteaded out West at Beaconsfield, near Holland, Manitoba, and so he took his new bride with him back to the Prairies. Their first four children were born there at Beaconsfield: 1. Frederick George Woods (1883-1957), of Bowsman, Manitoba, married Martha Patricia McGowan; 2. Reginald Francis Woods (1884-1949), of Gilbert Plains, unmarried; 3. Richard Stevenson Woods (1886-1976), of LeRoy, Saskatchewan, married Frances McKay; and 4. Constance Reid Woods (1888-1965), married Archibald Hamilton, of Ruthilda, Sask. and Calgary, Alberta.
During the 1880s, roving bands of Native Indians often passed by the Woods Farm, on their way to new camping grounds. On one occasion, Susan Long Woods was resting on a couch near a window when a face peered in at her. She was very much frightened since she had been misinformed by friends back in Ireland that she might end up being scalped by Indians if she went to Western Canada.
The Native man walked right into the house and indicated that he wanted the hunting knife hanging on the wall. Fortunately, Frank Woods returned home just then and managed to understand that the intruder simply wanted to borrow the hunting knife to skin a deer he had just shot. Their surprise visitor was Chief Chinequaw, who became a good friend of the Woods Family and often brought them gifts when he came to visit.7
After nine years at Beaconsfield, in southern Manitoba, a succession of frozen crops convinced Frank Woods to move to an area not so susceptible to frost. In 1891, Susan and her four children travelled northward by train across the Riding Mountains to their new homestead at Gilbert Plains, where Frank had laboured over the previous year preparing a new home for his family. Their first dwelling there was a sod-roofed cottage with a mud floor, and here, three more children were born unto the two descendants of the Irish landed gentry: 5. Ethel Victoria Woods (1891-1984), married Basil Roy Whelon of Gilbert Plains and Winnipeg; 6. Winnifred Woods (1895-1980), a teacher, unmarried; and 7. Albert Woods (1897-1905), who died young in an accident.
Frank and Susan Woods and their seven children eventually moved into a substantial two-storey house and they settled into their new life on their farm in the Dauphin region, where the soil provided beautiful crops. Frank Woods died in 1939 and Susan survived him until 1951 when she passed away at the grand age of ninety-two. Members of St. Matthews Anglican Church, Francis and Susan Woods are buried at the Chatsworth Cemetery in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. Their many descendants are now scattered across the four provinces of Western Canada.
CHARLES HENRY LONG (1868-1924) was born on May 1st, 1868, the second son of Richard Long III, by his second wife, Ann Smith Fox.8 Charlie, named after his uncle, Charles Henry Long (1829-1855), was only eleven years old when his father vanished. Unlike his brother Victor, Charlie assumed the surname of Fox at his mother's insistance.
Charlie's half-sister, Emma Fox, had married John Orchard Cadham in 1879, and in 1882, the young couple were the first of Granny Fox's family to head out West. Jack Cadham opened a hardware store in Portage-la-Prairie, and when Charlie and his siblings moved to Manitoba circa 1890, he ended up working at Jack's hardware store. Charlie Long Fox served overseas in World War I, and there exists a photo of him in his army uniform. He did get married but there were no children.
According to his niece, Mrs Beryl Scott, daughter of Henry Fryer and Annette Long, her Uncle Charlie was a kindly man with a sense of humour.9 Charles Henry Long Fox died suddenly in Vancouver, British Columbia, in January, 1924, at the rather young age of fifty-five.
ANNETTE JANE LONG FRYER (1871-1937) was born on June 3rd, 1871, at Port Dalhousie, Ontario, the elder daughter of Richard Long III, by his second wife, Ann Fox. Only eight years old when her father left home, “Nettie,” as she was known to the family, would have had limited memories of her father, Richard Long. The 1881 census for Port Dalhousie lists Annette Long, age nine, as living in the same household as John and Emma Cadham,10 her half-sister. Why Annette was living with her sister rather than her mother, is unknown. Although Ann Long changed hers and her children's last name to Fox, she didn't apparently do so right away. Whereas Richard and Ann parted ways in 1879, the 1881 Census refers to Nettie as Annette Long, not Annette Fox.
At the age of seventeen, Annette Long Fox married Henry Benjamin Fryer, a tinsmith from Brantford, Ontario. Annette and her husband, known as Ben Fryer, headed out West to Manitoba and settled about twenty miles west of Portage, at MacGregor, where they operated a hardware store and tinsmith shop for several years. In 1906, the Fryers moved to Fort William [now part of Thunder Bay, Ontario] where Ben purchased and operated a photography studio.11 Annette and Ben had a family of five children: 1. Beryl Helene Fryer (1890-1958), who married Henry McNaughton Scott, parents of Robert Hill Scott of Thunder Bay, Ontario; 2. Olive Fryer (1891-93); and 3. Victor Fryer (1893-94), who both died in infancy; 4. Hal Charles Fryer (1894-1917), who died in action over in France during World War I; and 5. John Edmund Fryer (1898-1989).
John E. Fryer, known to his family as Jack, took over his parents’ business when they retired. An excellent photographer, an accomplished sailor and a shrewd businessman, Jack Fryer served as a Fort William alderman and was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. When he and his second wife [and cousin] Phyllis Garland relocated down in Austin, Texas, his portrait studio there waxed prosperous. Jack Fryer topped off his successful career when he was commissioned by the State of Texas to take the official state portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson.12
It is astonishing but somewhat sad to realize that Annette and her siblings, Kathleen and Charles, had all moved to Manitoba, and were all living less than 150 miles from their half-sister, Susan Long Woods, who, through a few strokes of misfortune, had been permanently separated from her brothers and sisters. They never did get to know about each other.
KATHLEEN HELENA LONG GARLAND (1874-1947) was born in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, on November 23rd, 1874, the younger daughter of Richard Long III, by his second wife, Ann Fox. In February 1899, Kathleen, known as “Katie,” married John James Garland, owner of a clothing store in Portage-la-Prairie, Manitoba. John Garland was the eldest son of Absalom Garland of Goulbourn Township, Carleton County, Ontario, by his wife, Isabella Foster. As with the Longs of Longfield, the Garlands also had Irish roots, Absalom Garland having been the grandson of John Garland [son of Col. William Garland], of Coolcullen, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, by his wife, Ellinor Butler,13 possibly of the famous Butler family of Ireland.
John James Garland served as mayor of Portage in 1911 and ‘12, and was elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1914. He was an influential supporter of Arthur Meighen, who became Prime Minister of Canada in 1920. John and Katie Garland were members of St. Mary's Anglican Church. Cut down in the prime of life, John J. Garland died in 1925 at the age of fifty-one and was buried at the Hillside Cemetery in Portage. His widow Katie survived him by twenty-two years.14
John and Kathleen Garland had a family of four children, all born in Portage: 1. Kathleen Isabel Garland (1900-1981) who married George Thomas Harris of Montreal; 2. Doris Ann Garland (1902-19~~), who married Harley Moody Hughes of Winnipeg; 3. Phyllis Helena Garland (b 1904; living 1998) who married her widowed cousin, Jack Fryer, of Austin, Texas, where she still resides; and 4. John James Garland II (1909-1976), late of Thunder Bay, Ontario, who married Elaine Dimmell.15
In the 1930s, Katie Garland retired to Victoria, British Columbia, where she resided comfortably in that city’s famed Empress Hotel. In her later years, Katie returned to Manitoba and went to Winnipeg to live near her daughter, Doris Hughes. Kathleen Helena Garland, grand-daughter of Edward and Mary Long, departed this life in 1947 at the age of seventy-two, and was laid to rest alongside her husband in Portage-la-Prairie’s Hillside Cemetery. Katie's brother, Victor Albert Long, will be the subject of the next chapter.
NOTES:
1. State of Texas, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Austin, Texas, Standard Certificate of Death
2. LLC, 1985 letter from Mrs Celeste Wimbish, granddaughter of Edward Moore Long, son of Richard Long III
3. Ibid
4. Ibid, 1985 letter from Mrs Frankie Johnston of Winnipeg, Granddaughter of Susan Long Woods, daughter of Richard Long III
5. Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952 edition, pp 2407-8, “Stevenson of Balladoole”
6. Ibid
7. Gilbert Plains Maple Leaf, Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, Articles on “Pioneer Plainsmen,” 1906
8. Parish Records of St. John's Anglican Church, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
9. LLC, 1985 letter from Robert H. Scott, grandson of Annette Long Fryer, daughter of Richard Long III
10. 1881 Canadian Census, Ontario, Lincoln County, Port Dalhousie.
11. LLC, 1996 letter from Robert H. Scott
12. Ibid
13. LLC, Extracts from “The Garland Family of Goulbourn,” 1988 letter from Mrs Sue Preston, granddaughter of Kathleen Long Garland, daughter of Richard Long III
14. Ibid, and Who’s Who And Why, International Press, Vancouver, 1913, vol 3, p 269
15. LLC, “The Garland Family of Goulbourn,” 1988 letter from Sue Preston
29. VICTOR ALBERT LONG - ARTIST OF THE CANADIAN WEST
Victor Albert Long was born on May the 24th, 1866, at Fort Erie, Ontario,1 the elder son of Richard Long III, by his second wife, Ann Fox. Having been born on her birthday, Victor was named after Queen Victoria, and her consort, Prince Albert. In 1867, the family moved thirty miles north to Port Dalhousie, where Victor spent his childhood.
Since his two much older half-brothers, Edward (b 1852) and Robert (b 1854), lived with the family until the mid 1870s, Victor got to know them well, and as a much younger brother, it is almost inevitable that he would have looked up to them and admired them. When Edward and Robert finally left home, young Victor and Charlie must have missed them sorely. Thereafter, Victor became the big brother to his younger siblings: Charlie, Nettie and Katie Long.
The ultimate departure occurred when his father left home for good in 1879. Victor, thirteen years old by then, witnessed the bitterness and estrangement that had developed between his two parents. When his mother later insisted that all her children assume her previous married name of Fox, Victor absolutely refused to do so. He was a Long! No doubt about that!
Circa 1880 or 81, Victor Long ran away from home and found a job working on the construction of the Welland Canal, near Fort Erie.2 As a teenager, Victor was already developing his talent for painting. A Vancouver newspaper once reported that: “After a short course in New York, [Victor Long] decided to make painting his life work and went to Europe for four years of study in Munich, Bavaria, moving to art centres in Italy and at last in Paris. There he was at the Beaux Arts and the Julien Schools under Cabanel, Jerome, and Tony Robert Fleury. His formal studies over, he ..... removed to Winnipeg in the late eighties,”3 and made his home there for the next 23 years. Winnipeg was a logical move for Victor since his family had all moved from Ontario to the Portage area, about sixty miles west of Winnipeg.
At the turn of the Century, Victor Albert Long was Winnipeg's only artist and he filled commissions for portraits of most of its important political figures and prominent citizens. His standard price for a portrait was 300 dollars. From an article in a Winnipeg newspaper: “Prominent men who wanted their portraits painted came and sought him out. And families of Winnipeggers and Manitobans who wanted to surprise Father on Christmas or his birthday, also came to Victor Long. For he by no means needed to have Father present when making a portrait for him.”
“Once he produced a portrait of an early lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, long after the original was dead except a tattered woodcut clipped from a newspaper.” ‘That was one of my best jobs of getting a likeness,’ Victor told the writer once, ‘but I had to work to get that picture.’” The article acknowledged Victor Long's talent by stating that: “those who knew the originals say that [his] pictures are speaking likenesses, not once but every time he tries, what does it matter how he does it? He gets what he goes after, and Rembrandt and Lely never did more. Furthermore, Victor Long satisfied the originals and the relatives, and in that he probably surpassed Rembrandt, and certainly surpassed Lely.”4
According to a Vancouver newspaper, Victor Long “worked almost continually in the service of the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta governments in painting official portraits of premiers, cabinet ministers, speakers and lieutenant-governors for the various parliament buildings. More than 100 of his works hang in the Manitoba legislature.”5
In 1901, Victor Long married Alexandria Victoria Anderson, and their only child, John Alexander Victor Long, was born in Winnipeg in 1904. In 1910, Victor and his family moved to the West Coast and settled in Vancouver where he continued to receive the same degree of recognition that he enjoyed while in Winnipeg. From a Vancouver newspaper: “Victor Long, one of the most prolific of Canada's portrait painters, has made his home in Vancouver [for] more than a quarter of a century.”6
“Probably no other artist could boast of having on display as many portraits in any one city as Mr. Long had in Winnipeg. He painted all its mayors since incorporation in 1874 until the '20s and his life-sized portraits of King George V and Queen Mary in coronation robes hang in Winnipeg's council chambers. His portraits of Manitoba's lieutenant-governors, premiers and speakers hang in the legislative buildings there. Similarily, Mr. Long had painted most of the public men of Saskatchewan and Alberta in the first two decades of this century. Since coming to Vancouver, he has painted many prominent men and women.”7
Victor “exhibited [his paintings] in the Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg galleries; [and] in world fairs at Chicago, New York and San Francisco.”8 Collections of Victor Long's paintings are to be found at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the British Columbia Archives, and the provincial capitals of Victoria, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg, in Western Canada.9 Two of his most famous portraits are those of Chief Crowfoot and of Father LaCombe, the pioneer missionary.10 He also painted portraits of his mother and his sisters, but of his father, none exists.
One newspaper commented that: “Artists generally looked upon Victor Long as the leading portrait painter in the [Canadian] West and Sir Wylie Grier as occupying a similar position in the East.”11 Another report described Victor Albert Long as “a tall erect man of impeccable dress, and gentlemanly manners”12 like his father Richard. Victor was a professional artist and a most likeable person, but he was also a very private individual, who refused interviews, press notices or compliments of any kind.
Portrait painting wasn't his only passion. His son Jack recalled that Victor Long was an expert billiard player, and an avid lover of roses, and he imported prize rose bushes from Ireland for the garden of his Vancouver home. With as many as 200 rose bushes flourishing in his garden, Victor often entered his best rose buds in the Annual Vancouver Rose Show.13
Unfortunately, Victor's later years saw his good fortune decline. Long separated from his wife Victoria, he lived his last months in a rooming-house on Vancouver's West Georgia Street. Despite the fact that he still appeared agile and robust at the age of 72, Victor Long died suddenly in his room, of heart disease and carbon-monoxide poisoning, on December 18th, 1938, shortly after returning from a party. His landlady told the Vancouver Sun reporter that Victor Long “was a happy sort of man, always cheerful, in spite of the fact that his circumstances were not what they used to be. And he had money. He was still getting commissions for his paintings ....”14
In the absence of any known male descendants of the eldest sons of Richard Long III, the position of Head of the Long of Longfield Family, fell to Victor's son, the late Jack Long (1904-1991) of Victoria, British Columbia. Jack was proud of his father's accomplishments, and in his later years, he compiled a list of more than 200 of his father's portraits, and collected photographs of many of them.
Jack Long's passion was golf. A long-time member of the Victoria Golf Club, Jack participated in several American pro-golf tournaments. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force. Jack ferried planes from Canada to Britain, flew over Africa and piloted Lancasters and Pathfinders over Germany. Because of his expertise, he was sent to Florida to instruct American pilots.
By his wife Grace, Jack Long had one son, John Victor Long (b 1944) of Victoria, the current Head of the Long of Longfield Family. John V. Long has two sons, Gregory and David Long, who are of the sixth generation in line of descent from Richard and Charity Long of Longfield.
NOTES:
1. Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 28, 1970, “Victor A. Long - A Winnipeg Artist,” by Nan Shipley; and Who's Who & Why, 1913, Vancouver, B.C., vol. 3, p 455
2. LLC, 1987 Letter from Jack Long (1904-91), son of Victor Albert Long
3. Vancouver Sun, Dec. 19, 1938, “Police Probe Mystery Death of Victor Long”
4. Winnipeg Free Press, Jan. 7, 1939, “Winnipeg Writer Pays Tribute to Victor Long”
5. Vancouver Province, Dec. 20, 1938, “Long Funeral on Wednesday”
6. Vancouver Sun, Dec. 19, 1938
7. Ibid
8. Winnipeg Tribune, Feb. 28, 1970, p 15
9. A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, vol. 4, compliled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publ. Co. Ltd., Ottawa, 1974, pp 892-93, “Victor A. Long”
10. Ibid
11. Vancouver Province, Dec. 20, 1938
12. Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 28, 1970
13. LLC, 1987 Letter from Jack Long, son of Victor Albert Long
14. Vancouver Sun, Dec. 19, 1938
30. CHARITY LONG PRICE OF ARDMAYLE
Charity Elizabeth Long was born in Tipperary on June 23rd, 1823, the eldest child of Edward Thomas Long and Mary Crozier Clarke. Known to her family as “Cherry,” she was named after her grandmother, Charity Moore Long. Although there exists no record of her early life growing up at Fort Edward, one can well imagine that as the eldest daughter in such a large family, she would certainly have been expected to assist her parents in the rearing of her younger siblings.
Our first glimpse of Cherry Long is provided by her mother's 1850 letter, the text of which can be found in Chapter 25. Cherry fell into the quarry, but “is quite recovered now.” At age 27, she was still single and living at home. Finally, on October 11th, 1853, just three days after her mother's funeral, Charity Elizabeth Long was married at Ardmayle Church, to Richard Price of Ardmayle House,1 just around the corner from Fort Edward.
Richard Price was the son of Thomas Price of Mayfield and Ardmayle, a family long resident in the area. A reference to earlier Price ancestors comes from an extract of the 1770 will [proved 1772] of Thomas Price of Ardmayle, who names his eldest son Thomas Price, son William Price, uncle Richard Price, and daughter Catherine, wife of Paul Phelan.2 Cherry Price's brother, Edward John Long, was one of the witnesses to the marriage, which must have been a rather solemn affair, occurring so soon as it did, after the death of Mary Long. As to why the marriage wasn't delayed, I have little doubt that Mary, knowing she was dying, made her daughter promise to proceed with the wedding as planned, and was therefore comforted in the knowledge that Cherry, now aged thirty, would soon have a life of her own.
Evidence of Mary Long's love and devotion for her eldest daughter, comes from her will: “In the name of God, Amen, I, Mary Long, being weak in body, but sound and strong in intellect, do declare and make this my last Will and Testament. Whereas by the last Will of my Father, the Reverend Marshal Clarke, the Interest of the sum of one thousand Pounds Sterling was bequeathed to my brother Sir John Clarke for his natural life and after his death, the said one thousand Pounds was to be divided, share & share alike, to my sisters, Helena Banner, Eliza Sadleir and myself, now my will & wish is that the part to which I am entitled shall be paid to my daughter, Cherry Elizabeth Long, for her sole use. I hereby appoint my said Daughter, Cherry Elizabeth Long, my sole Executrix. Dated this 23rd day of May 1853. Signed ~ MARY LONG”3
Early in 1854, Cherry Long Price, by then adjusting to married life and recovering from the loss of her mother, suffered yet another loss, that of her entire family. Her father and all her siblings save Robert, then attending Trinity College in Dublin, had departed for America. As compensation, she still had several Phillips, Cooper, Pennefather, Clarke and Moore relatives living right there in Tipperary. But even so, she must have felt very lonesome for her family, now so far away.
Charity and Richard Price soon had a family of their own: their eldest son, Thomas E. Price, was born circa 1854 or 55. Named after his Price grandfather, his middle name was probably Edward, after his Grandfather Long. Because of a still extant letter written in 1865 by Cherry's brother, Robert Hare Long, to his future wife, Anna McAuliffe, we know that Richard and Cherry Price had more than one son. The letter reads: “My sister, Mrs. Price, is in town with her eldest boy - she brought him up to consult [Dr.] Corrigan. He is in a rather precarious state of health, but Corrigan has hopes of his final recovery.It is a great blow to my sister - her eldest and favorite child. I wish you met her. I would like you to be good friends.”4
The only present clue as to the name of the younger son, comes from the November 1874 obituary of Cherry's young cousin, Mary Henrietta Phillips of Gaile. Mentioned as attending her funeral service were T.E. Price and R. Price, both of Ardmayle.5 Since he was the son of Richard Price and the great-grandson of Colonel Richard Long of Longfield, “R. Price” was likely “Richard Price,” birthdate unknown, but probably born in 1856. Fortunately, Thomas Price did recover, much to his mother's relief.
Charity and Richard Price also had two daughters: Mary Price, baptized June 28, 1857,6 and Cherry Price, baptized June 10th, 1859.7 After less than ten years of marriage, Charity was widowed, as indicated by an 1863 Long deed.8 In another letter written by Robert Long at Ardmayle House, and dated February 1865, he states that he has managed the Ardmayle estate for his sister ever since her husband's death.9 Fortunately for Charity, at least one of her siblings remained in Ireland, and as a result of her father's many voyages back and forth between the States and Ireland, she could count on his being a frequent and welcome guest in her home.
Robert Long's letter also describes Ardmayle House: “but the greatest drawback is the immense size of the house, ..... in consequence of its being furnished in an almost ridiculous style of magnificence, [it] must at least be kept well aired and looked after.”10 The same letter describes the Ardmayle estate owned by the Price Family: “This house and domain, containing 80 acres of the very best possible land, and two farms, containing 300 acres of good sound land, all she [Charity Price] holds in her own hands at present, the rest of her property being let to tenants, my sister was thinking of letting during her children's minority, i.e: for between 10 and 11 years.”11
It's not clear where Charity and her children lived for the next ten years. Robert did in fact lease the Ardmayle property from his sister, and the drift of his letter does seem to indicate that Charity planned to move, either to Cashel, or over to Mayfield, another Price Family property located a few miles east of Cashel.
The Prices were a gentry family, so after her marriage, Charity continued to live in the style to which she was accustomed. However, it was obviously somewhat difficult for her to manage on her own even with her brother's assistance. All told, the Prices of Ardmayle owned or leased a total of 1253 acres, according to an 1878 study, wherein Charity Price and her children are referred to as the “Rep[resentative]s of Richard Price,” “Ardmayle, Cashel.”12
By 1875, Charity Price's eldest son had reached adulthood, and on June 30th of that year: “Thomas [E. Price], eldest son of the late Richard Price, Esq., of Ardmayle, co. Tipperary, [was married] to Barbara Mary, eldest daughter of Edmond W. Murphy, Esq., of Woodford, same county,”13 located just a few miles north of Ardmayle and Longfield. Now married and of legal age, Thomas E. Price began to take active control of the family property his mother had administered since her husband's death.14 With the marriage of Charity Long Price's son to Miss Murphy, we have yet another example of intermarriage between the Longs and a Celtic Irish family.
While in London in 1877, Robert Hare Long wrote home to his wife Anna and suggested that: “It would be a great thing, even if at some inconvenience, you could get young Cherry Price for even a few days. They seem to be all under some wrong influence, and a little thing might do good. Brereton was to call here, but I have neither seen nor heard anything from or about him. A little influence and advice might do her much good for her right now.”15 Whatever was the wrong influence, perhaps her age, just eighteen, Cherry Price and Walter Ebenezer Brereton were nevertheless married in Cashel on December 12th, 1877.16
Four years later, Charity Price's elder daughter, Mary, also tied the marital knot. In 1881, Mary Price was married to her third cousin, Richard Long Ryan (b 1856), son of William Ryan (b 1818) of Dublin, who was the only son of the Reverend Richard Ryan (1790-1837) of Rathcore, County Meath.17 By referring to Chapter 9 of this book, one can discover that the Rev Richard Ryan was the son of the Reverend William Ryan (d 1805), by his wife, Anna Maria Long, sister of Richard Long (1740-1814) of Longfield.
Mary Price and her husband, Richard Long Ryan, had only one child, a son, born somewhere in Eastern Canada on December 6th, 1885. He was named William Richard Fenwick Ryan,18 and while still an infant, he returned to Ireland with his mother, whereas his father remained in Canada for some time thereafter.19 As a person of some note, the Reverend William Richard Fenwick Ryan (1885-1963) deserves some special mention. This great-grandson of Edward and Mary Long obtained his M.A. from Trinity College Dublin in 1911, and he became a Royal Navy chaplain in 1912. During World War I, he served on battle ships in almost every part of the world. From 1938 to 1940, he served as honorary chaplain to King George VI.20 As regards the other children of Charity Long Price, nothing further is known of her younger son, whose name was probably Richard Price, nor of her younger daughter Cherry, who was married in Cashel to Walter E. Brereton of Dublin, in December 1877.
The Wisconsin Longs vaguely recalled Charity Long Price. Shortly after I started researching the Longs of Longfield in 1983, I phoned my Aunt Mabel Howe Otto, and asked her if she had ever heard of the name “Charity.” Yes, she had. “Charity” was the name of someone in her mother's family, the Longs, and furthermore, “Charity” was the favorite name of her mother, the late Mrs Florence Long Howe (1889-1978), who occasionally used to remark: “Charity, oh how I love that name.”
Soon afterwards, I phoned my grandmother's sister, Leona Amanda Long (1887-1993), and asked her if there was anyone in her mother's family by the name of “Charity,” and she replied: “Oh yes, there was Great-Aunt Charity.” She added that Aunt Charity was the sister of her grandfather, Edward John Long (1827-1905), and that Charity had lived somewhere in Pennsylvania after coming over from Ireland.
An Irish cousin recalled having heard that Charity's son, Thomas Price, eventually went bankrupt and ended his days sweeping the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is possible that he took his widowed mother with him when he and his wife and children, if any, emigrated to the United States. However, it is also quite possible that Charity Price remained in Ireland. In Ardmayle Church there hangs a memorial plaque which reads: “In Memory of Richard Price of Ardmayle, Esquire, died 1862, aged 67, and Charity Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of Edward Long of Fort Edward, Esquire, died 1889, aged 66. Erected by their daughter, Mary Ryan.”21
Unfortunately, the Wisconsin Longs lost touch with their Aunt Charity Price's family early on in this Century. There is scope for further research into this branch of the Long Family, so hopefully we shall some day discover what happened to our Price relatives.
NOTES:
1. Marriage Register Books of Ireland, filmed by the Mormon Church; Ardmayle Parish Records, 1853-4, vol. 3, p 308 (or 508?)
2. The Irish Genealogist, vol. 5, No. 2, Nov 1975, “Extracts from the Minutes of the Corporation of Fethard,” p 215. An even earlier reference to the Price Family of Ardmayle comes from the Hyde genealogy in Burke’s Irish Family Records [p 618], wherein it states that Arthur Hyde (b 1700), of Castle Hyde, Co. Cork, married Anne, only dau & heiress of Richard Price, of Ardmayle.
3. LLFP, Brewer Public Library, Richland Center, Wis., “Letters of Robert Hare Long”
4. Ibid
5. “Phillips of Gaile Cuttings Album,” p 22
6. LLC, 1986 letter & Long Family Tree from the Midland Bank Trust Co. Ltd., Torquay, England
7. Ibid
8. RD, Mem. 44, vol. 40, 1863, “Charity Price & others to Thomas P. Hayes”
9. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
10-11. Ibid
12. Landowners of Ireland, by U. H. Hussey de Burgh, 1878, Dublin, Reprinted 1988 by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, p 168
13. “Phillips of Gaile Cuttings Album,” p 24
14. RD, Mem. 105, vol. 24, 1875, “Charity E. Price to Thomas Price”
15. LLFP, Brewer Public Library
16. Marriage Register Books of Ireland, 1877, vol. 18, p 357
17. Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom, 1905 edn., p 886
18. LLC, 1988 letter from J.F.L. Bowes of The Cheltonian Society, “The College,” Cheltenham, Eng.
19. LLC, 1988 letter from Mrs Peggy Martin, daughter of the Rev Wm Richd Fenwick Ryan, grandson of Charity Long Price
20. Western Gazette, South & West Dorset [England] Edition, Feb. 1, 1963
21. New Price/Ryan information obtained June 1998, from Peter Meskell & Bernie Long
31. VICTORIA LONG THOMPSON OF BECKFIELD
Helena Louisa Victoria Long was born at Fort Edward, Tipperary, on August 2nd, 1837, the fourth and youngest surviving daughter of Edward Thomas Long and Mary Crozier Clarke. Known to her family as “Victoria,” she was sixteen years old when her mother died in 1853. Mary Long mentions her daughter in her 1850 letter: “Victoria had 8 day fever but is now all right.”
Early in 1854, Victoria came to North America along with her father and several of her brothers and sisters, and they all stayed in New York City for a few months before moving out West to Wisconsin. Being a teenager at the time, the ocean voyage and the stay in New York must have been very exciting for Victoria.
The next record of Victoria Long comes from the Irish Registry of Deeds. Dated November, 1858, the Memorial of the deed refers to both Edward Long and his daughter Victoria as residing on Dawson Street in Dublin.1 Until she eventually got married, Victoria apparently accompanied her father back and forth on his many trips between Ireland and Wisconsin. Back once again in the States, Victoria taught school in Ironton, Wisconsin during 1860 and 1861.
We next hear of Victoria in a letter written by her brother Robert at Ardmayle House, Cashel, in March, 1865: “My dear Anna, my sister Victoria, whom you met in Dublin, has been advised by [Dr.] Corrigan to go to Torquay [England] for a couple of months for [a] change of air. We leave there tomorrow and go on by the evening boat tomorrow night to Holyhead where she wishes to break the journey.”2 Here we have a further indication of the relative comfort in which Edward Long and his family lived at that time. They were not wealthy, but they could afford to travel and go on holidays.
Victoria remained single until the late 1860s when she had already reached her thirtieth birthday. It was during one of those lengthy visits back home to Ireland, as companion to her now sightless father, that she finally met her future husband, either in Dublin or in Tipperary. In any event, circa 1869 or 70, Victoria Long married John Thompson, son of George Thompson, by his first wife, Esther Truman.3 Victoria and John Thompson had three children: 1. Ethel Frances Thompson, born July 27, 1871; 2. Esther Victoria Thompson, August 7, 1872; and 3. John Herbert Thompson, May 30, 1878. Sadly, young John died in May 1879, just before his first birthday.4
Our next record of Victoria Long Thompson comes from an undated letter written by one of Victoria's daughters to their Uncle Stephen Moore Long (1834-1903) in Wisconsin. Fortunately, the letter has survived to the present day, and is now in the possession of Stephen Long's great-grandson, Jack Long of Houston, Texas, whose cousin, Bernard Everet Long, thoughtfully sent me a photocopy thereof. Here follows the surviving incomplete text of the letter:
“August 2nd
Beckfield House,
Rathdowney
Queen's Co.
Dear Uncle Stephen,
Mother has asked me to write and thank you for the paper you sent her, and which she was very delighted to receive, and she desires one to say that she fully appreciated your story. I am glad to be able to tell you that we are all quite well. Mother was very ill all the winter with bronchitis; she was four months without leaving her room in the winter, but now that we have fine weather she is much better and able to be out on fine days.
We have been living in this place for about 2 years, and are just beginning to get settled down, and to like the place and our neighbours. Father is kept very busy here, as he has a great deal of tillage as well as pasture; and where we came from in Meath, there was no tillage at all, so it is quite a change for him.
Mother desires me to say that she has not heard from America since you wrote to her, and she would like so much to hear how all her brothers and sisters are. We see great accounts of the great heat you are having. I only wish you could send over some of it, as up till this we have only had about two or three weeks warm weather; it has been fearfully hard on the haymakers.
My sister is quite a politician; she got up a society here and had a great meeting the other day, at which she made a short speech; it was an exceeding good meeting. She had lots of able speakers at it; we had great fun at the time of the Elections canvassing for the Unionist .....”5
The letter is simply dated “Aug. 2nd,” but the year is not given. However, one can make a reasonable estimate of when it was written since its author writes like a young adult. Since the sisters were born in 1871 and 1872, and since the one sister describes the other as being “quite a politician,” we can therefore hazard a guess that they were mature enough to interest themselves in politics, but young enough to express the sentiment that “we had great fun ..... canvassing for the Unionist ....”
The rest of the letter is missing but the next word would have undoubtedly been “Party,” as in “Unionist Party.” Therefore the letter can be dated as having been written between 1890 and 1895. If one were to research the American weather data for the 1890s, we could probably ascertain the year in which the “great heat” occurred.
The address is given as “Beckfield House, Rathdowney, Queen's Co.,” now known as County Leix, Ireland. Beckfield, located about thirty or forty miles northeast of Cashel, Tipperary, is now owned by Victoria and John Thompson's great-nephew, Herbert G. Thompson, who advised me that the sisters, Ethel and Esther Thompson, had resided there until their father's death circa 1924. Their mother, Victoria Long Thompson, died in 1906.
After their father's death, Ethel and Esther then crossed over to England and settled at Ilfracombe in Devon, where their resided until their deaths in 1970 and 1967 respectively.6 Unfortunately, the Thompson Family has no photos or personal records of the two sisters or their parents.
According to a letter I received from the present owners of the house in which the Thompson sisters once resided, it seems that “one [sister] was quiet and the other had a strong will, if there was something that displeased her.”7 One of the sisters may have been a teacher. Both remained single and they lived together all those years until old age and infirmity compelled them to end their days in a nursing home.
The longevity of the Thompson sisters should be noted: Esther died in 1967 at the age of 94, and Ethel died in 1970, just missing her 99th birthday by less than three months. Other Long women have also lived to grand ages: Ethel and Esther's great-aunt, Harriet Long O'Kelly, survived until her 97th year and died in 1889. Harriet's sister, Louisa Long Cooper, died in 1892 at the age of 92. Susan Long Woods, first cousin to the Thompson sisters, and daughter of Richard Long III, died in 1951 at the age of 92, and her niece, Ethel Long Cornwell, died in 1992 just a few weeks before her 99th birthday. Susan's daughter, Ethel Woods Whelon, died in 1984 at the age of 93; Susan's third son, Richard Stevenson Woods, died in 1976 in his 91st year, and her grandson, Ferdinand Cecil Woods, died in October 1997 at the age of 91 years.
Two other grandchildren of Richard Long III also reached the grand age of 90: John Edmund Fryer, who died in 1989 at the age of 91; and his wife and cousin, Phyllis Garland Fryer, who celebrated her 95th birthday on January 18th, 1998. Two grandsons of Stephen Moore Long have enjoyed long lifespans: Albert Smith Thompson died in 1980 at the age of 92, and Everet James Long celebrated his 92nd birthday April 2nd, 1998. S.M. Long’s eldest daughter, Florence Long Blakeman, is the grandmother of David Edward Core, now in his 93rd year.
Among the descendants of Edward John Long, brother of Stephen and Richard Long and Victoria Thompson, can be noted four grandchildren: Phoebe Long Uhl, who died in 1985 just a month short of her 92nd birthday; Vern Whitney Long who died in 1989 just one day short of his 93rd birthday; Mae Long Cox who died in 1986 at the age of 95; and Vern and Mae's sister, Leona Amanda Long, late Matriarch of the Longfield Long Family, who lived until 1993 having reached the incredible age of 105 years. One of Edward John Long's great-grandsons, Robert McFadden, grandson of Ida Long Black, celebrated his 92nd birthday on December 17th, 1997; and a great-grand-daughter of Edward and Amanda Long, Doris Hammer [grand-daughter of Marshal William Long], is now in her 96th year.
Sometime in 1972, Bob McFadden's aunt, Beulah Black Shadbolt (1897-1981), read an article about Longfield House in the Travel Section of the Los Angeles Times. At that time, Longfield was being run as a guest house, and excitedly, Beulah sent a letter to the manager of Longfield, inquiring about accomodation, and pointed out that she was the great-great-granddaughter of Captain Long, who built Longfield.
During that same period, the Midland Bank Trust Co. was looking for the descendants of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward, the reason being that one of their depositors, Ethel Frances Thompson, had died in 1970 without leaving a will. Therefore, her estate was to be divided equally amongst her Long and Thompson cousins. Since the North American Longs had lost contact with their Irish and British cousins, the bank was therefore faced with the impossible task of locating Ethel's Long cousins. At about the same time as the bank contacted Longfield House, our cousins, Ralph Clarke and Ormonde Phillips, had commenced researching their Clarke and Long ancestry and had also contacted the manager of Longfield.
As a result of all this spontaneous coincidental communication, Beulah Shadbolt soon learned of her late cousin's estate, so she and her nieces and nephews obtainedthe necessary documentation and submitted it to the Midland Bank, and ultimately, they received small inheritances. Beulah contacted her cousins back in Wisconsin to advise them of the estate, and I can recall my Grandmother, Florence Long Howe, discussing the matter with my parents.
My Grandmother and her siblings may have confused an estate of money with an estate of land, and since the estate originated with a cousin related through the Longs, she assumed that the estate involved a castle and property still owned by the Longfield Longs in Ireland. Unlike their cousin Beulah, Grandma Florence and her siblings apparently did not communicate with the bank and let the matter rest.
The Midland Bank Trust Co. was unable to trace most of the Long Family, and since we now number more than two thousand, potential inheritances would be very small indeed. Nevertheless, it is rather pleasing to consider that we could still possibly receive token legacies, as it were, from Long cousins born in Ireland some 125 years ago.
NOTES:
1. RD, Mem. 41, vol. 37, 1858, “Edward Long to Thomas P. Hayes”
2. LLFP, Brewer Public Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
3. LLC, 1986 letter & Thompson Family Tree, from Midland Bank Trust Co. Ltd., Torquay, Eng.
4. Ibid
5. LLC, 1986, Copies of the Family Papers, Letters & Poetry of Stephen Moore Long, sent to the author by S. M. Long’s great-grandson, Bernard E. Long
6. LLC, Long & Thompson Family Trees, from Midland Bank Trust Co.
7. LLC, 1987 letter from Mrs Irene Butler of Ilfracombe, Devon, England
32. ELIZA LONG CAMERON
Elizabeth Hare Long was born in Tipperary on November 8th, 1825, the second eldest daughter of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Eliza Hare, wife of the Reverend Marshal Clarke, and it is rather pleasing to note that Eliza Long would have gotten to know her grandmother very well, since Eliza Clarke lived until the year 1847.
In that same year, on October 14, 1847, to be exact, Eliza Long was married to Charles Cameron at Shronell Church in County Tipperary. Her uncle, the Reverend Mark Clarke, performed the wedding ceremony, and another uncle, James Gubbins, husband of Jane Clarke, served as one of the witnesses.1 Eliza's husband, Charles Cameron (b 1815), son of Donald Cameron of 15 Rodney Street, Liverpool,2 was a captain in the 26th Regiment of Foot.3 Parties to their marriage settlement, on file at the Irish Registry of Deeds, included Donald Cameron, Edward Long and Marshal Long, both of Fort Edward. Eliza's brothers, Edward John Long and Henry Charles Long, witnessed and signed the deed.4
In 1834, Charles Cameron joined the 26th Regiment, known as “The Cameronians,” and rose to the rank of captain, having won a medal for his service in China during the Opium War of 1839 to 1842.5 Since no further entry exists for Captain Cameron subsequent to the 1854 edition of the British Army Lists, it is therefore safe to assume that Charles must have resigned from the Cameronians that same year. So it is quite possible that Eliza and Charles may have come over to New York at the same time as her father and siblings. On the other hand, since the Cameronians often served in Canada, it is possible that Eliza and Charles may have already been residing in North America for some time.
There is no doubt that Eliza and Charles Cameron joined the Longs in Wisconsin. In some of the many Irish deeds in which Edward Long disbursed to his children the remaining portions of the interest and monies accrued from his 1822 marriage settlement, Charles and Elizabeth Cameron are named as parties thereto. In a deed dated November, 1858, parties of the first part included: “Charles Cameron of Wisconsin ..... and Elizabeth Cameron otherwise Long his wife.”6
A Long deed dated December 1863, names several members of the family, including “Richard Long of Cincinnati,” “Elizabeth Cameron ..... of Wisconsin aforesaid and Charles Cameron the husband of the said Elizabeth Cameron.”7 The Memorial of the deed indicates that the various members of the Long Family executed the deed, having submitted the proper documentation to the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. The only two who failed to do so were Richard Long III and Charles Cameron.
We know where Richard was at that time, but what happened to Charles Cameron? As in the story of Richard the Rebel, we will once again refer to his brother Stephen's [Feb. 27] 1862 Civil War letter, in which he writes: “C. Cameron is in the 7th Louisianan Regiment stationed in front of Richmond. I hope to have the pleasure of seeing him before too long. I hope however this occurs beyond the din of battle, for I have mixed feelings toward him. I think he will surrender without much fighting.”8
Although I have so far been unsuccessful in obtaining documentation of Richard's Civil War record, I have located Charles Cameron's Confederate Army record. Fortunately, Stephen Long's letter made mention of Charles Cameron's regiment, the 7th Louisiana Infantry, thus facilitating my search. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., sent me all the information they had on Charles Cameron, and those documents marked “Confederate States of America,” actually included Charles Cameron's signature, which turned out to be identical to the one on his 1847 Irish Marriage Settlement, when he took Eliza Long of Longfield as his wife.
Charles enlisted June 7, 1861, at Camp Moore, Louisiana, and gave his residence as being Livingston, also in Louisiana. Efforts to find record of him and Eliza in Livingston were not fruitful, thus leading me to believe that Eliza remained in Wisconsin when Charles headed down South at the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. His military record states correctly that he was married (spouse's name not given), and was born in England. Promoted to captain in December 1862, Charles was wounded at Gettysburg July 2nd, 1863. He recovered and returned to active duty, but as a result of a gunshot wound inflicted in April 1864, he finally retired from the Confederate Army in September 1864.9
Charles' previous experience as an officer in the British service would certainly have made him a welcome volunteer in the service of the South. However, with four Long brothers enlisted in the Union Army, Charles Cameron's and Richard Long III's espousement of the Confederate cause certainly created a major rift in the Long Family. If Eliza and Charles had settled in Louisiana, they would certainly not have wanted to remain there after the war, and as a retired Confederate officer, Charles would perhaps not have been a welcome figure in Wisconsin or anywhere else in the North at that time.
Canada, with its connections to Charles' old Scottish regiment, the Cameronians, would have been the most likely place where he and Eliza could relocate, aside from returning to Britain or Ireland. When Susan and Susanna Long came over from Ireland looking for Richard in 1879, they visited an aunt who claimed not to know Richard's whereabouts. At about the same time, Susan met her future husband, Francis Woods, in or near Brantford, in Southern Ontario, so it's possible that Charles and Eliza Cameron may have moved north to Ontario after the Civil War.
Perhaps future research may yet reveal where they moved to. Another unknown exists as to whether or not they had any children. If they did, then some of their children would have been given Long family names such as Charity, Harriet, Eliza, Edward, Richard and Marshal, thus making them more easily identifiable in any records that might exist.
An untitled poem by Stephen Moore Long was composed on February 13th, 1892, at a time when he was working in the Pension Department in Washington, D.C. He prefaced the poem with the following comments: “The following lines were written on the occasion of sister Eliza's visit to me in Feb. 1892. I sat down to express privately my great pleasure on seeing sister Eliza for the first time in 29 years.”10
They hadn't seen each other since 1862 or 63, and it appears that Eliza was residing somewhere in either the States or Canada since she found it convenient to visit her brother in Washington, D.C. She was 66 years old at the time of their visit and one can well imagine that they did a lot of reminiscing during their time together. If only Stephen had told us more about Eliza. Then again, we can be most grateful for all he has left us - his poems and his letters. Stephen and his brother-in-law, Charles Cameron, must have been good friends since Stephen named one of his sons Charles Cameron Long.
NOTES:
1. Marriage Register Books of Ireland, 1847, vol. 10, p 399, Filmed by the Mormon Church
2. Ibid
3. RD, Mem. 11, vol. 2, dated 1847, registered 1848, “Long-Cameron Marriage Settlement”
4. Ibid
5. The New Annual Army List, Major H.G. Hart, 1854, London, “26th Regiment of Foot”
6. RD, Mem. 74, vol. 34, dated 1858, registered 1863, “Charles Cameron & ors to Edward & Richard Long”
7. RD, Mem. 265, vol. 23, 1864, “Edward Long to Long & ors”
8. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin.
9. LLC, 1987 package from the National Archives, Washington, D.C., “Confederate Army Record of Captain Charles Cameron”
10. LLC, 1986 package from Bernard E. Long ~ “Poetry of Stephen Moore Long”
33. THE LONG BROTHERS & MARY FEATHERSTON
MARSHAL LONG was born in Tipperary on November 26th, 1826, the second son of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward and Longfield. Named after his grandfather, the Reverend Marshal Clarke, Marshal Long was baptized on December 10th, 1826, at Ardmayle Church,1 just a stone's throw away from his childhood home of Fort Edward.
Marshal received his early education at home for two years, after which time he was sent to Arthur Connor's School in Cashel for the next four years.2 In April 1844, at the age of seventeen, Marshal submitted a successful application of apprenticeship to the law firm of John Vincent (1803-1879), Attorney and Solicitor, of Leeson Street in Dublin.3
Conveniently for Marshal, there existed a family connection to John Vincent, who was married to Marshal's cousin Catherine, daughter of Patrick Clarke. The apprenticeship lasted five years, and apparently Marshal did graduate since an 1851 Dublin directory lists Marshal Long as an attorney, giving his addresses as 75 Lower Leeson St. in Dublin, and Cashel [Co. Tipperary].4
In 1847, Marshal served as a trustee to his sister Eliza's marriage settlement, and his mother, in her 1850 letter to her son Edward, made reference to Marshal as being at home at Ardmayle. Marshal must have come over to New York City in 1854 in the company of his father and siblings. From 1854 onward to 1880, Marshal is named in most of the annual editions of the New York City directories,5 wherein he is listed as being a teacher at a school located at 101 St. Marks Place [in Greenwich Village], from 1854 to 1867.6 “Marshal” is a relatively rare first name, and our Marshal Long was the only one included in the New York directories of that period.
Thus far, the only indication yet found referring to Marshal's wife and any children they might have had, comes from an obituary in an 1855 New York newspaper: “[Died] on Friday morning, March 16, EDWARD, infant son of Marshal & Mary E. Long, aged 6 months & 16 days. His remains were conveyed to the Cemetery of the Evergreens for interment.”7 A December 1863 Irish deed refers to: “Marshal Long of New York,” and advises that Marshal's execution of said deed was “witnessed by Julius Katzenberg, 101 Saint Marks Place, New York, Teacher,”8 thereby confirming that Marshal abandoned law and took up teaching when he came to the States.
While stationed on the battlefront near Fredericksburg, Virginia, Stephen Moore Long wrote home to his wife Sarah in Wisconsin, on May 8th, 1862: “Has Marshal any idea of settling in the West? How does he like Ironton?”9 While in Montreal on business in 1867, their brother, Robert Hare Long, wrote home to his wife Anna, in Ardmayle, Tipperary: “Why did we not think of arranging to write to my brother Marshal an odd line now & again?” “I could hear from you thro' him wherever I might be in the States or Canada?”10
It's interesting to know that although Marshal visited his family in Ironton, Wisconsin, he decided to remain in New York. By “stationing” himself there, his father could visit with him there whenever old Edward took a notion to head back to Ireland and then back to America.
When his sister-in-law, Susanna Long, made her way back to Ireland from Covington, Kentucky circa 1863, she in all likelihood, left her and Richard's sons, Edward and Robert, in the care of their Uncle Marshal. And whenever his brother Robert came over from Ireland, Marshal could certainly count on his staying with him there while in New York.
Instead of listing Marshal as a teacher in the 1871 New York City Directory, it lists his occupation as that of inventor. Marshal's name is omitted in the 1872 and 1873 New York directories, only to return again in 1874 and remain therethrough to 1880, listed once again as a teacher. Someday, it would be fascinating to find out just what he invented, and as to whether the invention had anything to do with his being absent from New York for the two following years?
Marshal Long returned to Manhattan in 1874 and lived there until 1880; he is not listed in any subsequent New York directory. Did he die in 1881 at the age of fifty-four, or did he simply move out to the suburbs, or, did he finally decide to move out West? Did Marshal and Mary Long have any other children, or did they mourn the loss of their only child in 1855?
CHARLES HENRY LONG, known as Henry Long, was born on July 18th or 19th, 1829, the fourth son of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward. By 1850, Henry had immigrated to the United States and was residing in New York City. It is likely that he came over with his brothers Edward and Richard sometime between 1847 and 1849. Mentioned in his mother's 1850 letter, Henry and Edward probably shared accomodation in New York, and may even have lived in the same household as Richard and Susanna and their chidren.
Tragically, Henry Long died young. According to the Irish Registry of Deeds, Henry Charles Long died about April 11th, 1855.11 The late Jack Long of Victoria, British Columbia, grandson of Richard Long III, heard from his father that one of the Long boys had lost his life while trying to save their racehorses from a fire. As told in Chapter 26, Edward Long and his sons brought their racehorses over from Ireland and had them transported out to Wisconsin, so it would seem that some of their horses survived the fire, thank's to Henry's heroic efforts.
That would be the end to the short story of Henry Long except for the fact that the same previously mentioned Long deed refers to: “Phelinda Long of Beloit [Wisconsin] aforesaid, Widow & Administratix of Henry Charles Long, deceased.”12 Since Henry was born in December 1829, it would be reasonable to guess that he and Phelinda probably met and fell in love and married in New York circa 1852 to 1854. To proceed any further, we must move on to the story of Archibald Moore Long.
ARCHIBALD MOORE LONG was born at Fort Edward House on November 24th, 1835, the seventh son of Edward and Mary Long. Known as Archie Long, he came to the United States in 1854 and settled out in Wisconsin later that year or early in 1855. As one of the four Long brothers who fought on the side of the North during the Civil War, Archie enlisted in the Union Army on January 25th, 1864, and served until August 11th, 1865.13 According to his great-niece, the late Leona Amanda Long, her Uncle Archie moved from Ironton, Wisconsin sometime after 1860 and settled up in Minneapolis. She recalled hearing that he was an engineer whose specialty involved the construction of bridges.
Archibald Long appears to have married his brother Henry's widow, Phelinda, circa 1856. The records of the Episcopal Church of Gethsemane in Minneapolis give Archie's wife's name as “Jelinda Helen Long,” aged 45 in 1876.14 However, the records of Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis give her name as “Philanda Long.”15 With a name as rare as Phelinda, there's little doubt that Henry's widow was one and the same person as his brother Archie's wife.
The letter from the Lakewood Cemetery lists the family members buried in the lot owned by Archibald Long; included is Henrietta E. Jones, aged 38. died June 3rd, 1894.16 The July 10, 1860 Census for Ironton, Wisconsin, lists the household of Archibald Moore Long: A.M. Long, age 25, born Ireland; Phelinda Long, age 29, born New York; Henrietta Long, age 5, place of birth not given; Eveline S. Long, age 3, born Wisconsin; and Ada Long, age 1, born Wisconsin. Also recorded as living in the same household were Archie's sister Victoria, and their father, Edward Long.17
Since Henrietta was already five years old at the time of the July 1860 Census, she had therefore been born by July 1855, making it highly doubtful for her to have been Archie's daughter. Henrietta Long's mother, Phelinda, became a widow when her husband Henry died on April 11th, 1855, so it is almost certain that Henrietta was not Archie's daughter but was instead the child of the late Henry Charles Long by his wife Phelinda. Allowing for a suitable period of mourning, Archie and Phelinda were probably married sometime between the Fall of 1855 and the Summer of 1856.
As to Phelinda's maiden name, the only clue provided is the baptismal record of Archie and Phelinda's daughter, Addie Donaldson Long, baptized April 30th, 1876, at the age of sixteen.18 “Donaldson” is a surname, so it is quite possible that Phelinda may have given her maiden name of Donaldson to her daughter, as a middle name. By combining the information obtained from the 1860 Census, the Gethsemane Parish Records, the Lakewood Cemetery records, and the research done by our cousin Bernie Long, the following picture of Archie's family emerges:
In 1856, Archie Long married Phelinda Helen, his brother Henry's widow, and officially or otherwise, he adopted Henry's and Phelinda's daughter, Henrietta Long, born in 1855, probably in New York. Henrietta married Warren E. Jones of Minneapolis, at some unknown date, a reasonable guess being circa 1880 when she was twenty-five years old. The chances are good that they might have had several children before her death in 1894, or then again, perhaps none at all. An examination of the 1890 Minneapolis census should solve this mystery.
Archie's wife, Phelinda Helen Long, died February 17, 1882 at the age of fifty-two. On May 19th, 1883, Archie Long married in Minneapolis, as his second wife, Margaret A. Crawford. According to his obituary in a Minneapolis newspaper, Archibald Long died on October 5th, 1907, at the age of seventy-two,19 his second wife, Margaret, having predeceased him; she died on February 11th, 1907 at the age of seventy, and is buried at the Lakewood Cemetery right next to Archie's first wife, Phelinda.20 The following is a record compiled of the children of Archie and Phelinda Long:
1. Eveline S. Long, born June 29, 1857, at Ironton, Wisconsin. Known as Eva L. Long, she remained single and was a member of Gethsemane Church. Eva Long died September 13, 1921, at the age of sixty-four. She was the last registered owner of the Long Family Plot according to the 1985 letter from the Lakewood Cemetery, which advises that Eva Long had no surviving husband, children, brothers or sisters.21
2. Ada Donaldson Long was born in Ironton, Wisconsin in 1859. Known as Addie Long, she is the only member of Archie's family who is not buried in Lakewood Cemetery. The 1984 letter from Gethsemane Church suggests that she died young but no death record could be found in the church registers.
3. Victoria Helena Long was born in 1866, probably in Minneapolis, and she died young at the age of sixteen on August 3rd, 1882, just six months after her mother's death. She is buried in Lakewood Cemetery. 4. Edward Long, named after his Grandfather Long, was born in Minneapolis in 1880 and died an infant on July 11th, 1881. He is also buried in Lakewood Cemetery.
Archie's family certainly suffered more than its share of sorrow. Starting with the tragic death of Archie's brother Henry in 1855, and then Phelinda's death in 1882, at the rather young age of fifty-two, the pattern of early demise continued amongst the children: tiny Edward, who lived but one year; his sister Victoria, dead at sixteen; Addie, who is also believed to have died young; and Henrietta, who was only thirty-eight when she passed away. With the death of Eva Long in 1921, the immediate family of Archibald Long became extinct.
MARCUS BANNER LONG was born at Fort Edward, Parish of Ardmayle, County Tipperary, on May 28th, 1840. Named after his uncle, the Reverend Mark Clarke (1809-1848), Mark Long's middle name comes from another uncle, the Reverend Holford Banner, second husband of Helena Clarke.
Mark Long was the eighth son and youngest surviving child of Edward and Mary Long, his youngest sister, Harriette, having died at the age of two in 1845. Only thirteen years old when his mother died, and fourteen when he arrived in the States, Mark's sorrow over the untimely loss of his mother, would have been offset somewhat by the excitement of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, of the sights and sounds of New York City, and by the long journey out to Wisconsin, then near the western frontier of European settlement.
Like three of his elder brothers, Mark Long joined the Union Army, probably in the summer of 1864. His life was cut short by a fatal gunshot wound, and he died at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on November 23rd, 1864.22 A letter written by his brother Robert in February 1865 speaks of his tragic end:
“While discussing [with my sister Cherry] the sad intelligence received that morning of my youngest brother [Mark's] death - the Benjamin of the family, and the best loved of all - the poor fellow was scarce 22 (correction: he was actually 24), he was married, & had been doing so well. He lost a leg in battle, was carried for six days subsequently in an ambulance waggon before a pursuing army, and suffered every possible hardship and privation; the poor fellow sank - two others are still in the army, and in the midst of the fighting.”23
On November 23rd, 1859, Mark Long was married to Mary Jane Moore. Born in Michigan in 1843, she was the daughter of William and Hannah Moore,24 no apparent relation to the Moores of Barne. Mark and Mary Jane Long had a family of three children during their short five years of marriage:
1. Charles Henry Long, born at Ironton, Wisconsin, December 28, 1859; and died January 22nd, 1864.25 2. Mark N. Long, born at Ironton September 1st, 1860; died January 7th, 1862. Both Mark Jr. and Charles are buried at Ironton Cemetery next to their Grandfather, Edward Long. 3. John Frank Long, born posthumously at Ironton, February 1st, 1865.26 On February 19th, 1886, John F. Long was married to Bridget S. Casey at Cazenovia in Richland County, Wisconsin.27 Bernie Long advises that he was unable to locate any further record of this sole surviving son of Marcus Banner Long. Perhaps he moved West as did so many in those days. Yet another disappearing Long!
MARY HELENA MOORE LONG FEATHERSTON was born at Fort Edward on July 23rd, 1832, the third daughter of Edward and Mary Long. She was named after her mother, her Aunt Helena Clarke Banner, and the Moores of Barne. According to her 1911 obituary, “she came to America at the age of eighteen.”28 However, according to her mother's letter of July 30th, 1850, Mary was still living at home in Tipperary, and if she had then had any plans of leaving, her mother would surely have mentioned it in her letter.
It is much more likely that she came over to the States with her family in 1854. Her obituary continues: “[Mary Helena Long] was married to Thomas Featherstone August 11th, 1855, at Beloit, Wisconsin. They lived there a short time and then came to Richland County and located near Loyd. Here they suffered the hardships and enjoyed the pleasures of a pioneer's life.
When age made farm life too strenuous for them, they bought a home in Ironton and lived there until eight years ago when they went to make their home with their daughter and her husband, Rev. & Mrs H.A. Smelcer. She united with the Methodist Episcopal Church early in life and was a faithful member. After going to live with her daughter, she placed her membership in the United Brethren Church.”29
Mary's husband, Thomas Featherston, was born in County Longford, Ireland, on November 15th, 1829.30 His surname, I'm told, was originally “Fetherstonhaugh” back in England, then shortened to “Fetherston” in Ireland, and eventually Americanized to “Featherston” and “Featherstone” in the States. It is possible that Thomas Featherston may have been related to the Fetherstons, Baronets of Ardagh, County Longford. Long Family tradition has it that Thomas and Mary met on the ship that brought them over from Ireland.
A history of Ironton refers to “Mrs Mary Featherstone, the tireless village nurse and community worker.”31 My Great-Aunt Leona Long once told me that her Great-Aunt Mary Featherston was a rather tiny woman who spoke with a touch of an Irish brogue. Included in this book are pictures of Thomas and Mary, the only daughter of Edward and Mary Long of whom we have a photograph.
Now whereas Mary Featherston's obituary suggests that she and her husband lived for many years near Loyd in Richland County, and then retired to Ironton in neighboring Sauk County, the obituary of Edward Long states that he died in 1875 at his daughter's home in Ironton,32 at which time Mary was only forty-two years of age. Loyd is located about twelve miles southwest of Ironton.
Having no children of their own, Mary and Thomas adopted a child, Helen Featherston, who eventually married the Reverend Henry Ashbury Smelcer, of Boaz, in Richland County.33 Thomas Featherston died on January 16th, 1910, and Mary passed away on July the 18th of the following year. They are both buried in the Ironton Church Cemetery34 next to her father, Edward Thomas Long.
NOTES:
1. OL, #1, 1984, “Extracts from the Ardmayle Parish Records”
2. King's Inn Library, Henrietta St., Dublin, Law Student Records
3. Ibid
4. Thom's Dublin Directory, 1851 edn, p 459
5. Trow's New York City Directories, 1854-1880 editions
6. Ibid, 1854-1867 editions
7. New York Herald, March 21, 1855, Obituaries
8. RD, Mem. 265, vol. 23, 1864, “Edward Long & ors to Thomas Hayes”
9. LLC, 1986, Copies of the Papers, Letters & Poetry of Stephen Moore Long, sent to the author by Bernard E. Long
10. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
11. RD, Mem. 83, vol. 9, registered 1856, “Edward Long & ors to Thomas Hayes”
12. Ibid
13. LLC, “The Family of Edward & Mary Long,” researched & compiled by Bernard E. Long
14. Ibid, 1984 letter from the Church of Gethsemane in Minneapolis, Minnesota
15. Ibid, 1985 letter from Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis
16. Ibid
17. 1860 United States Census, Wisconsin, Sauk County, Village of Ironton
18. LLC, 1984 letter from Gethsemane Church, Minneapolis
19. Minneapolis Tribune, October 7, 1907, p 5
20. LLC, 1985 letter from Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
21. Ibid
22. “The Family of Edward & Mary Long,” by Bernard E. Long
23. LLFP, Brewer Library
24. “The Family of Edward & Mary Long,” by Bernard E. Long
25. Ibid
26. Ibid
27. Ibid
28. Republican Observer, Richland Center, Wisconsin, July 27, 1911
29. Ibid
30. “The Family of Edward & Mary Long,” by Bernard E. Long
31. A history of Sauk County [title unknown], p 317, “Village of Ironton,” by Belle Cushman Bohn
32. See Chapter 26: Edward Long of Ironton
33. “The Family of Edward & Mary Long,” by Bernard E. Long
34. Ibid
34. EDWARD JOHN LONG OF LONGFIELD FARM
Edward John Long was born in Tipperary on either the 16th or the 18th of December, 1827, the third son of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward. Whereas his obituary states that he was born on December 18th,1 his mother's own record of her children's births states that Edward John was born December 16th, 1827.2 Named after his father and his uncle, Sir John Clarke, Edward John Long was baptized at Ardmayle Church on January 2, 1828.3 As a child, according to his granddaughter Leona, he sometimes played up on the Rock of Cashel when his parents brought him along with them into town.
An 1840 Long deed was witnessed by “Edward Long Junior of Ardmayle.” The same deed also refers to Edward John as “Edmond Long.”4 Young Edward's signature next shows up in an 1847 deed, when he witnessed his sister Eliza's marriage settlement.5 According to the descendants of Edward John's eldest daughter, Ida Victoria Black, her father is said to have taken divinity and medical courses at King's College in Dublin. However, no evidence has yet been found to substantiate this family tradition.
Ida Victoria also apparently told her children that as a young man, Edward John fathered a child as a result of an affair with a Catholic Irish woman. His parents were so annoyed with him that they sent him abroad for a year. Edward John's obituary states that: “He came to America in 1848 but returned to Ireland a year later.”6 One of Edward John's granddaughters, Florence Long Howe, recalled hearing that her Grandpa Long left the one he loved in Ireland, and came over to the States and married a Native Indian woman. Could this be a recollection of young Edward's affair? There is in fact, a Long family in Ireland which claims descent from the Longs of Longfield, possibly through Edward John Long.
Edward John's obituary continues: “In 1850, he came again to America, settling in New York where he remained a few years, and then came to Wisconsin making his home in Rock County, and then to Richland [County] where he continued to reside until his death. He was ordained as a minister and for many years occupied the pulpit until his advanced age compelled him to resign.”7 We know from his mother's letter that Edward John and Henry had joined their brother Richard in New York City by 1850.8
After Edward John's father and siblings all came over from Ireland in 1854, the Long Family made the decision to begin anew in Wisconsin. As to why they chose Wisconsin, two reasons quickly come to mind: namely that Wisconsin, a new state admitted into the Union in 1848, was open to settlement, and secondly, Wisconsin was green and fertile like Ireland. “Nature had blessed Wisconsin with an ideal combination of prairie land, oak openings and timber.” “The basic attraction of Wisconsin was the land itself.” “Nowhere else was good farming so abundant or so cheap.”9 Between 1852 and 1855, the Wisconsin government sent out 30,000 pamphlets extolling “Wisconsin's great natural resources, advantages [and] privileges.” The state government also advertised for settlers in newspapers throughout Europe, Britain, Ireland and the States.10
When they finally arrived in Wisconsin, Edward John and his family settled first at its southern border, in the Rock County town of Beloit, located on the Illinois state line. Within two years, the Long Family was on the move again. They travelled about one hundred miles northwest, and whereas Edward Long and several of his younger children settled with him at Ironton in Sauk County, Edward John set out on his own and purchased a farm on Willow Creek in neighboring Richland County, about ten miles southwest of Ironton.
Perhaps Edward John's choice of location was somehow connected with a most important event in his life, for on January 3rd, 1857, Edward John Long was married at Willow in Richland County, to Miss Amanda Maria Wood.11 Born in 1835 in Madison County, New York, Amanda was the daughter of William Wood, of Loyd, Richland Co.,12 by his wife, Mahala Johnson, believed to have been a full-blooded Iroquois woman of either the Oneida or Mohawk Nation. Orphaned as a young girl, Mahala had been adopted by Mr and Mrs Greelors Johnson of New York State. Therefore, as a result of the marriage of Amanda and Edward John, Native Indian blood became entwined with the Anglo-Irish roots of a major branch of the Longfield Long Family.
Edward and Amanda Long became founding members of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Loyd in 1857. Until a church was built, church services and meetings were held in the local school, and Edward was chosen to lead the bible study class.13 It should be noted here that Edward John's granddaughter, Leona Amanda Long, stated that although her Grandfather occupied the pulpit for many years, to her knowledge he was never ordained.
The Long Family had departed from Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Famine, and they must surely have expressed high hopes for a better life in the New World. Having lived ten years of his life in his adopted country, Edward John had now experienced both the bustle of New York's urban growth, and the tranquility of country life in Wisconsin. Several members of his family now lived but ten miles distant, and his wife's family lived even closer - just a mile or two away. No more for him the turbulence of Ireland's age-old unsolved dilemma!
So it must have come as a shock to Edward John and his family when the War between the States erupted in 1861. Strife and discord had followed his family from Ireland to America. And the discord soon erupted within the family itself when his brother Richard and brother-in-law, Charles Cameron, chose to support the South, whereas Edward Jr., his father, Edward Long Sr., and the rest of the family stood solidly on the side of the North. Although his brother Stephen enlisted almost immediately, it would be almost three years before Edward John, Archibald and Mark actually joined the fight to save the Union.
On March 1st, 1864, at Madison, Wisconsin, Edward John Long was mustered into the military service of the United States,14 having been enrolled as a Corporal in Company “A” of the 36th Regiment of Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers.15 Edward's Civil War diary still exists, and one entry reads: “June 3rd [1864]. At 5 A.M., ordered to charge, which we did. But gained nothing by it; lost our Colonel Adjutant. [I was] wounded; got separated in the charge, from my Regiment and fell in with the Old 69 New York [Regiment]. Had a hard time to hold our own; fired 10 shots while with the 69th. At 9 [P.M.] at night, the Rebels charged us. We had a brisk fire for an hour. This was part of the Battle of Cold Harbor [Virginia]. The loss on our side was very large.”16
Edward John Long, who is said to have served as an army chaplain, was wounded again sometime in early 1865, at Lookout Mountain in Georgia, and was mustered out of the service on July 12, 1865, two months after the end of the Civil War.17 As a result of his injuries, two rebel bullets remained lodged in Edward’s spine for the rest of his life. He was granted a veteran’s pension of twelve dollars per month, which was eventually increased to seventy-five dollars per month by the time of Amanda’s death in 1924. Described in his service record as having had gray eyes, brown hair, a fair complexion, and a height of five feet, eight and one-half inches, Edward John composed a poem in honor of the Willow boys who participated in the great conflict:
COMPANY “A,” 36TH REGIMENT
In the 36th Regiment,
Company "A"
Are a lot of fine boys
At least so they say
And Mr. Editor,
When the roll is presented
You will find that our Richland
Is well represented.
I send you a list
I had under my pillow,
Of all our brave boys
From the sweet town of Willow,
There is Ed Alward, Bruce Stewart,
Dan Graves and George Wright
They have started for Dixie,
And are bound for a fight.
There is Ezra Reagles, Bill Davolt,
John Wood and George Bone
They have shouldered the rifle
And to Richmond are going.
There is Dave Beggs and James Smith
And we must not forget
That we've got in our ranks
The brave Monsieur Rollett.
There is John Rosenbaum
And with him James Hill
Each for Jeff Davis
Has got a blue pill.
That he won't like his doctors,
It must be confessed
For their pills are too hard
For old Jeff to digest.
There is Darren and Jacobs
Led by brave Hamilton
We'll stand up to the back
Says Edward J. Long.
And now Mr. Editor
To a halt I must come
With three cheers for the boys
That carry the drum,
And whenever we chance,
To get into a fight,
You will hear from the boys
That march on the right.18
by Edward John Long (1827-1905)
Circa 1870, Edward, as a Civil War veteran, was granted a section of land at Buck Creek in Rockbridge Township, about seven miles southwest of his Willow Creek homestead. Edward gave a familiar name to his new property. An old Richland County directory names E.J. Long as the owner of the “Longfield Stock and Dairy Farm” at Buck Creek, and the directory further advises that “This name [of Longfield] is taken from his grandfather's estate in County Tipperary, Ireland.”19 It's a long way from Longfield, Tipperary, to Longfield, Wisconsin!
Down on his ranch in southwestern Saskatchewan, my Uncle Jim Howe recalled his mother telling him about the sign that once stood at the gateway to her Grandpa Long's farm. It read “Longfield Farm,” and on each side was depicted the family's coat-of-arms, topped by a crest featuring a lion's head with a hand in its mouth. As mentioned in Chapter 17, Johnnie Battersby of Bobsville is quoted as having said that “A Long girl from Tipperary added a bit to our coat-of-arms,” thereby inferring that the Longs did have one of their own. It would seem that old Colonel Richard Long and his son, Richard Long II, never did bother to register their coat-of-arms with the proper authorities in Dublin.
Stories of long lost family silverware bearing the family crest, have circulated through several branches of the Longfield Longs, and in fact, one branch of the family has managed to hold on to the family silverware and silver plate inherited from previous generations. Their Long Family silverware is emblazoned with that same crest, a lion's head with a hand in its mouth.
Fortunately, Edward John's brother, Robert Hare Long, recorded a description of the coat-of-arms used by the Longs of Longfield: “Shield - Sable, on a semee of crosses crosselet, a lion rampant argent. Crest - On a wreath, a lion's head argent, in its mouth a hand, erased gules. Mottoes - ‘Non timidas pro patria mori,’ and ‘I bide my time’ (Clancarthy Rebellion).”20
The second motto dates from the time of the Clancarthy Rebellion circa 1690, whereas the first motto is Latin for: “I am not afraid to die for my country.” A picture of the Long ofLongfield coat-of-arms can be found on the front page of this genealogical work. Of interest is the fact that our coat-of-arms bears a strong resemblance to that of England's earliest and most prominent Long family, the Longs of Wraxall and Draycot, County Wiltshire. A heraldic text advises that King Henry VIII granted a special crest to Sir Henry Long of Wraxall and Draycot, for his gallantry in battle at Therouenne in France; the crest featured a lion's head with a hand in its mouth.21
Since we have no way of knowing as to whether or not our earliest known Long ancestor, Robert Long (d 1712) of Graystown, was descended from the Wraxall and Draycot Longs, we are therefore obliged to assume that our Long forefathers may simply haveborrowed and assumed the coat-of-arms of the Wraxall Longs, related or not. However, such practices were not uncommon in times past.
Edward and Amanda Long had a family of five children, the first four born on the Willow Creek farm, and the youngest, at Longfield Farm: 1. Marshall William Long, born February 3rd, 1859; 2. Robert Henry Long, September 4, 1861; 3. Ida Victoria Long, March 21, 1863; 4. Sarah Helena Long, April 18, 1866; and 5. Edna Elnora Long, born February 7, 1880.22
When asked what her Grandpa Long did for a living, Leona Amanda Long lightheartedly replied: “Oh, Grandpa didn't work; he was a gentleman! He went to the horse races pretty near every day!” Edward John's eldest daughter, Ida Victoria Black, told her children and grandchildren that her father was inclined to sell off parcels of his property to cover his unsuccessful racing bets. As a result, Longfield Farm had been whittled down to a mere 200 acres, and ultimately, he stood to lose all that was left. Posters were put up to advertise the pending auction, prompting Edward's formidable wife Amanda, to follow discreetly behind as the posters were mounted, and then tear down each and every one, so that on the day the farm was to be auctioned off, only the sheriff showed up! Meanwhile, Amanda and her sons successfully borrowed enough money to cover her husband's gambling debts.
Although Edward John Long was not much of a farmer, and although it's true that he had an overwhelming passion for horses and races - after all, he did hail from Tipperary - E.J. Long was no idler. He was apparently a successful preacher, and as an educated man with a solid command of the English language, he was often called upon to make public speeches. Nor was he one to shirk physical labor, when it came to doing what had to be done to support his family. The July 1870 Census records that Edward John was then residing in Ironton where he had found work as a furnace laborer. Off and on for many years, Edward taught school in Willow, and if he was ill, Amanda would substitute for him. Amanda’s sister Cordelia Wood was one of Richland County’s earliest teachers.
Wisconsin's lush green valleys proved soothing to Edward's Irish heart. No longer housed in a mansion with its trappings of comfort, servants and status, Edward had become a pioneer and put down roots in democratic America. Now at home in an unpretentious rambling frame house, Edward saw his children grow up to become down-to-earth farmers and housewives - descendants of the Irish landed gentry, now living the same lifestyle as their Celtic Irish neighbors, some of whom had previously suffered as downtrodden peasants back home.
From the Richland Center newspaper, The Republican Observer, of December 14th, 1905: “Edward J. Long, a highly respected pioneer, resident of the Town of Rockbridge, died December 6th [1905] at the Mendota Hospital [in] Madison, after an illness of several weeks. Mr. Long was 78 years of age.” “Funeral services were held Saturday at Pleasant Ridge Church and the body laid to rest in the cemetery nearby.”
Amanda Long survived her husband by nineteen years, and until infirmity set in, she continued to reside at Longfield Farm, now owned by her younger son, Robert, who with his wife Eva and their children, lived nearby in the little house on the hill. In 1909, Amanda headed out West to Cottonwood, South Dakota, to stake a land claim there, accompanied by her granddaughters, Leona and Florence Long, who staked their own claims. For a whole year, the three of them lived in a little cabin built by her son Marshall William Long, who had a ranch at nearby Grindstone, which was also home to Amanda's youngest daughter, Edna and her husband, Frank Wood.
While there in South Dakota, it's almost certain that Amanda would have gone to visit her sister Cornelia in the Black Hills town of Sturgis. Cornelia, better known as Neal Maddox O'Brien (1844-1934), was the perfect sort of woman to live in the Wild West, having fought Indians and hunted buffalo. She made buckskin cowboy outfits for Teddy Roosevelt, outfits which may still be on display at the Roosevelt Museum in New York. Once when young Teddy was ranching out in Dakota, he stopped by to pick up the buckskin outfit Neal Maddox had made for him. She invited him into her cabin for dinner,23 and while she was preparing the meal, Teddy, as was his custom, stretched out and started reading a book, “when suddenly Mrs. Maddox stumbled over one of his feet. ‘Take that damn foot away!’ she cried in tones that meant business.” Roosevelt high-tailed it out of there, and didn't come back in till dinner was called. He ate real quickly and quietly, not wanting to risk the chance of getting Aunt Neal riled up again!24
And there you have an idea of the lively family into which Edward John Long of Longfield had married. In fact, Neal and Amanda and their sisters were actually jolly good-natured sorts, with Amanda being the relatively sedate and serene one. When old age set in, Amanda Long went to live with her daughter, Sarah Jones in Necedah, Wisconsin, and there she departed this life on October 14th, 1924, in the 90th year of her age.25
I've often wondered how Amanda got along with her father-in-law, Edward Long of Ironton, and I somehow get the feeling that the kindly old Irish poet would have been delighted with his all-American daughter-in-law. The Anglo-Irish Longs were now becoming Americans and Canadians. From Ireland to India to Ireland to Ironton in less than a hundred years!
NOTES:
1. Republican Observer, Richland Center, Wisconsin, Dec. 14, 1905.
2. LLFP, Brewer Public Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin.
3. OL, #1, 1984, “Extracts from the Ardmayle Parish Registers”
4. RD, Mem. 137, vol. 16, 1840, “Richard & Edward Long to Charles Clarke & James Sadleir”
5. RD, Mem. 11, vol. 2, 1848, “Long-Cameron Marriage Settlement”
6. Republican Observer, Richland Center, Wisconsin, December 14, 1905
7. Ibid
8. See Chapter 25 for text of Mary Long's 1850 letter
9. The History of Wisconsin, vol. II, Richard N.Current, 1976, Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pp 46-47
10. Ibid
11. “Family of Edward & Mary Long of Fort Edward,” Genealogy compiled by Bernard E. Long
12. William Wood was the 7th son of David Madison Wood (1759-1821), of Augusta, Oneida Co., New York, by his wife, Mrs Freelove Mary Thurston Johnson (1768-1841)
13. Richland County Wisconsin, 1986, Richland Co. Historical Society, p 14
14. Certificate of Service, #389 v.s.190, State of Wisconsin, Adjutant General's Office, Madison, Wisconsin
15. Ibid
16. LLC, Copy of E.J. Long's Civil War Diary, sent to the author by Theron D. Long, great-grand- son of Edward John Long
17. Republican Observer, date unknown - circa 1965
18. Ibid
19. Patrons' Directory, Richland County Atlas, 1895, under “Rockbridge”"
20. LLFP, Brewer Public Library, Richland Center, Wis., “Papers & Letters of Robert Hare Long”
21. The General Armory,p 620
22. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” Bernard E. Long
23. Wood relatives have told me that Aunt Neal also had Chief Sitting Bull as a dinner guest.
24. Roosevelt in the Badlands, Herman Hagedorn, 1911, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston & New York, pp 95-6, 150
25. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” Bernard E. Long
35. THE FAMILY OF EDWARD & AMANDA LONG
MARSHALL WILLIAM LONG was born February 3rd, 1859, at the home of his Wood grandparents in Loyd, Richland County, Wisconsin. The elder son of Edward and Amanda Long, Marshall William was named after his great-grandfather, the Reverend Marshal Clarke, and his maternal grandfather, William Wood. When he was about ten or eleven years old, Marshall and his family moved from Willow Creek to Longfield Farm on Buck Creek. Since their father wasn't much inclined to doing farm labor, it was left to Marshall and his brother Robert to tend to the crops and the livestock.
On March 17, 1880, Marshall Wm Long was married to Elizabeth Ann Welton, at Rockbridge in Richland County. Elizabeth Welton (1858-1905), known as Eliza, was the daughter of Orange S. Welton of the Town of Richland, by his wife, Caroline M. Kinney.1 Marshall and Eliza farmed for a few years at Rockbridge where their three eldest children were born: 1. Flora Margaret Long, born May 13, 1881; 2. Nellie Ethel Long, March 1st, 1883; and 3. Katherine Celia Long, June 30th, 1884.2
In the late 1880s, Marshall and Eliza and their daughters packed up their belongings into a covered wagon and headed West to South Dakota where they homesteaded near the beautiful Black Hills, at Hermosa in Pennington County, where their two youngest children were born: 4. Wayne William Long, June 14, 1890; and 5. Phoebe Adabelle Long, January 5, 1894.3Sometime after Phoebe’s birth, they moved north to a ranch near Stoneville in Meade County, and in 1904, they moved again, to the fabled Deadwood City in the Black Hills. Eliza died there on January 26th, 1905, and is buried up near the grave of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood’s Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Marshall has been characterized by one of his granddaughters as having been a rather reserved quiet man with a somewhat stern disposition. Although not an ordained clergyman, he did deliver the occasional sermon from time to time. Until 1919, Marshall worked as a carpenter in the gold mines of the Black Hills, at which time he headed south to McAlester, Oklahoma, where he met and married Ella M. Worthen (1879-1964), a native of South Dakota.
After many years working as a rancher and carpenter in South Dakota, Marshall then become a skilled cabinet-maker, and his obituary reports that he worked at some of the largest such plants in the country. He also made furniture for his children. Marshall William Long lived the last fifteen years of his life in Oklahoma and he died there at his McAlester home on October 15th, 1934, in his 76th year. His funeral was held at the Grand Avenue Methodist Church and he was buried in his second wife’s family plot at the North McAlester Cemetery.
At the time of his death, Marshall was survived by his second wife, Ella, by his only son Wayne, and his four daughters. In 1912, Wayne William Long (1890-1946), married his cousin, Leona Amanda, daughter of Robert and Eva Long, and they settled on a farm near Yuba, north of Rockbridge in Richland County, Wisconsin. Marshall and Eliza’s eldest daughter, Flora Long (1881-1936), married Charles Nathan Castner (1862-1942), and they ranched near Stoneville in Meade County, just to the east of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Their second daughter, Nellie Long (1883-1945), married Loran LeviBartlett (d 1932), and they lived on a farm, also near Stoneville in South Dakota.
Katherine Long (1884-1939), the third daughter, married Lowe Nelson Cole (1879-1943), and they settled in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco. Phoebe Long (1894-1985), the youngest daughter, married first, Chester Faust (d circa 1918), and 2ndly, Alfred Uhl, of St. Paul, Minnesota. The descendants of Marshall and Eliza Long are now scattered across the American West and Mid-West, from California to Wisconsin.
ROBERT HENRY LONG was born on September 4th, 1861,4 at Willow Creek in Richland County, Wisconsin, the younger son of Edward and Amanda Long. He was about nine years old when his family made the move to their new farm down on Buck Creek. There at the American Longfield, Robert and Marshall tended to their father’s farm. At the age of fourteen, Robert became a member of the Buck Creek United Brethren Church. No longer did the American Longs of Longfield necessarily adhere to the Anglican faith of their ancestors.
On October 15th, 1882, at the home of the bride’s parents, at Ithaca in Richland County, Robert Henry Long of Longfield was united in marriage by the Rev John Walworth, with Mary Eva Jones, only daughter of Samuel Jones (1820-1899) [son of Harvey & Susannah Jones], of Cairo, Greene Co., N.Y., and of Ithaca, Richland Co., Wisconsin, by his wife, Mary Ann B. Van Tassel (1826-1882) ,5 a descendant of the legendary Van Tassels of Sleepy Hollow, Westchester Co., New York. Mary Ann was the daughter of Matthias Van Tassel Jr.(1791-1868) [by his first wife, Phoebe Evory (d 1827), daughter of Obediah Evory (will dated 1857), of Durham, Greene Co., N.Y.], of East Durham, Greene Co., N.Y., a great-great-great-grandson of Major Cornelius Jensen Van Texel (b in Holland circa 1600), progenitor of the Van Tassels of Sleepy Hollow, by his wife, Catoneras, daughter of Chief Wyandance of the Montauk Indians of Eaton’s Neck, Huntington Bay, Long Island, N.Y.6
Robert and Eva Long lived at Longfield Farm on Buck Creek, in a little house on the hill, just a few hundred feet from “the big house” where his parents resided. After his mother Amanda went to live with her daughter Sarah, Robert and his family moved into “the big house.” Nine children were born unto Robert and Eva Long: 1. Robert Edward Long, born June 5, 1883; 2. Samuel Bertrand Long, August 12, 1885; 3. Leona Amanda Long, December 2, 1887; 4. Florence Cordelia Long [the author’s grandmother], November 1, 1889; 5. Mae Gladys Long, June 3, 1891; 6. Clara Christina Long, July 10, 1893; 7. Vern Whitney Long, February 6, 1896; 8. an unnamed son, born and died in 1899; and 9. Vera Adell Long, born February 12, 1902.7
Since his elder brother Marshall had moved out West to South Dakota, Robert Long eventually inherited Longfield Farm from his father. Robert’s grandson, Verne Marshall Long, recalls that his Grandpa Long used to spice his speech with his favorite expression: “By gingles.” A life-long Republican, Robert enjoyed getting into lively political discussions with his son-in-law, Wayne Long, a staunch Democrat. With the able assistance of his sons, Bert and Vern, Robert continued to operate Longfield as a stock and dairy farm, and after Vern left for Texas circa 1919, Bert ran the farm for his father. Unfortunately, they lost their property during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The second Longfield was no more!
Robert, who towered over his diminuitive wife, attached little importance to clothes and appearance, thus obliging Eva to occasionally insist that her husband put on a clean coat or jacket when he was about to drive into Richland Center. Reminiscing about his father, Vern Long remembered him as being a good-natured, easy-going kind of man, who although a hard worker, would often take the time to stop and chat with friends and neighbors along his dairy route to Richland Center.
Eva Long died on March 11th, 1932, just three weeks short of her 70th birthday, and was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Richland County. After his wife’s death, and having lost his farm, Robert went to live with his daughters in neighboring Sauk County - first with Clara, and then with Vera. Robert Henry Long survived his wife by 18 years and died on June 20th, 1950, aged 88, at the home of his daughter Vera Fry, in Washington, Sauk County. Funeral services were held at the Pleasant Ridge Evangelical Brethren Church, and his body was laid to rest alongside Eva’s in the church cemetery.
Of the children of Robert and Eva Long: 1.The eldest son, Robert Edward Long (1883-1930), known as Edward, married in 1906, Mabel Minett (1887-1955), and they resided at English Ridge in Richland County. 2. Their second son, Samuel Bertrand Long (1885-1973), known as Bert, married Clara Jane Robinson (1893-1984) in 1915,8 and they resided at Yuba in Richland County. 3. The eldest daughter, Leona Amanda Long (1887-1993), married in 1912, her cousin, Wayne William Long (1890-1946), only son of Marshall William Long, and they also resided in Richland County. Having lived to the incredible age of 105 , Leona Amanda Long was the Matriarch of the 20th Century Longs of Longfield. It was Leona who clearly recalled that Longfield had been the name of the family’s estate back in Tipperary.
4. The second daughter, Florence Cordelia Long (1889-1978), taught school in Cottonwood, South Dakota, where she met her future husband, Martin Charles Howe (1882-1965), a local cowboy and rancher. Married in 1913, they headed north to Canada and homesteaded near Wood Mountain in southern Saskatchewan.5. The third daughter, Mae Gladys Long (1891-1986), married Guy Hankins in 1907, and after their divorce, she married secondly,Robert Alexander Cox (1879-1969) in 1911. After residing in South Dakota for many years, they moved West to Vancouver, Washington, just north of Portland, Oregon. 6. The fourth daughter, Clara Christina Long (1893-1981), married in 1911, Thomas Marion McDonough (1889-1954), son of Michael McDonoughwho hailed from County Sligo, Ireland. Clara and Thomas resided most of their lives in Richland and Sauk Counties, Wisconsin.
7. The third son, Vern Whitney Long (1896-1989), a World War I veteran, married in 1917, Lena Leona Fry (1898-1982), and they lived for many years in Sherman County, Texas, before returning to Wisconsin in the 1930s. 9. Vera Adell Long (1902-1980), the fifth daughter and youngest child of Robert and Eva Long, married in 1920, Oscar Benjamin Fry (1900-1962), brother of the previously mentioned Lena Fry, and they resided in Sauk County, Wisconsin. The descendants of Robert Henry Long have been prolific and now number more than 800! At the time of his death in 1950, Robert Long was survived by seven children, 59 grandchildren, 91 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren, thus making a total of 166 living descendants.
IDA VICTORIA LONG BLACK was born March 21st, 1863, on Willow Creek in Richland County, the eldest daughter of Edward John Long, by his wife, Amanda Maria Wood. Ida taught school at Viola in Kickapoo Valley in neighboring Vernon County, and while there, boarded at the home of Jeremiah and Lucinda Black, whose son, Peter Jeremiah Black (1856-1908), was also a teacher. Before long, Peter and Ida fell in love and were married, March 7th, 1883, at Rockbridge in Richland County.9 They spent the first ten years of their marriage farming at Viola, and then moved north to another farm at Neillsville in Clark County circa 1894, but stayed there only five years since Peter developed a heart condition that necessitated his giving up the hard work of farming. In 1899, Peter and Ida sold the farm and moved south to the Monroe County town of Tomah, where Peter purchased and operated the Tomah Hotel, now the present site of the Farmers & Merchants Bank.
Ida and Peter Black had a family of seven children, the first five all born at Viola: 1. Jeremiah Edward Black, born February 18, 1884; 2. Laura O’Zeda Black, October 27, 1885; 3. LaVerne Nelson Black, April 25, 1887; 4. Marcena Millicent Black, September 22, 1888; 5. Byron Bayard Black, February 16, 1890; 6. Beulah Alberta Black, born at Neillsville, Clark County, July 4th, 1897; and 7. Donald Robert Peter Black, born at Tomah, Monroe County, Wisconsin, on November 11th, 1906.10
From a letter written in 1986 by Peter’s and Ida’s grandson, Robert Donald McFadden (b 1905; living 1998) of Sierra Vista, Arizona:
“Dear Dale,
In our last telephone conversation you asked about Ida, her personality and her chief characteristics - well, Ida was quite a gal! I remember her and knew her well from about 1910 until her death in 1943. She was an exact replica, ‘make-up wise,’ of her mother Amanda. She was aggressive but kind, determined, domineering, and thoroughly capable of anything she put her energies to. When husband Peter died, she carried on the hotel business in a highly professional manner.
She was probably the most self sufficient woman I’ve ever known. When lights refused to work properly [electricity was rather new in Tomah at the time], she, with pliers and screwdrivers, did her own repairing - made up her own extension cords, and installed additional fuse blocks for necessary additional circuits. She installed new water-fronts in her cook-stoves [water was heated in those days by a ‘water-front’ installed in the fire-box of wood and coal ranges]. [She] had a set of plumbing tools and used them whenever necessary.
When she sold the hotel [around 1911], she moved first to a house then secondly to a flat, taking in boarders and roomers to provide a steady income. By 1913, four of her eldest children were working in Chicago - two doctors, one artist and one secretary - and she moved there with her two youngest to ‘keep house’ for the entire brood. After all her children married [late ‘20s], she came back to Tomah to live with us for one or two years, but felt she was more needed closer to her children in Chicago - so back she went. After Byron’s wife died, she moved in and kept house for him until her death in 1943. She was one strong unusual woman. Her favorite cuss word was ‘By-Gee!’ - it was ‘by-gee’ this and ‘by-gee’ that until the day she died. May she rest in peace!”
Peter Jeremiah Black died April 11, 1908, and is buried in Tomah’s Oak Grove Cemetery. Ida Long Black died in Chicago on December 10, 1943, in her 81st year and was buried alongside her husband.11 Of the children of Ida Long and her husband Peter Black: 1. The eldest, Dr. Jeremiah Edward Black (1884-1934), a true humanitarian who never turned away a patient for lack of money, graduated as an M.D. from Chicago’s Loyola University in 1919. Two years earlier, Jeremiah had married an Irish-American woman, Mary Elizabeth Mullaney (1897-1965), and they had a family of five daughters and three sons, of whom the youngest, Byron Brian Black (b Nov 22, 1933), was one of the deputy sheriffs in Dallas who was assigned the duty of guarding Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy.
Upon the untimely death of her eldest son Jeremiah, just three days short of his fiftieth birthday, Ida wrote to her niece, Clara Long McDonough, daughter of Robert Long:
“5613 Cottage Ave.,
Chicago, Illinois
March 5, 1934
My dear Niece Clara,
I do not know if you live at the old address or where your father is, but we are in great sorrow again as Jere [miah] died very suddenly and unexpectedly on Feb. 15th. I will enclose a clipping from The Chicago Tribune which will tell about it better than I can. I have written to Sarah. Zeda was here for the funeral but Verne could not get here but telegraphed and wrote.
I hope you people are all well. Tell your father I hope he is well. I had the flu from the middle of Jan. till into Feb. but am quite well now, as are most of us. [I] would like to hear from you.
Affectionately
A U N TI D A”
2. Laura O’Zeda Black (1885-1969), known as “Zeda” - Peter and Ida’s eldest daughter, married in 1905, Robert Henry McFadden (1875-1952), of Tomah, and they were the parents of the above-mentioned Robert D. McFadden. 3. LaVerne Nelson Black (1887-1938) - “Artist of the American West” - see Chapter 36; 4. Marcena Millicent Black (1888-1915), worked as a secretary in a Chicago law firm, and fell in love with Doctor Worrell [first name unknown]. Tragically, she fell ill with a fatal disease, but their love for each other was so strong, that while suffering on her death-bed, she married Dr. Worrell, who vowed he would never love again so long as he lived. 5. Dr. Byron Bayard Black (1890-1960), third son of Ida and Peter Black, followed in his brother’s footsteps and graduated from Loyola University. Although an M.D., Byron pursued a career as a chiropractor in Chicago. He married Dolly Hendrickson.
6. Beulah Alberta Black (1897-1981) graduated from the University of Chicago in 1923 and married Horace Shadbolt the following year. After a lengthy career as secretary to the Dean of the University of Chicago, Beulah and her husband retired to Santa Barbara, California, in 1962. Beulah went over to Ireland circa 1972 or 73 and visited Longfield, the first known 20th Century American/Canadian Long descendant to have done so. 7. Donald Robert Peter Black (1906-1989), the youngest child of Ida Long and Peter Black, grew up in Chicago, and in 1929, he married Marjorie May Dixon Bowman. In 1950, they moved to the Los Angeles area and in the 1960s, they retired to the State of Washington. Donald was very talented. He painted, sculpted, and wrote the music and lyrics to many good songs, but fame was always elusive. He did sell several of his paintings, but under a different name.12 As reported in a previous chapter, Donald carefully preserved the letter entrusted to him by his mother, the letter written in 1850 by his Great-grandmother, Mary Clarke Long, to her son, Edward John Long, Donald’s grandfather.
SARAH HELENA LONG JONES was born April 18, 1866, at Willow in Richland County, Wisconsin, the second daughter of Edward John Long and Amanda Maria Wood. On December 31, 1882, Sarah married Samuel Eugene Jones, son of Samuel Jones of Cairo, Greene County, New York, and of Little Willow, Richland County, Wisconsin, by his wife, Mary Ann Van Tassel, of the legendary Van Tassels of Sleepy Hollow, New York.Just some two months earlier, Sarah’s brother, Robert Henry Long, had married Eva Jones, the sister of Eugene Jones, and thus, a double bond was formed between the two families. Eugene and Sarah moved north to a farm near Pittsville, in Wood County, Wisconsin, where their three children were born: 1. Laura Adelle Jones, born October 1, 1883; 2. Ida Belle Jones, born January 12, 1885; and 3. Roy Francis Jones, born May 11, 1888.13
Tragedy struck Eugene and Sarah’s children. At the age of two, Ida Belle was accidentally scalded to death when she fell into a tub of hot lye water. When he was only eleven months old, Roy Francis Jones died of spinal meningitis. So Laura grew up an only child and moved south with her parents to another farm, at Necedah in Juneau County. Circa 1912, Sarah’s mother Amanda, came to live with her daughter, and she stayed with Sarah and Eugene until her death in 1924. Sarah’s nephew, Vern Long, recalled his aunt as being a rather distinguished looking woman, who somewhat resembled Queen Victoria. Although she tended to be good-natured and humble, Sarah was proud of her Irish background and always held her head high. Eugene Jones died January 10th, 1937, and Sarah survived him by four years, dying October 17th, 1941, at the age of 75. They are buried at the Bay View Cemetery in Necedah, Wisconsin.14
About 1913, Sarah and Eugene’s only surviving child, Laura Adelle Jones (1883-1968), married Charles Francis Adams, and their only child, Francis Eugene Adams, was born November 1914 at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Charles and Laura were divorced after only two years of marriage, at which time Laura went out to work while young Francis stayed with his grandparents in Necedah. On September 28th, 1917, Laura married, as her second husband, Volkert Veigh Smith, of Holmen, just north of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
Laura Jones Smith died February 20th, 1968, in her 85th year, and is buried in Onalaska Cemetery in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Whereas Sarah’s brother, Robert Henry Long, left descendants numbering in the hundreds , Sarah’s line hung by a single strand, represented by her daughter Laura, whose only son, the late Francis Adams (1914-1968), has left issue [by his wife, Helen Staff], three children and seven grandchildren. Sarah Long’s great-grandson, James Edward Adams, values his descent from the Longs of Longfield, and has earned a measure of success pursuing a career as a country musician in Reno, Nevada.
EDNA ELNORA LONG WOOD, the youngest daughter of Edward John Long and Amanda Maria Wood, was born February 7th, 1880, at Longfield Farm, on Buck Creek, Rockbridge, Richland County, Wisconsin. Since Edna’s brother Robert, lived with his wife Eva and their children in the little house up on the hill, one can well imagine that Edna often had occasion to babysit her nieces and nephews, the eldest of whom were not all that much younger than she was. Edna’s childhood album still exists, and it includes birthday greetings from her father:
“Buck Creek, Wis.,
Feb. 7, 1890
My dear daughter Edna,
You are 10 years old today and I would like to write a couple of lines in your Album. But can two short lines convey a message from above? Yes, one speaks volumes:
‘God is Love’
‘Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth’
Your fond Father
E. J. LONG”15
On November 21st, 1901, at Limeridge, in neighboring Sauk County, Wisconsin, Edna Long married her first cousin, Frank Elliot Wood, son of George Madison Wood, by his wife, Lorinda Faust, said to be a descendant of Princess Pocahantis. Frank Wood was born December 6th, 1866, at Loyd, just a few miles from the Longs at Buck Creek. 16 When gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1876, Frank, with his parents and three brothers, journeyed West by covered wagon and homesteaded on a ranch near Sturgis in Meade County, South Dakota. As a young man, he took up his own homestead on Deadwood Creek and ranched there a number of years. Although crippled by polio at the age of three, Frank Wood was an admirable person who refused to allow his disability to prevent him from leading and active and fulfilling life. From a sitting position, he learned to rope, saddle and mount his horse, and when crippled by old-age in later years, he invented and built his own wheelchair.
When trailings from the nearby gold smelters washed down onto his property and made a swamp of his land, Frank made the decision to return to Wisconsin. There he bought a small farm near Limeridge in Sauk County, and soon thereafter, he married his cousin, Edna Long. Limeridge was the birthplace of their two eldest sons: Bruce George Wood, born December 20th, 1902; and Marshal Ney Wood, born February 7th, 1904. Frank missed the adventure of living in the West, so in 1906, he and Edna and their two boys set out for South Dakota. On the way there, their third son, Warren Edward Wood, was born on a Native Indian reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota. His birth occurred April 6, 1906, at Halfway House, which had been built by Teddy Roosevelt as a watering place.
Since Frank had already used his homestead rights, it was Edna who took up the homestead at Grindstone, in Haakon County, twenty miles north of Cottonwood. Frank’s brother, Arden Wood, had also homesteaded nearby, and between the two of them, they operated a ranch with about a thousand head of sheep who grazed on the open range. There at Grindstone, Edna’s and Frank’s fourth and youngest son, Victor Marion Wood, was born on May 28th, 1907. Shortly thereafter, Frank and Edna and their boys moved right into the village of Cottonwood, and although Frank continued to run the sheep ranch with his brother, he and Edna purchased and operated a general store in Cottonwood.
Circa 1909, Edna’s mother, Amanda Wood Long, came to Cottonwood to stake a land-claim on behalf of her elder son, Marshall William Long. Accompanying Amanda were her grand-daughters, Leona and Florence Long, who taught two of her cousins, Bruce and Marshal Wood. In 1910, Amanda and Leona Long returned to Wisconsin whereas Florence stayed behind and went to live with her Aunt Edna. There was another store in Cottonwood, one run by a Norwegian couple, Charles and Anna Howe, and before long, their eldest son Martin was courting Florence Long, who also served as the organist at the local church.
Circa 1911, Frank, always adventuresome, decided life would be better down in Florida, and consequently, he sold the store and headed South while Edna and the boys returned to Wisconsin to stay with their Long and Wood relations there. A few months later, Edna and their four sons joined Frank in Florida and started life anew on a farm at Dexter, near Orange Springs and Eureka, in Marion County. The following poem by Edna Long Wood describes their sojourn in Florida:
SUCCESS ON TEN ACRES
Yes, we came to Florida;
We thought we came to stay.
We came to raise garden “Sass”
From September until May.
And some of our surplus send
To the friends we left behind
Living in snow and ice,
While we basked in a sunny clime.
We went to work quite briskly
Upon our little “ten.”
We cleared, fenced and broke the sod
And a little house began;
At first it must be modest
And when we’d make a “stake,”
The home we had long planned for,
We’d go to work and make.
The “crackers” came to see us,
Stood ‘round and looked quite wise,
They said we’d never raise a thing
Unless we’d fertilize.
But we thought that we’d show them
About farming a thing or two;
Show them that a Northerner
Is not so mighty slow.
We plowed, disked and harrowed;
Planted seeds and up they came.
How glad we were that we were here;
We rejoiced, then came the rain.
Say, when that rain was over,
You should have seen our home.
We might have been in the Ocala
On an island all alone.
But we were not discouraged;
It was unusual so we thought.
Our farm we planted over
And then there came the drought.
The sun shone hot the livelong day
When there was no frost;
And between rain and no rain,
Our first six months were lost.
Then we said we’d do things right;
We’d fertilize, and try again.
We’d go to work and raise a crop
In spite of drought, in spite of rain.
One year we toiled from morn till night
Through sunshine, rain and heat;
But it was the same old story,
And we declared that we were beat.
And now I’m out to work
For a dollar and a half a day.
It is not very much,
But here it’s quite good pay.
We are living very saving
To try and raise the price,
To take us to the Northland,
Amid the snow and ice.
- by Edna Long Wood (1880-1943)
of the Longs of Longfield 17
Frank Wood returned to the West in the summer of 1912 and started up a shoe repair shop in St. Regis, Montana, and began saving money to bring his family back from Florida. Meanwhile, Edna had to support and protect her four sons in the Florida swampland, and she made and sold denim overalls to earn a living. Edna and the boys arrived in St. Regis, Montana, in December 1912, and Frank took them to their new home at the rear of the shop. After a couple of years there, and a few more moves elsewhere, Frank finally found a permanent home for his wife and family, at Plains, in Saunders County, Montana. Their youngest son, Victor, operated a feed mill, while Frank repaired shoes and ran a second-hand store.
Edna Long Wood was a person who always thought of others before herself. When in 1925, her niece, Florence Long Howe, was experiencing a difficult ninth pregnancy, Edna hurried north to help her and stayed on a few months after the baby was born. Florence’s five daughters fondly remember their Great-Aunt Edna as being a good-natured and attractive medium-sized woman, who baked them cookies and pies and told them about her boys and the Longs. She was a highly organized individual, who, with ample energy and enthusiasm, could do all the farm and household chores quickly and efficiently. Florence dearly loved her Aunt Edna, and it is sad to know that they were never to see each other again after that visit. But Edna always remembered Florence and Martin Howe and their many children living out on the Saskatchewan prairielands, and sent them a large package every Christmas for many years. Florence’s second daughter, Anna Howe Caragata [the author’s Mother], thought of her Great-Aunt Edna as a guardian angel.
The years flew by and Frank and Edna’s four sons all reached adulthood. Their eldest son, Bruce Wood, married at Butte, Montana, on March 8th, 1935, Marguerite Grace Schott, and they had two children, a son and a daughter. Bruce’s second marriage was to Kathleen Lindsay. Frank and Edna’s second son, Marshal Wood, married a teacher, Marie Anne Pilgeram, on November 22nd, 1930, and they also had two children, a son and a daughter. In 1943, Marshal Wood, a great-great-grandson of the Rev Marshal Clarke, died in a tragic logging accident. His widow Marie remarried, and over the years she developed an interest in genealogy. She gathered information on the Wood and Long families, and obtained the birth records of the Longs from Ardmayle Church near Cashel, Tipperary. Marie and Marshal Wood’s children are now in possession of the family Bible that belonged to Edward and Amanda Long.
Edna and Frank’s third son, Warren Wood, married twice, but had no children . His first marriage was to Minnie Sewell, and his second, to Josephine Morgan. The youngest son, Victor Wood, also married twice and had no issue by either alliance. He married first, Joan Moore, and secondly, Mabel Ruth Sharp. Victor survived his three brothers and passed away on August 11th, 1986, and is buried in the Wood Family plot in the Plains Cemetery, alongside his brothers and their parents: Edna Elnora Long Wood, who departed this life on December 20th, 1943, and Frank Elliott Wood, who died on June 25th, 1958, in his 92nd year.18
NOTES:
1. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” by Bernard E. Long; Extract from the Richland County Marriage Index, #D168
2 & 3. Ibid
4. Wisconsin State Board of Health, Madison, Wis., Original Certificate of Death, #210-10-48-50M
5. Marriage Registration Record of Robert Long & Mary Eva Jones, Register of Deeds, Richland Co., Wisconsin
6. Van Tassel & Allied Lines, Mary M. Van Tassel Pazurik, 1974, Coast News, Gibsons, B.C., Canada, p 134
7. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” Bernard E. Long
8. Their 4th son, Leland Long, has inherited Edward Thomas Long’s walking stick.
9. Richland County, Wisconsin, 1986, Taylor Publishing Co., Dallas, Texas, pp 310-11.
10. LLC, 1986 letter to the author from Robert D. McFadden, gdson of Ida Victoria Long Black
11. Ibid
12. LLC, 1991 letter to the author from Donna Black Wolthausen, gd-daughter of Ida Long Black
13. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” Bernard E. Long
14. Ibid
15. LLC, 1988 letter & family information package from Leslie A. Wood, grandson ofEdna Elnora Long Wood
16. LLC, 1984 letter from Marie Brown (1907-1991), widow of Marshal Wood (1904-1943), son of Edna Long Wood
17. LLC, 1985 family information package from Marie Wood Brown
18. Ibid
36. LAVERNE NELSON BLACK ~ ARTIST OF THE AMERICAN WEST
As a child, I was occasionally allowed the rare treat of looking through my Grandparents’ photo albums, and in doing so, I was always fascinated by an impressive drawing contained therein, of a man and his two strong horses plowing a field which overlooked a rambling two-storey house snuggled in amongst the trees in the valley below. Beside the picture, my Grandma Florence had written: “Drawn by my cousin Verne Black. 1905, Wisconsin.” LaVerne Black was the very first of my Grandma’s cousins whose name I came to know, and whose talent I admired at an early age.
Born April 25th, 1887, at Viola, Wisconsin, in Vernon County’s Kickapoo Valley, LaVerne Nelson Black was the second son of Peter Jeremiah Black by his wife, Ida Victoria Long.1 As a young boy, Verne used to go “fishing along the Kickapoo River ...... with Indian lads from the reservation near his home; [he] listened to the tales, legends and traditions told by the older tribesmen in teepees or around the campfire. [Verne] got his first painting lesson from an old [Native] Indian [gentleman] who drew pictures with red keel gathered from pebbles in a brook.”2 When he was seven years old, Verne and his family moved about 100 miles north to a farm near Neillsville in Clark County. Peter Black was a teacher, farmer and a cattle dealer, and young Verne, riding his pony, often had occasion to help his father herd the livestock to market over the woodland roads.3
LaVerne Black’s artistic ability began to express itself during his childhood and his first drawings were done with natural materials.4 “He became particularily interested in drawing horses and Indians. The red keel [a soft marking stone used by Indians to paint their faces for tribal ceremonies], earths and vegetable juices were the materials he used for his first drawings.”5
In 1899, the Black Family gave up farming and moved fifty miles south to the Monroe County town of Tomah, where LaVerne’s parents purchased and operated a hotel. Upon graduating from Tomah High School in 1906, Verne happily headed down to Chicago to join his eldest brother Jeremiah, who was then attending Loyola University. Verne enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and studied there until 1908 when he graduated with a scholarship.6
Verne’s skill and idealism quickly won him a good position in the field of commercial art.7 By the time his Mother moved to Chicago in 1913, Verne was beginning to make an impression on the Chicago art scene. Many of his bronze sculptures apparently date from the second decade of the 20th Century.8 During that period, he also did painting on commission and for gallery sale. For a time, Verne left Chicago to work as an illustrator for newspapers in Minneapolis and New York City.
In 1921, Verne was hired by the Chicago American and he ultimately became their chief illustrator. 9 All throughout that time, he was continually painting and sculpting during every spare moment he had, and good fortune enabled him to take vacations on western ranches and in Indian country. 10 This romantic period of his life culminated in his falling in love with Mary Ella Ruth Bowman, whom he married circa 1922. They had a family of two children: Dr. LaVerne Nelson Black Jr., born in 1923, and Patricia Ruth Black [now Mrs Richard Peterson], born in New York City in 1928.
“Taos [New Mexico] was a colorful town with an Indian tradition and an active enthusiastic art colony. With the picturesque setting and superb climate, it seemed ideal for an artist like LaVerne Black.” 11 So it wasn’t surprising when Verne, with his wife and children, made the move to Taos in 1926. “Some of his most memorable pictures have the stamp of the Sangre de Cristo Range, Indian ponies, adobe buidings and mountain snow [of the Taos district of New Mexico].”12 LaVerne’s first six months in New Mexico proved so productive that he felt inspired to return to Chicago with the fruits of his artistic endeavours to present his first major public exhibition, which was held at J. W. Young’s Art Gallery for ten days in November 1926.
Art patrons who attended his exhibition were presented with a brochure which advised: “For the past two years, [LaVerne Nelson Black’s] work both as a sculptor and as a painter has attracted marked attention when shown in public exhibitions at the Art Institute and elsewhere. The 24 paintings and 6 pieces of sculpture now shown are the result of these years of hard work. The last six months he has spent in New Mexico where he saw much beauty in mountains, valleys and adobe, and has told us of the life of the Indians, cowboys and Mexicans in a way that delights art critics and makes all of us wish that we too might be there to see what he has portrayed in such a fascinating manner. His paintings are colorful and spirited; his sculpture showing the life of the Indians and the cattlemen is realistic and lyrical.”13
“[LaVerne] Black left Taos early in the 1930s for the same reason he had left the East - failing health. He [and his family] moved to the then-small city of Phoenix in the Arizona desert. During this Taos-Phoenix period, he completed commissions for the Santa Fe Railway Company and his paintings were displayed in some of the line’s largest offices. Declining health and incessant work without personal recognition made the Depression years a trying time for Black. Other artists of the Taos group were achieving national fame. Their popularity threw some reflected light onto Black, but this manner of getting recognition had a secondary quality.
It was not until the Spring of 1937 that Black became widely known with the public for paintings that do not rank among his best. The Section of Fine Arts of the Public Works Administration invited proposals for murals for the Phoenix Post Office. Twenty-seven artists responded. Two won commissions. Oscar Berninghaus was selected to paint the murals in the west lobby. Black’s proposal was chosen for the east lobby.
His subject was the progress of Arizona from the first settlers to modern days. Four large panels and two small ones were completed and later attached to the Post Office walls. Close friends of the artist believe that, due to the conditions under which he painted the panels - in a small windowless studio - he contracted a kind of poisoning which worsened his already sickly condition and led to his death. Black died at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago on May 11, 1938. His body was returned to Tomah for burial in the family plot in the Oak Grove Cemetery at 2.30 p.m., Saturday, May 14 - 19 days after his 51st birthday.” 14
An extract from his obituary reads: “LaVerne Nelson Black, ...... famous painter of the Southwest, died yesterday in a Chicago hospital.” “Mr. Black, a former newspaperman in Chicago and New York, was recognized as one of the greatest of the modern Indian painters.” 15Mary Black survived her husband by only four years, and after her untimely demise, their children, Patricia and LaVerne Jr., went to live with their Aunt Beulah [Shadbolt] in Chicago.
Barely gone from the earthly plane, Verne was honored by the Arizona art community. On June 3rd, 4th and 5th, 1938, the Arizona Society of Painters and Sculptors sponsored LaVerne Black’s Memorial Exhibition., held at the Federal Art Center in Phoenix.The exhibition pamphlet advised: “He was a member of the Taos Art Colony and belonged to the Taos Crafts, as well as the Chicago Galleries Association, and the Arizona Society of Painters and Sculptors. He .... exhibited extensively, especially at Tiffany’s in New York, and the Biltimore Hotel in Los Angeles. His paintings and bronzes are to be found in the leading art collections both in this country and abroad. Last year he was one of the five artists selected ...... to exhibit in the 2nd National Exhibition of American Art to be held in the American Fine Arts Galleries in New York.” 16
Years later in 1970, the Valley National Bank of Arizona sponsored an exhibition of LaVerne Black’s art, in Phoenix. From the promotional brochure: “This show could very well be described as the definitive exhibit of work by LaVerne Nelson Black. He missed receiving widespread, highly publicized recognition during his lifetime. Since his death, much of his work has disappeared from public view into private collections.
Although Black was a productive painter, his eye was ahead of what the public wanted to see at the time. Prominent galleries showed his work, but the scenes which Black painted and his impressionistic style were not ‘popular’ in the 1920s and 1930s. One friend recalls that Black was brought to the edge of tears on seeing his paintings passed over by gallery visitors who chose larger, more colorful - and more costly - pictures by his contemporaries. However, for LaVerne Black, the frustration of neglect must have been offset by the satisfaction he felt in doing what he did best. What he has left us is one of the most accurate representations of the West and its Indians in contemporary times. This is the way the West looked - not too long ago.
LaVerne Nelson Black has been described as being a small bristly man with shaggy eyebrows and moustache. He often wore a large-brimmed hat and nondescript clothes which didn’t seem to fit him very well. He apparently was diffident about promoting himself to any great extent, preferring to let his pallet and brush speak for him, for there is little printed information for a researcher to compile.” 17
As it sometimes happens with talented creative people, name and fame elude them while they live. It is therefore rather pleasing to know that our kinsman has belatedly received the recognition due him. In 1971, Verne’s On The Trail was sold at auction for $1,600 U.S. 18 His daughter Patricia advises that English tourists often purchased his paintings. 19 My Mother and her sisters Evelyn and Shirley, felt full of admiration and awe when they viewed LaVerne Black’s mural at the Phoenix Post Office.
“The fact that his [bronzes] were the first [to be shown] at Tiffany’s since [Frederic] Remington’s (1861-1909), was considered a decided tribute to his work.” 20 “[Black] developed his style during the reign of the Impressionists. He sought to capture the effect of a scene without detracting from it with the use of too much detail.” 21 Commenting on Verne’s impressionistic painting, Winter Scene, art critic David J. Lucas wrote: “The colder the weather, the brighter the Indian colors.” 22 Mr. Lucas describes Verne’s Taos oil painting: “Set against a background of red mesas, the scene depicts an Indian excursion into town. Many of Black’s scenes reflect some part of Indian life such as travelling or trading.” 23
Of Two Indian Men on Horseback, Lucas writes: “A fitting representation of Black’s chief interests in art: Indians and horses. He was said to be unique in the painting of the Indian pony ....... The bold strokes show us the artist’s confidence in his brush and knife.” “[Black] could work quickly, either in his studio from memory or in the field from the life scene.” 24 And from a Chicago newspaper: “In one particularily lovely canvas, which the artist [LaVerne Nelson Black] has christened Going to Pleuris, a line of an infinite and serpentine grace is supplied by the curve of a ravine leading tenuously into silent and eternal hills far back in the picture. Late afternoon sunlight falling upon the crimson serape of an Indian supplies the final note of accentuation in a theme brought to a salient climax of line and color in the foreground of the canvas.” 25
LaVerne Nelson Black stands out as being a most interesting and remarkable descendant of the Longs of Longfield. One is reminded of the fact that his cousin, Victor Albert Long (1866-1938), was a famous artist of the Canadian West, one of his most memorable works being a portrait of Chief Crowfoot. Since LaVerne identified with the American Indians and felt a close spiritual kinship with America’s first citizens, it is therefore probable that he was aware of the fact that he had inherited Native blood through his Grandmother, Amanda Wood Long.
NOTES:
1. LLC, 1986 letter to the author from Robert D. McFadden, Grandson of Ida Victoria Long Black
2. Chicago Herald & Examiner, Sun., Nov. 14, 1926; “LaVerne Black’s Paintings & Bronzes on Exhibition,” page number unknown
3. Ibid; & Young’s Art Gallery Chicago: Pamphlet - “LaVerne Nelson Black - Exhibition,” by J. W. Young, Chicago, Nov. 1926
4. The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, Peggy & Harold Samuels, Doubleday & Co. Inc., 1976, pp. 48-49
5. Valley National Bank of Arizona, Publicity Dept., Phoenix: Pamphlet - LaVerne Nelson Black,” by David J. Lucas, 1970
6. Ibid
7. Young’s Art Gallery, Chicago, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1926
8. Valley National Bank, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1970
9-10. Chicago Herald & Examiner, Nov. 14, 1926
11-12. Valley National Bank, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1970
13. Young’s Art Gallery, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1926
14. Valley National Bank, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1970
15. An unidentified Chicago newspaper dated May 12, 1938, “Noted Painter Dies - Aged 51”
16. Arizona Society of Painters & Sculptors, Pamphlet - “LaVerne Black - Memorial Exhibition,” Phoenix Federal Art Center, June 1938
17. Valley National Bank, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1970
18. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, p 48
19. LLC, 1987 letter to the author’s Mother from Patricia Peterson, dau of LaVerne Nelson Black
20. Valley National Bank, Pamphlet - LaVerne Black, 1970
21-24. Ibid
25. Chicago American, Fri., Nov. 26, 1926, “Chicago Artist Exhibits Vivid Paintings,” by Frances Farmer, page number unknown
37. THE POET - STEPHEN MOORE LONG OF LAVALLE
Stephen Moore Long was born March 1st, 1834, at Fort Edward House near Ardmayle, Tipperary. Named after his great-uncle, Stephen Moore of Barne, Comptroller-General of Ireland, Stephen was the seventh son of Edward Thomas Long and Mary Crozier Clarke. Privately educated at home, there exists no known record of his having attended any college or university in Ireland. According to his obituary, Stephen Moore Long came to the United States with his father in 1854, settling first at Beloit, Wisconsin, and then at Ironton in 1857.1
On May 2nd, 1858, at Ironton in Sauk County, Wisconsin, Stephen Moore Long was married to Sarah A. Bates, daughter of Richard Bates of Ironton, by his wife, Jane Ross.2 Whereas Sarah was born in the North at Liberty, Indiana [on March 14th, 1839], her parents hailed from the South, her father having been born in Tennessee and her mother in North Carolina.3 The Bates Family moved to Logansport, Indiana, and in 1854, when Sarah was fifteen years old, they headed West to Wisconsin and were amongst the earliest settlers at Ironton.
Stephen and Sarah Long soon settled into married life at Ironton. Living with them for a few years were Stephen’s youngest brothers, Mark and Archibald Long. And when he wasn’t over in Ireland or in New York City, Edward Thomas Long, accompanied by his youngest daughter Victoria, often stayed with Stephen and Sarah. With Stephen’s brother Edward and their sister Mary [Featherston] both living within about twelve miles of Ironton, the freshly emerging American Longs of Longfield were now creating a new home base for themselves in Wisconsin.
On February 7th, 1859, Sarah gave birth to their first children - twin daughters: 1. Florence Victoria Long, and 2. Ida Elizabeth Long. The new parents’ initial joy was soon replaced by great sorrow when little Ida died just two months later on April 9th, 1859.. Two years later, their third child and eldest son entered the earthly plane: 3. Robert F. Long, born March 21st, 1861.4
The young couple’s re-established domestic bliss was severely shaken by the outbreak of the Civil War in April, 1861. Although Stephen had lived in the States for only seven years, he had already transferred his allegiance to his adopted homeland, having become an American citizen on November 14th, 1856.5 Stephen enthusiastically espoused the Union cause and enlisted on June 1st, 1861, joining the 6th Wisconsin Infantry, Company “A.”6 By some miracle, some of Stephen’s Civil War letters have survived till now, having been carefully preserved by his descendants, one of whom thoughtfully sent me copies thereof. The following are extracts from a letter written to his father, while encamped near Washington, D.C. on August 9th, 1861. Stephen wrote:
“I feel anxious to have a crack at the Rebels. I could shoot them now with a good heart.”7 At the same time, his martial instincts were tempered by more peaceful sentiments emanating from that same good heart: “No one knows the blessings of peace until he sees some of the miseries of war.” “I don’t suppose [our daughter] Flory would know me now.”8 The same letter provides us with a tourist’s impression of Washington 136 years ago:
“In the morning early I started uptown toward the Capitol and went all over it. I was through every room in it and on top of the cupola. The City [of Washington] is a very poor concern, and except for three or four public buildings, the houses are very shabby. The White House is splendid.”9 His September 15th, 1861 letter to Sarah describes life in the army: “There is no fun about a soldier’s life just now.” “One must bear hardships and great privations, and stand to be knocked or ordered ‘round by officers without a murmur. However, a man that does his duty will be treated like a gentleman at all times. I have always been treated as such.”10
While serving in the army Stephen was known as “Tip,” an abbreviation for his native Tipperary. In July, 1862, Sarah received a letter written by her husband while encamped near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 29th, 1862. The following extracts from the letter reveal Stephen’s longing for home and family:
“Dear Sarah,
Why do not some of my folks write to me? I have not had a line from [sister] Mary for a long time. She used to write quite frequently.” “It gave me the greatest pleasure to learn that you and the children were well.” “I was sorry to hear that your father’s health was again so poor. Give him and the rest of your folks my best respects.” “Remember me to [my] Father and tell him I hope to see him in Ironton when this war is over.”11
It would appear that Stephen was either wounded in battle or that he had become very ill, since his Army Discharge Record, dated at Washington, D.C., September 8, 1862, states that he was mustered out of the service by reason of a surgeon’s certificate of disability. The same army record describes S. M. Long as an Artist who was 5 feet, 2 inches in height, with blue eyes and dark hair.12
His designation as an artist is somewhat surprising since he has always been remembered primarily as a poet and a writer. No known examples of his artistic expression have survived. However, it does bring to mind the fact that his obituary does state that he was the Custodian of the State Art Gallery in Madison [Wisconsin] “for some time,” presumably in the 1870s or ‘80s.13 So although he did not develop a reputation as a painter, Stephen was apparently knowledgeable enough in the field of art to have been connected with it workwise.
As to how Stephen provided for his family upon his return from the Civil War battlefields, a local history records that Stephen Long was employed as a teacher in Sauk County during the late 1860s.14 Supplemental income would have been provided by the various disbursements made by Edward Thomas Long to his children during the late 1850s and the early 1860s.
Over the next several years, Stephen and Sarah experienced a steady increase in the size of their family. Their 4th child, Emma Jane Long, was born at Ironton in 1863. Sadly, Emma died young in her fourteenth year on May 22nd, 1877. Their next two children were both born at Ironton: 5. William A. Long, born 1866; and 6. Henrietta Long, born August 22, 1868. Circa 1870, Stephen and Sarah, apparently accompanied by her parents, moved three miles north to LaValle where the rest of their children were born: 7. Edward Thomas Long, born June 9, 1870; 8. an unnamed baby, who probably lived but a few hours, and who died March 2nd, 1873, according to Sarah and Stephen’s family bible; 9. Stephen Moore Long Jr., born September 6, 1874; 10. Maude Ellen Long, June 28, 1878; 11. Charles Cameron Long, March 22, 1880; and 12. James E. Long, born April 13, 1882.15
Having given birth to twelve children of whom nine survived to adulthood, Sarah Long provided her husband with the largest known family born unto any of the many children of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward, Tipperary. Despite the poor condition of country roads in those days, it’s inevitable that Stephen and his brother Edward, with their wives and children, would have visited each other with at least reasonable regularity. Fortunately, this first generation of American-born Long of Longfield cousins, lived close enough to get to know each other.
Their Uncle Archie had moved north to Minneapolis and their Aunt Victoria had returned to Ireland. Aunt Mary Featherston lived right nearby, as did Uncle Mark’s widow, Mary Jane Long, and her son John. The older children would have had the priviledge of visiting their Grandfather, Edward Thomas Long, who lived until 1875, and Stephen and Sarah’s children would have enjoyed visiting with their Bates grandparents right there in LaValle. Richard Bates departed this life on November 23rd, 1875, and his wife Jane followed on November 24th, 1876.16
During the 1870s and/or 1880s, when Stephen worked at the art gallery in Madison [about sixty miles south-east of LaValle], he was therefore obliged to spend much of his time away from his family. The difficulties of providing for such a large family must have prompted Stephen to seek a better paying position elsewhere, even if it meant working far away from home. Among Stephen Long’s surviving papers and documents is included a letter he received from Theodore Roosevelt. The letter is dated December 12, 1891, at which time Teddy was serving as a commissioner with the United States Civil Service Administration. Extracts from President Roosevelt’s letter advise:
“I am able to write to you, I am happy to say, that there is a good chance of your appointment.” “You have passed [your civil service examination] higher than most preference claimants pass, and I think there is a strong probability that you will be selected. Yours very truly. [Signed] Theodore Roosevelt”17 Apparently, Stephen and Teddy had made each other’s acquaintance, assisted perhaps by the fact that Stephen’s brother Edward, was a brother-in-law to the formidable Mrs. Neal Maddox O’Brien, who used to make buckskin outfits for Teddy Roosevelt during his pre-presidential ranching days in Dakota. Moreover, Stephen’sson Robert, was, I’m told, Teddy’s neighbour for a time, in North Dakota.
During the following Summer of 1892, Stephen received notice that his application for government employment had been approved. So off he went to Washington “where he worked [as a copyist in the Pension Department] almost continually up to the last few weeks before his death.”18 Despite the increasing prevelance of train travel in the late 19th Century, Stephen had to spend most of the last ten years of his life away from his wife and children. That the long lonely separations were hard on him is attested to by his letter to Sarah in July, 1899:
“I am looking forward with impatience to my visit home. Oh how I wish I could stay at home when I get there. This is a very unsatisfactory life for me here.” “How is Ed?” “I suppose Steve has gone to Dakota.” “Did James get my letter? How does Charles stand it?” “I suppose Maud went to see [Henri] Etta.”One of Stephen’s last letters to Sarah is dated September 15, 1903:
“I enclose a money order for $18. Let Maud have enough to get her a good pair of shoes, and two dollars besides as she wishes to get a little present for Ed and Elsie.” [Ed Long and Elsie Palmer were married two weeks later] Stephen included a note to his daughter Maud: “I hope some of the boys will be at home long enough to get the potatoes dug and put in [the] cellar. It is too much for Ma to undertake ......” “Have you heard from Steve lately?” Tell Ma that $5 of this is for you.”19
During October, 1903, Stephen became seriously ill, thus necessitating his prompt return to Wisconsin where his condition rapidly deteriorated. Stephen Moore Long died at his home in LaValle on November 24th, 1903, in his 70th year, and his remains were laid to rest in the LaValle Cemetery.20 Sarah survived him by five years, having died unexpectedly after a painful and severe illness, on October 14th, 1908. She was survived by three daughters, five sons, 23 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.21 Despite his frequent and lengthy absences away from home, Stephen loved his wife dearly, as witnessed by a few lines from his poem, “To My Wife, on the 33rd Anniversary of our Marriage”:
“The love in my heart now swells to a flood,
As a river it flows out to thee.
- S. M. Long
Madison, Wis., May 2, 1891”22
Fortunately for Stephen, the long months and years away from home were not just filled with loneliness. His passion for composing poetry and prose occupied much of his free time. The following poem was published in the Washington Post in 1894:
TO A WIDOW FROM COUNTY CLARE
[Named Margaret]
O lady fair from County Clare,
I wish that you and I were there.
We’d roam the hills among the heath
And pluck the wild flowers to form a wreath.
With which to deck some maiden fair,
Or blooming widow Margaret.
You know how ‘tis for you were there
And made bouquets of mignonett.
The Shannon flows ‘tween Tip and Clare,
That makes us cousins near enough.
The men are strong, the women fair,
The men think potheen, just the stuff.
- “S. M. Long
Washington, D.C., Aug. 7, 1894”23
It’s pleasing to know that Stephen always cherished fond memories of his native Ireland. The following piece of prose provides further evidence of that sentiment, combined with patriotic fervour for his adopted land, along with a surprisingly early concern for Nature:
THE STORY OF A REAL GIANT
When I was a young man living on a green Isle on the other side of the Atlantic, I knew personally a giant - not one who devoured people and made bread of their bones, or even frightened children, but one of the best and kindest of men. He stood head and shoulders above any other man I had ever seen, while something in his carriage and expression told of great power and energy in reserve. I used to look on his broad shoulders with much the same feeling I had when gazing at a range of mountains that stood eight miles to the south of my childhood home.
Storms came and smote the mountains, then passed away; and when the sun came out, the heath-clad hills looked as quiet as though no gale had ruffled the foliage on their steep sides. Sometimes a tall peak would lift its head above the clouds and smile serenely at the tempest below, and the people that lived in the shaded valleys near by would notice that the heath smelled sweeter for the storm that had passed. The giant was like the mountains in this respect also. What would annoy most men had no perceptible effect upon him; and if at times on seeing some unfair play or cruel act, he knitted his brows, the frown as soon passed away as the morning dew from the heath on the mountain’s sunny side. This man’s temper seemed as immovable as the hills which I so loved to look upon.
One day an infuriated bull caused a great fright by breaking into a field in which a number of young people were playing. All ran for their lives. The bull singled out a small lad, and chased him to a tree which was too large for the little fellow to climb, so he kept running around it, while a small dog worried the pursuing beast, and thus drew its attention from the boy. The giant, on seeing the situation, made a quick motion - the first I had ever seen him make - and running up to the bull grasped him by the horns. Placing his knee against the animal’s forehead he held him fast until the bull was completely conquered. In a few moments he had led him to a paddock and shut him in. Boys, and men too, presuming on the good temper and kindly disposition of the giant, would take many liberties with him, and at times I thought they were going too far and feared that they would provoke him to anger, but I looked on his face and looked upon the mountain, and they were alike - unmoved.
One evening in haying time in the summer of 1852, I heard loud screams in the direction of the river Suir. Knowing someone was in trouble, I ran to help. The screams came from a hayfield on the bank, and on reaching the spot I saw a number of women and girls wringing their hands and calling for help. Two young girls were holding a woman and trying to prevent her jumping into the river. She was the mother of one of the two girls who were drowning and aunt of the other. The girls had been capsized from a boat, while pushing out from the bank of the river to cross the stream to a farmhouse on the opposite side. Being a good swimmer I did not hesitate to jump into the water, which at this place is quite deep, but all my efforts to rescue the drowning girls were of no avail. My friend the giant came up and wading into the water soon found one of the girls. Committing her to my care he searched for her cousin, whom he soon found also and brought to shore.
I was forcibly reminded of my friend the giant when I saw Uncle Samuel knit his brows because a certain proud nation showed a disposition to be unfair toward our abused friends, the seals, and the scene of the bull in my story came vividly to my recollection, and I could not help asking two questions: “Will Ireland be the small dog? and “cannot Uncle Samuel afford to be the giant among the nations?”
- S. M. LONG 24
Stephen Long’s description of President Lincoln definitely adds to the rich legacy our Ancestors have bequeathed to us. Under the pseudonym of “Tip,” the following article by Stephen Moore Long once appeared in a local Sauk County newspaper:
PEN PICTURE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT A REVIEW
In the Summer of 1862, President Lincoln reviewed the Iron Brigade, then stationed on the north bank of the Rappahannock River, near Fredericksburg, Va., and commanded by Gen. Gibbon. The Brigade was drawn up in line of battle. Lincoln, mounted on a powerful and magnificent black stallion belonging to Gen McDowell and Staff, rode from the right to the left of the line at a brisk trot. Lincoln’s horse, being a very high and hard trotter, and the President being a very awkward rider, he presented a great contrast to the regular army officers trained at the riding school at West Point.
When the President and Generals arrived in front of the flag company of our regiment (the 6th Wisconsin) the flag was lowered in salute, which Gen. Gibbon returned by taking off his cap, in the most graceful manner imaginable; and as he did so Lincoln cast a most comical side glance at him, and then another comical look at the boys (soldiers); and at the same time seized his own hat, a soft felt one, from the top of his head in his immense fist, completely smashing it up like a sponge in his hand, and shoved it out from him with extended arm in the manner of a prize fighter hitting out from the shoulder - his action and looks saying in language as plain as action could say it: “See the West Point style; here is how I do it.”The soldiers at this burst out laughing, while the face of the President fairly beamed with mirth, and the laugh could be distinctly heard from one end of the line to the other.
I had seen President Lincoln several times before, but never saw him as he looked at that moment. The wind blew a brisk breeze in his face, and his dark wavy hair streamed back from his forehead, which was the finest I ever saw, while his pleasant looks fairly won the hearts of the soldiers.
- “TIP” 25
Ever since the time I heard my Mother’s brothers talk about flying saucers back in 1948, I have always been fascinated by thoughts of extraterrestrials and interstellar travel. My Grandmother Florence once told me that while admiring the harvest moon one fine evening in 1947, a flying saucer came zooming down out of nowhere and hovered over her for about twenty minutes. While she observed the glowing pulsating object which was three times the size of the harvest moon, she experienced a sense of weightlessness and deep inner calm as she sat on a prehistoric petrified tree-stump [which years later was given the royal touch by Queen Elizabeth II]. I am pleased to know that my Grandma’s Great-Uncle Steve Long once entertained fantasies of alien visitors, as exemplified by the following:
“In an article published in the Milwaukee Sentinel of Jan. 31, 1897, it was said that the inhabitants of Mars were flashing messages to our earth, which were received at the Lick Observatory, San Francisco, California. I [S. M. Long] wrote these lines with the supposition that - a ‘Son of Mars’ was trying to communicate with a lady of my acquaintance, Miss Minnie Oakley.”
F L A S H E SF R O MM A R S
[To Miss Minnie Oakley]
As Earth has its heroes, so have planets and stars,
And there’s now a young hero away up on Mars.
He’s brave and far sighted, with telescope eyes,
And can see all the beauties that dwell in the skies.
Just ripened to manhood, he’s been out on a scout,
For the fairest of women, was on the look out.
He has recently found her upon this round sphere,
And is flashing to tell her he loves her most dear.
If his power of motion only equaled his sight,
Very soon on this planet our hero, would light.
For he caught just one glance of our Earth’s dearest prize,
One so queenlike, and pure, modest, lovely and wise.
To our telescope here, he’s been flashing his sighs,
‘Tis too small to receive a dispatch from the skies.
So Minnie must wait ‘till she hears from “Sanfrisco,”
That the message is read that taxes the disk so.
Would you answer this message sent down from above?
Just flash back an answer - a message of love.
On a beam from your eyes - the electrical glance,
When backed up by your smile all Mars will entrance.
- S. M. Long
Madison, Wis., Feb. 6, 1897 26
Thus ends the chapter on Stephen Moore Long, poet, dreamer and romantic - an Irish-American gentleman who definitely reminds me somewhat of his grandfather, the dear old Colonel Richard Long of Longfield.
NOTES:
1. Republican Observer, Richland Center, Wisconsin, Dec. 10, 1903
2. Marriage Records, Sauk Co., Wisconsin, vol. 1, p 88
3. 1900 United States Census, Wisconsin
4. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” information compiled by Bernard E. Long
5. LLC, 1986, Copies of Family Papers, Letters and Poetry of Stephen Moore Long, rec’d from B. E. Long; “Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Madison”; “S. M. Long became an American citizen Nov. 14, 1856”
6. Republican Observer, Dec. 10, 1903
7. For a further expression of S. M. Long’s sentiments re the Civil War, see Chapter 27 - the paragraph containing extracts from an 1862 S. M. Long letter
8. LLC, 1986, Copies of S. M. Long’s Family Papers: “Civil War Letters”
9. Ibid
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
12. Ibid
13. Republican Observer, Dec. 10, 1903; S.M. Long’s Family Papers include an unidentified newsclipping which states that S.M. Long also held a position with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
14. History of Reedsburg [Wis] & the Upper Baraboo Valley, pp. 238-9
15. “Family of Edward & Mary Long,” Bernard E. Long; A 1988 letter from Catherin Barreau Downing, a great-grand-daughter of Henrietta Long Thompson, advises that Stephen & Sarah Long & Family resided in LaValle in a white house up on top of a hill. The house no longer exists
16. LLC, 1986, S. M. Long Papers
17. Ibid
18. Republican Observer, Dec. 10, 1903; However, the newsclipping mentioned in Note #13 also states that S.M. Long conducted the first night school class in Madison, in the late 1890s, thus indicating that when Stephen did periodically return from Washington to Wisconsin, he did not always return directly home to LaValle, but instead stopped off in Madison for brief spells. Also, from the Papers of S. M. Long, a clipping from an 1892 Madison newspaper: “Stephen M. Long, of this city, has received notice that he successfully passed a civil service examination held in this city a few months ago and is eligible to appointment to a government position. Mr. Long is the old soldier who had charge of the state historical art gallery during the republican administration.”
19. LLC, 1986, S. M. Long Papers
20. Republican Observer, Dec. !0, 1903
21. LLC, 1986, S. M. Long Papers: “Obituary of Sarah Long,” from an unidentified newspaper
22. LLC, 1986, S. M. Long Papers
23. Washington Post, Aug. 26, 1894
24. LLC, 1986, S. M. Long Papers
25. Ibid
26. Ibid
38. THE FAMILY OF STEPHEN & SARAH LONG
FLORENCE VICTORIA LONG BLAKEMAN was born February 7th, 1859, at Ironton, Wisconsin, the eldest child of Stephen Moore Long and Sarah A. Bates. Florence was the first in the Long Family to be named in honor of that mid-19th Century angel of mercy, Miss Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Denied the life-long companionship of her twin sister, Ida Elizabeth, who lived but two months, young Flo’ was given some consolation through the blessing provided by the comforting presence of parents, aunts and uncles, and of three grandparents, including her Irish Grandfather, Edward Thomas Long. I would like to imagine that old Edward spent a good deal of quality time in the company of his grand-daughter, and that he told her many a story of the old days back in Tipperary. Oh what tales Florence would have been able to pass on to her children and grandchildren!
Now a young woman nineteen years of age, Florence Victoria Long found herself being courted by a local blacksmith, Edward Edmund Blakeman. Apparently born in Indiana,1 Ed Blakeman was the son of William [son of Thomas] and Mary Blakeman who both hailed from England.2 Florence Long and Edward Blakeman were united in marriage at Ironton on February 16th, 1879. The young couple set out on their own and homesteaded first in Nebraska, then staked a land-claim in South Dakota, and finally moved on to Gary in northern Minnesota. Apparently, life on the open prairie didn’t suit them, since we find Florence and Edward back in Ironton in 1881. And within a few years, they moved again, to a farm at Cazenovia in Richland County, just four miles from Ironton.
In later years Florence and Ed Blakeman retired to Baraboo, about thirty miles east of Cazenovia. Their Grand-daughter, Anne Blakeman Pengelly [daughter of Dr. Edward Wm. Blakeman], once wrote to the author, recalling that as a young child, her parents often took her and her brother to visit their grandparents in Baraboo. Anne’s Aunt, Dr. Maude Blakeman Sands, advised that although Edward Edmund Blakeman earned his living as a blacksmith, he often served as a country preacher, though not ordained. Although there was very little money in the family, Ed and Florence Blakeman saw to it that all their children attended college. Their daughters were sent to the State Teachers’ College, and their sons to Lawrence College.3
Edward E. Blakeman died in Baraboo on June 21st, 1931. According to her obituary, Florence Long Blakeman survived her husband by seven years, departing this life in her 80th year, on November 23rd, 1938. She had suffered a long illness, the pain of which was alleviated somewhat by the loving care provided her by her daughter, Madge Core of Baraboo, during her last six months of life.4 Florence and Edward Blakeman are both buried at the Walnut Hill Cemetery in Baraboo, Wisconsin. They had a family of six children:
1. Dr. Edward William Blakeman, born at Gary, Minnesota, November 11, 1880 [See Chapter 39 - “Dr. Edward Wm. Blakeman”]. 2. Madge Mae Blakeman, born at Cazenovia, Wisconsin, December 27, 1881; died November 21, 1968; married George Core of Baraboo. 3. Dr. Maude E. Blakeman, born at Cazenovia, December 2, 1885; died February 21, 1976; married Dr. Sands, an osteopathic surgeon. At a time when it was still rare for women to attend university, and to become physicians, Dr. Maude Sands became an osteopathic surgeon and was highly regarded in the Chicago area. They resided at Wilmette, Illinois, and had no children. 4. Archibald Moore Blakeman, born at Cazenovia, August 23, 1887; died June 19, 1961. Named after his great-uncle, Archibald Moore Long, Archie Blakeman married Gertrude Marie Muth and they resided at Sturtevant, in Racine County, Wisconsin. 5. Delbert Henry Blakeman, born at Cazenovia, June 1, 1890; died April 17, 1960. Known as “Dell” Blakeman, he married in 1912, Nora Alberta Cooper, and they resided in Des Moines, Iowa. 6. Florence Clarke Blakeman, born at Cazenovia, Wisconsin, April 27, 1899; died August 22, 1967. Her middle name came from her great-grandmother, Mary Clarke Long. Florence married Herman Lee of Madison, Wisconsin - they had no children.5
ROBERT F. LONG, until recently, was regarded as one of those mystery men in the Long Family, who took off and disappeared into the Great Wild West . With the help of his military record, an outline of his life has now emerged. He was born at Ironton, Wisconsin, on March 21st, 1861, the eldest son of Stephen and Sarah Long. Named after his uncle, Robert Hare Long, Robert’s middle name has yet to be discovered, though it could possibly be “Frederick” or “Franklin.”
As a young man just twenty years of age, Robert set out on his own to seek his fortune way out West. We find him in Boulder, Colorado on February 21st, 1882 or ‘83, upon which date he was married to Miss Katherine E. Inman.6 By January, 1885, they had moved north to Johnson County, Wyoming, and by 1887, to a ranch at Big Horn in Sheridan County, Wyoming, 150 miles east of Yellowstone Park. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Robert Long enlisted in Troop “E,” 2nd U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Col. Torrey’s Rough Riders), on May 1, 1898. However, it’s doubtful he saw active service, since his military record advises that having fallen ill with typhoid fever, he was discharged just five months later, on October 3, 1898, at Panama City, Florida.7 Whereas his father’s December 1903 obituary has Robert stationed in the Philippines in 1903, Robert’s military record makes absolutely no reference to his having re-entered the service.
According to a history of Big Horn, Wyoming, Robert Long, described therein as “an excellent horseman,” farmed on rented land, and upon his return from the Spanish-American War, he and his family left their ranch and moved into the town of Sheridan.8 My Great-Aunt Leona Long recalled hearing that Robert F. Long had lost his ranch betting on Theodore Roosevelt’s re-election in 1904. Since he was living in Sheridan at the time and had previously farmed on rented land, the only ranch he could have lost would have been a property he is said to have inherited from his brother William, who died at Big Horn in 1891.
Information gleaned from Robert Long’s military record indicates that he and his wife and family moved out to the West Coast circa 1906 and settled first at Tacoma, Washington, and later at Olympia, the state capital. Here follows the text of a still extant letter Robert sent home to his Mother in Wisconsin:
“Hoquiam, Wash.
Oct 11, 1908
Dear Mother,
I just received Maud’s letter. She said you were coming home. I was glad to hear you were all well. I will send you a group of cards - give you an idea of what this country looks like. I signed the Deed and sent it to Kate and told her to send it on to you. I hope you will get it soon.
I am working in a big mill here - there are hundreds of men in the mills and factories. I am grading lumber in the planing mill. The roses are in bloom and will be for two months yet. But it will start raining soon and rain all winter - it doesn’t get cold. I was in Seattle most all summer - that is a fine city. They will have a fine fair [there] next summer.
I wish Jim and Ed would come out here. Tacoma is a great R.R. [railroad] town. There is lots of work here. The most of the lumber is shipped from here on large ocean steamboats to all parts of the earth. Well Mother, I hope I will see you again, and give my love to Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom [Featherston]. I will write to Jim - tell him to write again. I think he would like Tacoma fine. I will go up there in the Spring. This Coast Country is all good.
I got a letter from home a few days ago. Walter has been working for the BCM Railroad Company for four years in machine shops - has learned the trade. Nell wrote me [that] she had been home on a visit. They are all getting on fine.
Well Mother, I will close. Tell Maud I will write to her.
Love to all - good-bye
ROBERT F. LONG
[P.S:] Tell the boys all to write.” 9
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It would appear from the letter that R.F. Long and family had settled in Tacoma and that Robert had found work out on the coast at Hoquiam, about 100 miles west of Tacoma. In addition to mentioning his aunt and uncle and siblings, Robert also refers to Walter and Nell, two of his many children whom I shall enumerate shortly. According to his military record, Robert and Kate Long were divorced in Olympia, Washington in either 1911 or 1913. In 1915, Robert married as his second wife, Jennie E. Payne, at Portland, Oregon, and after their divorce, Robert Long married as his third wife in 1921, Mary Lydia Royce, at Vancouver, Washington, on the north side of the Columbia River opposite Portland.
Despite their divorce, Robert’s first wife, Kate Long, also moved down to Portland. The 1920 Portland City Directory lists her as residing at 704 Powell in Portland, along with three of her and Robert’s children. Having suffered poor health ever since he contracted typhoid fever in Florida in 1898, Robert Long obtained his army pension, and retired to the “Soldiers’ Home” in Los Angeles in 1928, where he died five years later on October 13, 1933.10
Until recently, the other descendants of Stephen Moore Long knew only that Robert had moved out to the West Coast from Wyoming, and had had a large family. With the help of his military and pension request record, we now know the names of all his children. His 1916 letter to the Pension Bureau advised that all his children were still living at that time and his 1925 letter to the Pension Bureau stated that two of his sons had served in World War I.11 With the assistance of the Portland City Directory, I have been able to “track” members of his family up until 1950. Here follows a list of the children of Robert and Katherine Long:
1. Winnifred D. Long, born in Boulder, Colorado, December 6, 1883; single and living in Portland, Oregon in 1935. 2. Nellie Long, born January 1885 in Johnson County, Wyoming. In his 1908 letter to his mother, Robert speaks of Nellie as already living away from home by that time. 3. Walter Long, born in 1887 at Big Horn in Sheridan County, Wyoming; He may be one of the Walter Longs listed in the Portland Directory, but I cannot identify him with certainty. 4. Earl Long, born 1890 in Big Horn, Wyoming. He served in World War I. 5. Edna Long, born in 1891 at Big Horn, Wyoming. 6. Elmer L. “Fred” Long, born at Big Horn circa 1892 or 93. Known to his family as “Fred,” Elmer L. Long also served in World War I. Circa 1920-25, Fred married Irene, last name unknown, and they resided in Portland where he worked for an automobile dealership. The 1950 Portland Directory includes a listing for his widow, Irene. 7. Frank Long, born between 1894 and ‘97 at Big Horn. The 1920 Portland Directory lists him as living at home with his mother, sister Winnie and brother Elmer Fred. His occupation is given as shipworker. 8. Marguerite Long, known as “Maggie,” born at Big Horn in 1896.12 Having had eight children born over 100 years ago, Robert and Kate Long could now have as many as two or three hundred descendants living up and down the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego. My hunch is that we would get a response from one of their descendants if we were to place an ad in the personal column of the Portland newspaper.
WILLIAM A. LONG, second son of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at Ironton, Wisconsin, in 1866. Sometime in the mid or late 1880s, young Will followed in his brother Robert’s footsteps and headed out West to the Big Horn country of Wyoming. Tragically, Will Long’s life was cut short by a fatal fall from a horse on July 13, 1891, and his subsequent burial took place in the Big Horn Cemetery. Unmarried at the time of his death, William Long left his property to his brother Robert.
HENRIETTA LONG THOMPSON, second surviving daughter of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at Ironton, Wisconsin, on August 22, 1868. Known as “Etta,” Henrietta Long may have been named in honour of her aristocratic great-great-grandmother, Henrietta Taylour Moore (d 1783), sister to the 1st Earl of Bective.
Circa 1886, Henrietta married Dexter Johnson Thompson (b January 2, 1858; d 1897), son of Johnson Smith Thompson (b 1820, Highgate, Vermont), by his wife, Nancy Agnes Nixon (b Saint John, NB, Canada), daughter of Captain Nixon.13 The Thompsons were amongst the earliest settlers at Buck Creek, having come to Richland County in 1854. Dexter Thompson was shot and killed by a neighbor in 1897, so it is rather consoling to know that once his widow had emerged from mourning, she was pleased to accept the marriage proposal of her late husband’s brother, Lewis, who along with his brothers, George and Fred, operated a saw mill at Buck Creek for many years.
Henrietta Long and Lewis Edward Thompson (1859-1936) were married June 8, 1899, and they resided at the Thompson Farm on Buck Creek, just a few miles from Longfield Farm, home of Henrietta’s uncle, Edward John Long, and his son, Robert Henry Long. Etta Long Thompson had children by both her husbands. By her first husband, Dexter Thompson, Etta had issue:
1. Albert Smith Thompson (born September 27, 1887; died March 15, 1980), of Buck Creek, Rockbridge, Wisconsin. He married in 1910, Miss Luella Mae Kidd. 2. Virginia May Thompson (born February 28, 1889; died December 7, 1923). She married Adam Beaver of Ontario in Vernon Co., Wisconsin. 3. Dexter Johnson Thompson II (born January 2, 1891; died unmarried April 17, 1954), of Buck Creek. 4. Ethel Margaret Thompson (born August 6, 1892; died September 8, 1978), married William Thomas Louis of Marinette Co., Wisconsin. By her second marriage, to Lewis Thompson, Etta Long had further issue: 5. Scott Earl Thompson (born January 2, 1900; died January 1, 1952), of Germanstown, Wisconsin. He married Stella Leimkeller. 6. Hazel Agnes Thompson (born July 10, 1901; died unmarried March 22, 1920) 7. Charles Donald Thompson (born April 20, 1904; died September 11, 1985), of Mazomanie, Dane County, Wisconsin. He married in 1926, Alta Fullington.
Etta Thompson was a tiny woman who worked very hard to support her family. Her first husband, Dexter Thompson, a good father and husband, was a quiet man who was well-liked by his friends and neighbors. After Dexter’s death and Etta’s subsequent remarriage to his brother Lewis, Etta worked even harder. Not adverse to doing farm chores, she milked cows, raised chickens and sold the eggs to help support her family. Regina Beaver, eldest daughter of Virginia Thompson Beaver, has fond memories of her Thompson grandparents and aunts and uncles: “My sister Ruth and I used to spend a couple of weeks each summer with our Grandmother Etta (that is what most called her) and with Grandpa Lou. It was a fun time, because Grandma loved kids and was a great entertainer. She had an endless list of nursery rhymes and riddles. They had a victrola and Aunt Hazel, Uncle Deck [Dexter], Uncle Don and Uncle Scott could play the guitar and they had good voices and would sing. They would also roll up the rugs and teach us to dance. Uncle Albert and Aunt Mae lived just over the hill from Grandma and we spent a lot of time with them, playing with [cousins] Beulah and Kenneth and Keith. Aunt Mae was a dear kind lady and there was never a dull moment around Uncle Albert.”14
When her son Albert and his wife Mae bought their farm, Etta and Lewis Thompson moved to his mother Nancy’s old farm on Buck Creek. And when old age set in, Etta and Lewis went to live with her son Dexter, who also farmed on Buck Creek.15 Lewis died in 1936 and Etta in 1938. Both are buried in the Richland Center Cemetery. Living as they all did, on Buck Creek, Etta’s children got to know the children of her cousin and neighbor, Robert Henry Long. Albert Thompson’s wife Mae, was one of my Grandmother’s best friends, and Albert and Mae’s grand-daughter, Catherin Downing of Mauston, Wisconsin, has been most helpful in providing Long family genealogical material and copies of treasured family photos.
EDWARD THOMAS LONG II, the third son of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at LaValle, Wisconsin, June 9, 1870. Named after his Irish grandfather, Edward Long married Elsie May Palmer on September 30, 1903, at her parents’ home in LaValle. The marriage was performed by the Reverend Henry A. Smelcer, husband of Helen Featherston, adopted daughter of Thomas Featherston and his wife, Mary Moore Long. Born at LaValle on March 16, 1873, Elsie May Palmer was the daughter of Henry C. Palmer, by his wife, Sarah Sandhorn.
From a 1996 letter sent to the author by Bernard Everet Long, grandson of Edward and Elsie Long:
“Ed T. Long and wife Elsie May, spent the winter of 1905-6 in lumber camps in northern Wisconsin. Hardships she suffered while up in the lumber camps weakened her resistance, and as a result, she contracted pneumonia while pregnant with her second child. Ed and Elsie made the long cold trip back to LaValle by train in late March, 1906, and their son Everet was born just a few days after their return home.
Pneumonia and the complications of childbirth resulted in Elsie’s death on April 7th, 1906, leaving a grieving husband and two infant sons. Because Edward was not able to care for the newborn baby, the child was raised by Elsie’s sister Ellen and her husband, Jeff Jackson of the LaValle area”16
Edward Long’s life was also cut tragically short when he was stuck and killed by a train on May 29, 1928. Both he and Elsie May are buried in LaValle’s Oaklawn Cemetery. They had a family of two sons: 1. Gerald Henry Long, born at LaValle on April 3, 1905, who died young on December 12, 1922. 2. Everet James Long, born at LaValle on April 2, 1906, and still in the land of the living as ofJune 1998, residing at Wonewoc, Wisconsin. Everet married in 1927, Edna Margaratha Trettin. Their son, Bernard Everet Long, has made an invaluable contribution toward the genealogical research compiled in this book.
Having been raised by his mother’s family, and deprived of the companionship of his elder brother who had died, Everet Long did not get to know his Long relatives until he and Bernie began researching their ancestry some years ago. Bernie states that just before his grandmother died, Elsie Long sang one verse of a beautiful hymn.
STEPHEN MOORE LONG II, fourth son of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at LaValle, Wisconsin, on September 6, 1874. Named after his father, young Stephen was the sixth in line of descent from his ancestor, Colonel Stephen Moore (1689-1750), of Barne, Tipperary. On October 19, 1904, Steve Long Jr. was married at Cazenovia in Richland County, Wisconsin, to Miss Clara Elizabeth Swetland, daughter of Joseph Burton Wesley Swetland, by his wife, Anna Marie Maucka. The marriage took place at the local Catholic church, and the witnesses to the marriage were Charles Long [brother to the groom] and Margaret Swetland [probably a sister to the bride].
Sometime after 1908, Steve and Clara Long headed north about 200 miles and settled in the town of Scott in Burnett County in northern Wisconsin. Like many of his siblings, Stephen Moore Long II died young and left the earthly plane at the age of only thirty-eight, on March 28, 1913. He and Clara had no children and she eventually remarried, to Fred W. Webster. Clara Long Webster died on October 5, 1951 at Baraboo in Sauk County, Wisconsin
MAUDE ELLEN LONG CLAFLIN, the third surviving daughter of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at LaValle, Wisconsin, on June 28, 1878. At the age of twenty-six, Maude married Lewis Elvin Claflin in LaValle on January 18, 1905. Of Scottish descent, Lewis Claflin was born March 12, 1882, at Oakdale in Monroe County, Wisconsin.
Maude and Lewis resided first in LaValle, where their first two children were born, and then moved down to Illinois, south of Chicago. When their third child was but two years of age, Maude was struck down in the prime of life, and departed this life in the 37th year of her age, on January 23, 1916, at Englewood, Illinois. Untimely death seemed to stalk Stephen and Sarah Long’s family: first tiny Ida, then teenaged Emma, then Will, only 25, followed by Etta’s first husband Dexter, Edward’s wife Elsie, and now, dear Maude, whose remains were taken home to LaValle for burial.
Lewis Claflin returned to Wisconsin with the children and settled south of Madison at Brooklyn, where he supported his family for many years as the manager of a local dairy company. He lived to the ripe-old age of 88 and died on June 19, 1970. Lewis Claflin is buried alongside his wife Maude in LaValle’s Oaklawn Cemetery. Maude Long and Lewis Claflin had issue:
1. Lewis Elvin Claflin, born and died April 9, 1907 at LaValle, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
2. Norman Elvis Claflin, born in LaValle, December 17, 1910, and living in 1998. He married in 1934, Henrietta Zietlow, and they resided in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. 3. Wayne Ellis Claflin, born in New Lenox, Will County, Illinois, on November 3, 1913, and living in 1998. He married in 1939, Anita Newman, and they reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In a phone conversation back in 1985, Norman Claflin advised me that he had inherited some of the Long Family silverware through his Mother: five knives which were emblazoned with the Long Family crest: “a lion’s head with a hand in its mouth.” Unfortunately, the knives were stolen from his home in the 1970s.
CHARLES CAMERON LONG was born March 22, 1880, at LaValle, Wisconsin. The fifth son of Stephen and Sarah Long, Charles was named after his uncle, Captain Charles Cameron (born 1815; living 1864), husband of Eliza Hare Long. On July 18, 1905, Charles C. Long was married to Miss Kathryn Thompson (1883-1965), daughter of Mary Drea and her husband, George Thompson of Rockbridge, the brother of Dexter and Lewis Thompson, first and second husbands of Charles Long’s sister Henrietta.
Charles and Kathryn settled in the town of Baraboo, also in Sauk County, and lived there seven years. In 1912, they moved to the lovely city of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, where they resided for the rest of their days. After their divorce in 1938, Charles took as his second wife, Alice Louise Bigham. Charles Cameron Long died July 14, 1947, and his first wife Kathryn, on October 22, 1965. Both are buried in Madison’s Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
According to his obituary, Charles Long had been employed as a passenger conductor for the Chicago & North-Western Railway for many years. Taking after his father, Charlie Long was somewhat of a poet himself, and inherited his father’s family papers, prose and poetry, which were carefully handed down to Charlie’s son Vernard, who in turn bequeathed them to his son, Jack Long, of Houston, Texas. Charles and Kathryn Long had a family of five children:
1. Charles Vernard Long (born June 23, 1906, at Baraboo, Wisconsin; died May 13, 1976), who resided in Muscatine, Iowa, where he died. Vernard Long married first, Marjorie Walsh, and secondly, in 1933, Margaret Patricia Mahoney. 2. Eileen Mary Long, born at Baraboo, Wisconsin, February 22, 1908; married Paul Milton Hogg of Madison. Both Eileen and Paul Hogg were killed in a tragic car accident in Madison on March 28, 1953. 3. George Thomas Long, born in Madison on September 27, 1914; living in 1998. Thomas, who lives in Madison, married Margaret Clark. 4. Margaret Jane Long, born in Madison in 1916 and living in 1998. Jane married Elbert W. Linscott and they resided on Long Island, New York. 5. Kathryn Ann Long, born in Madison on November 13, 1922 and living in 1998. She married in 1947, Gordon Pat Moore of Madison, Wisconsin.
JAMES E. LONG, the youngest child of Stephen and Sarah Long, was born at LaValle, Sauk County, Wisconsin, on April 13, 1882. According to the 1938 obituary of his sister Florence Blakeman, James was then living up in Harvey, North Dakota.17 As has happened with others in the family, Jim Long did a “disappearing act” for many years, thus leaving a large portion of his life unaccounted for.
According to his great-niece, the late Mrs Glee Blakeman Schmelzer, Jim Long married twice. His first wife’s name remains unknown and they had no children. His second wife, whose name is also unknown, was a much younger woman. They had one daughter, Miss Honey Long, who married Irving Denton and they resided out on the West Coast at Central Point, Oregon. James Long, whose middle name could well have been “Edward,” worked as a railroad conductor. He eventually retired to Madison, Wisconsin, where he died on December 25, 1968. Jim Long is buried in Madison’s Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
NOTES:
1. Edward & Florence Blakeman’s grand-daughter, Anne Blakeman Pengelly, doubts that her Grandfather Blakeman was born in Indiana.
2. “Family of Edward & Mary Long of Fort Edward,” complied by Bernard E. Long
3. LLC, 1986 letter from Anne Blakeman Pengelly
4. Baraboo News-Republic, Friday, November 25, 1938
5. LLC, 1988 letter from Anne Blakeman Pengelly, including family information from Phyllis Core Smith, both being grand-daughters of Florence & Edward Blakeman
6. Copy of Robert F. Long’s Military & Pension Application File, Pension Bureau, Washington, D.C.
7. Ibid
8. Big Horn Pioneers, Big Horn, Wyoming, 1961, p 49
9. LLC, 1985, Copies of S.M. Long’s Family Papers
10. Copy of Robert F. Long’s Military & Pension Application File
11. Ibid
12. Ibid
13. Richland County, Wisconsin, p 362, #965
14. LLC, 1998 letter from Regina Beaver, gd-daughter of Henrietta Long Thompson
15. LLC, 1993 letter from Catherin L. Downing, gt-gd-daughter of Henrietta Long Thompson
16. LLC, 1996 letter from Bernard E. Long
17. Baraboo News-Republic, Friday, November 25, 1938
39. DR. EDWARD WILLIAM BLAKEMAN
Religion has always figured prominently in the history of the Longs of Longfield. Colonel Richard Long’s sister, Anna Maria, was married to the Reverend William Ryan, and their elder son was the Reverend Richard Ryan who wrote and published essays on religious topics. Richard Long’s eldest daughter, Anna Maria Battersby, was the mother of two clergymen, and Richard Long’s son, Edward Thomas Long, was married to Mary Clarke, daughter of the Reverend Marshal Clarke, whose wife Eliza was the daughter of the Venerable Patrick Hare, Vicar-General of Cashel. Although not ordained, Edward and Mary Long’s third son, Edward John Long, often preached from the pulpit. So it’s not too surprising to learn that one of Edward and Mary Long’s great-grandsons devoted his life to the Christian faith.
Dr. Edward William Blakeman was born September 11, 1880, at Gary in Norman County, Minnesota, the eldest son of Edward Edmund Blakeman, by his wife, Florence Victoria Long, daughter of Stephen Moore Long of Longfield. When he was still an infant, his parents returned to Wisconsin and thus Edward grew up on a small farm at Cazenovia in Richland County, just a few miles north-east of Longfield Farm, home of his great-uncle, Edward John Long, and just seven miles south-west of LaValle, home of his grandfather, Stephen Moore Long.
Although his parents were poor, they were determined that all their children obtain a good education. Edward E. Blakeman, a blacksmith and country preacher, sent his eldest son off to Lawrence College up in Appleton, Wisconsin, where young Edward earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1907.1 He majored in Philosophy and Religion and earned a prized Phi Beta Kappa key in his senior year. Although Edward was supposed to have returned home to help his siblings further their education, his thirst for knowledge compelled him to pursue graduate studies in theology at Boston University, a Methodist college.2
Having been ordained as a Methodist minister in 1908, Reverend Blakeman returned to Wisconsin in 1910 and established the second Wesley Foundation Methodist Church, in Madison. While administering to the needs of his new church and congregation, Reverend Blakeman managed to find the time to earn his Masters degree in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin in 1911.3 While attending the University of Wisconsin, Edward met Miss Anna DuPre Smith, daughter of Dr. Charles Forster Smith [Professor of Classical Literature at the University of Wisconsin], by his wife, Anna DuPre, of Huguenot descent. Edward and Anna fell in love and were married on April 7th, 1915. They had two children, both born in Madison: Anne DuPre Blakeman, born October 15, 1917, and William Edward Blakeman, born January 4, 1920.4
In 1918, Reverend Edward Blakeman was awarded a Doctor of Divinty degree by his alma mater, Lawrence University. Henceforth known as Doctor Blakeman, Edward pursued an active career in both church and college. A member of the 1920 General Conference of the Methodist Church, he also served as an adviser to the National Council on Religion in Higher Education, from 1920 to 1927.5
When Dr. Blakeman was appointed as Director of The Wesley Foundation of California in 1925, he and his wife and children moved out to Berkeley, California, where he polished his administrative skills at the Pacific School of Religion, located next to the University of California campus. And when in 1931, the church called upon him to undertake a new assignment in Michigan, the Blakeman Family motored east across the country along the Lincoln Highway, a narrow, bumpy, hard-surfaced road that wound its way through the Rockies long before the days of Interstate freeways and multitudinous gas stations and motels. Anne Blakeman Pengelly recalls that it took them nine days to make the trip from Berkeley to Ann Arbor, Michigan. They stocked up on gasoline wherever it was available and spent the nights at YMCAs.
By now familiar with campus life at several universities, Dr. Blakeman became acutely aware that college students had no one to turn to with their problems while away from home. Guidance departments did not exist then. On-campus clergymen were well-placed and well suited to fill the void, and in 1937, Edward was successful in his efforts to convince the University of Michigan to set up a department of Counsellor of Religious Education, which would now be referred to as a “campus ministry.”
A firm believer in the separation of church and state, Dr. Blakeman nevertheless perceived a void and he acted to fill it. With the influx of veterans and overseas students after World War II, state college enrollment overflowed beyond capacity. The establishment of on-campus Religious Education Counselling Centers proved a blessing to those thousands of students burdened with a variety of problems ranging from spiritual to emotional to physical, and now, thanks in great measure to our kinsman, Dr. Edward Blakeman, there are counsellors available to tend to their needs.
During the 1940s and 50s, Dr. Blakeman’s increasing national eminence saw him participate as a member of the International Council of Religious Education and as Chairman of the Higher Education Section of the Religious Education Association of the United States and Canada. He was also a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences and the National Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion.6
Tragedy had befallen the Blakeman Family in 1936 when young William, known to his family as “Binx,” had accidentally drowned when he was only sixteen years old. New life entered the family when in 1940, daughter Anne married her college sweetheart, Edward Winston “Bill” Pengelly. Dr. Blakeman and his wife, known fondly as “Dixie,” returned to California in 1948, where he held the position of Chairman of the Department of Religious Education at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, until his retirement in 1952. Dixie Blakeman passed away in 1955, and in 1957, Edward married Mary Laura Smith, the widow of Dixie’s cousin, Forster Rand Smith [father of Dr. Perrin Smith of Stanford University]. Dr. Blakeman and his second wife resided in Berkeley until his death on March 16th, 1964, at the age of 83. He is buried in Ann Arbor, Michigan, alongside his first wife and son. 7
Dr. Edward Wm. Blakeman’s achievements helped provide college students with a complete education where one’s emotional, mental and physical growth would be guided and balanced by the Spiritual. Humble, humorous and humanitarian, Dr. Blakeman will be remembered fondly by the Long of Longfield Family.
NOTES:
1. Who’s Who In America, 1955 edition, p 241
2. LLC, 1986 letter from Anne Blakeman Pengelly, daughter of Dr. Edward Wm. Blakeman
3. Who’s Who In America, 1955 edition, p 241
4. LLC, 1986 letter from Anne DuPre Pengelly
5. Who’s Who In America, 1955 edition, p 241
6. Ibid
7. LLC, 1986 letter from Anne DuPre Pengelly
40. ROBERT HARE LONG OF ARDMAYLE & MAYFIELD
Robert Hare Long was born on December 25, 1830, at Fort Edward House, Ardmayle, Co. Tipperary.1 The fifth son of Edward Thomas Long by his wife, Mary Crozier Clarke, Robert Hare Long was named after his great-uncle, Captain Robert Long (d circa 1798) of the East India Co., and after his uncle, Robert Hare Clarke (1804-1868) of Bansha, Co. Tipperary. It is rather pleasing to know that Robert Long’s middle name of “Hare” came down to him through his great-grandfather, the Venerable Patrick Hare (1736-1816), whose original family surname had been “O’Hehir,” a true Irish patronymic. Robert received his education at Portora School, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, and at Trinity College Dublin, as confirmed by the college records, which indicate that he attended Trinity in the mid-1850s but did not complete the course of study to obtain his degree.2
When his recently widowed father and siblings departed for the New World in the Spring of 1854, Robert became the only male Longfield Long left in Ireland. Fortunately, his eldest sister, Charity Price, had married the previous year and was residing at Ardmayle House, just down the road from their old home at Fort Edward. Upon leaving college, Robert apparently obtained a clerical position with a government department in Dublin. Long Family deeds dating from 1855 to 1864 give Robert’s address as Dublin, and one deed, dated 1863, actually refers to him as “Robert Long of Dublin Castle,” 3 apparently his business address, since government offices were housed there. An 1864 deed gives his address as “17 Ranelagh Road in the County of Dublin.” 4
Faithfully preserved by his Grand-daughter, Tatiana Long Daniell, several of Robert’s letters to his wife Anna, still exist and are now included with the Long Family papers on file at the public library in Richland Center, Wisconsin. The letters which date from before their marriage show that he was deeply in love and determined to marry Anna McAuliffe despite his limited financial resources. The earliest letter dates from 1862, an extract of which reads:
“Dublin Castle
7 Nov., 1862
My dear Anna,
The sole hopeful dream of my boyhood was, that I might love and be loved by a true woman; this alone of all earthly pleasures, of all earthly existences, could gratify the yearning desire of my soul and ever be to me a reality.”5
Since Robert was the fifth son of the younger son [Edward Thomas Long] of Colonel Richard Long of Longfield, he in no way stood to inherit much of the family fortune, except by default, through the fact that his seven brothers had all gone to live in the United States. During the 1850s and ‘60s, Edward Long disbursed various sums of money to his many children. Since Robert was his only son to remain in Ireland, Edward saw to it that Robert would inherit two small rental properties, both in Tipperary, namely Cahir Abbey Cottage and Milltown [located north of Longfield]. On one of his many trips back to Ireland, Edward registered a deed which would transfer the two properties over to Robert after his death.6
Despite his father’s generosity, Robert’s chances of marrying Anna remained rather slim. On his meagre civil servant’s salary, he could hardly hope to support a wife and family in anything approaching a comfortable standard of living. Matters changed in 1864 when his recently widowed sister, Charity Price, asked her brother Robert to return to Tipperary and help her manage Ardmayle House and its surrounding estate. The following are extracts from the existing portion of a letter written by Robert Hare Long to his fiancee, Anna Geraldine McAuliffe:
“Ardmayle House, Cashel.
County Tipperary
2nd Feb., 1865
Dearest Anna,
When I last spoke to you, I was resolved and determined in my acts and manners, as I then could see no prospect as would justify me in marrying - I had done my best & had even done some things which I was not called upon to do, & which I bitterly resented. It was then my intention to leave Europe altogether” - “up to last night I saw no change in my prospects, nor could I have any hope of matters improving in America.
It was indeed while discussing the sad intelligence received that morning, of my youngest brother’s death.................& my intended departure,7my sister generously made me a proposal which is the cause of my writing this letter. It is necessary I should state all clearly that you may once for all, thoroughly understand it, & have no grounds for future complaints. This house and domain, containing 80 acres of the very best possible land, and two farms, containing 300 acres of good sound land (all she holds in her own hands at present, the rest of the property being let to tenants), my sister was thinking of letting during her children’s minority, i.e: for between 10 and 11 years - all grassland - as I understand its qualities, having been managing it principally for my sister since her husband’s death, I would at any time have been glad to take it at a fair evaluation, but for want of the capital required to stock and work it.
She however generously proposes to remove this difficulty by leaving on it its present full compliment of young stock, value between 2 & 3 thousand Pounds - or near this - to be valued, & to be paid back according as I could make the money, or at the very end of the lease to be made good in equivalent - this is indeed a most generous offer, & if all turns out well, ought to pay - but yet it is a chance, and at best a hard struggle, requiring all economy & unremitting labour - still such as it is, it is the first opportunity I ever had of fulfilling an engagement I entered into with you, and I consequently lose no time in offering to fulfill it. In consequence of the past I purposely refrain from all expressions of feeling, one way or the other, and write thus a purely business letter.”“I say it will require much economy and at best be a struggle; for, as the land will be let in the interest of her children, we must fix upon a fair rent, & have done so (at least in proposal) an average of about 2 Pounds an acre - some are worth much more, some not worth that.
But the greatest drawback is the immense size of the house, & out-offices - the former of which, in consequence of its being furnished in an almost ridiculous style of magnificence, must at least be kept well aired, & looked after. However, anything like an establishment would of course be impossible - carriages, horses, etc., etc., except those absolutely necessary, must be disposed of or laid by - this is all I can offer you, & if, under the circumstances, you determine on accepting it, I will endeavourto continue to discharge my duty - the greatest danger to you, in a pecuniary way, would be that, in case of my early death, you would be left penniless or nearly so; as all I can settle on you will be the Cahir Abbey & Milltown property, to which I am entitled after my Father, and this small property, as being all head rents, & now only worth 60 Pounds a year, has two small mortgages on it - these however, if things went well, I might soon pay off, so as to ensure you that small yearly amount at least; and besides I might insure my life for such an amount as would keep you free from misery - but at best you see it is but a chance. If, as I said, under these circumstances you determine to settle here, I would enter into possession of this place about the end of March next; & our marriage could take place about the end of April at any time fixed by you. It would be my wish.”8
Robert wrote the letter at Ardmayle House, thus indicating that he had done the thoughtful brotherly thing and had returned from Dublin to Tipperary to help his sister Cherry. It seems that, despite the Civil War still raging in the “Dis-United States,” Robert had just about decided to leave Ireland and join his family in North America when Charity made her generous offer. Robert’s description of Ardmayle House confirms that his sister Cherry had married into another gentry family. (see Chapter 30 - Charity Long Price) Robert refers to the Cahir Abbey and Milltown properties, of which, Cahir Abbey Cottage, was originally leased by his great-grandfather, Edward Long (d 1773), of Lacken and Cahir Abbey.
Whereas Robert suggests that he and Anna could get married by about the end of April, their marriage in fact took place on June 19th, 1865, at the Donnybrook Parish Church in the County of Dublin.9 The marriage register lists the bridegroom as: “Robert Hare Long, Bachelor, Esquire, [of] Ardmayle, Co. Tipperary, [son of] Edward Long, Gentleman,” and the bride as: “Anna G. McAuliffe, Spinster, [of] Cullenswood Terrace [County of Dublin], [daughter of] John McAuliffe, Gentleman.”10 An 1889 Long deed refers to him [or his son] as: “John Creer McAuliffe,” and to his wife as: “Mary [McAuliffe] .” 11 Although the McAuliffes were residing in Dublin in 1865, an undated clipping from The Cashel Gazette circa 1870-75, includes amongst those in attendance at a concert held at the Cashel Art Exhibition: “Edward Long, Master Long, J. C. [McAuliffe] and Mrs McAuliffe, [of] Athassel [Co. Tipperary].”12
Presumably, the above mentioned Edward Long must be Edward Thomas Long (1799-1875), on one of his many visits back to Ireland, attending a Cashel concert accompanied by Master Long - his grandson - John McAuliffe Long (1867-1931), eldest son of Robert and Anna Long. Edward and his grandson were also accompanied by the young lad’s maternal grandparents [or uncle & aunt], John and Mary McAuliffe. At the risking of being redundant, it is nevertheless worth pointing out once again, that the marriage of Robert Hare Long to Anna Geraldine McAuliffe provides yet another example of an inclination on the part of the Anglo-Irish Longs of Longfield to intermarry with the Celtic-Irish. “The name MacAuliffe [or McAuliffe] is almost peculiar to Co. Cork and is scarcely found outside Munster. The MacAuliffes are a branch of the MacCarthys and their chief resided at Castle MacAuliffe near Newmarket, Co. Cork.”13
So thanks to the kindness of his sister Charity, Robert and Anna Long were able to commence their married life by living in the comfort of Ardmayle House. Charity Price and her children moved either into the City of Cashel itself, or a few miles east of Cashel to Mayfield House, another estate owned by the Price Family. Robert managed the Price Family landholdings for his widowed sister, and also managed to afford to indulge in his passion for horse racing, as demonstrated by the following letter:
“Langham Hotel
Portland Place,
London W.
24th April, 1872
My dearest Anna,
I have just got the letter [you] sent, but not one line about yourself or the children - surely a few lines would not have taken much time or trouble. I will leave this Saturday for ‘Rutland Arms, Newmarket,’ where I will remain till after the races on Friday 3rd May. I will try and get back Friday night and down on Saturday home.
Could you come to ‘Chester’ 7 & 8 May[?] If so, & all is going on right at home I would not go back till after Chester races. If not, I will get back some how by Saturday 4th May. You might try and come; it would not cost anything - I may have a horse at Paris 9th June. I suppose you can come there - write to Newmarket & say if you will come to ‘Chester.’ I have just returned from Epsom & had a very fair time there.
Affectionately
R. H. LONG”14
By 1873, it would appear that Robert and Anna had moved from Ardmayle House down to Mayfield House. Presumably, Charity Price and her children returned to Ardmayle at the same time. For the next four years, Robert Hare Long operated Mayfield as a stud farm for his race horses, until 1877, when his nephew, Thomas E. Price, by then having achieved his majority, and the owner of Mayfield, apparently went into bankruptcy and lost the Price estates of Mayfield and Ardmayle. Robert and Anna Long were thus obliged to move again, this time to Dublin, where they had both resided before, to the neighborhood of Clarinda Park in Kingstown,15 now known as Dun Laoghaire, a southern suburb of Dublin. As to how he made a living there, it is unknown. However, his Granddaughter, Tatiana Long Daniell, advises that he did have business interests of some kind, in particular over in the States and Canada. Excerpts from two 1867 letters indicate he was experiencing business difficulties at that time, but the contents do not disclose the nature or type of business [or investment]:
“St. Lawrence Hall
Montreal
6th June, 1867
My dearest Anna,
I missed the last mail, having been kept at an interview too late for post. I got your welcome letter thro’ [brother] Marshal [in New York].” “I have been kept here much longer than I expected; nor can I yet say the exact day when I can return, but sincerely hope it may be very soon. I long to be home again, as my time is every moment occupied.” “I came here round Niagara where I stayed 3 days and enjoyed myself very much - but since I arrived here it has been one continuous stream of office business, consultations, squabblings, intrigues and law.” “How is our darling child? When I wake in the morning, I miss her joyous crowing.” “I am very well and strong and take great care of myself, but I long to be home again.” “For anything you want ............ sell some of the worst of the calves at the Commons.” “It is likely I may go home by Londonderry direct ........ by Quebec.”16
Although Robert Hare Long did not settle in North America as had most of his family, he did sail over to the States and Canada on several occasions. I’m fascinated to know that he actually visited Niagara Falls way back in 1867, and I have in my possession a precious photo [given to me by his grand-daughter Tatiana] of Robert Long standing in front of the Falls. I have often wondered if Robert had any inkling that his eldest brother Richard was living in the Niagara area at the time.
In the just-quoted letter, Robert refers to “our darling child,” his and Anna’s eldest, Mary Geraldine Long. Further along in this chapter, I will provide a full account of all their children. The above letter demonstrates Robert’s love for his daughter, and the following excerpt [from an undated letter written circa 1877] provides further evidence of his passion for horses and horse-racing:
“Langham Hotel
Portland Place
London W.
Saturday
My dear Anna,
I did not write before as I suppose you had not yet returned from Dublin. I must remain over [in England] for the Epsom meeting next Tuesday & Wednesday; & as I must neccessarily be in Newmarket the following week, I do not think it would be worthwhile incurring the expence of crossing over [to Ireland]; i.e: if all is going on well at home. I had a fair time at Newmarket.
Send me all letters here until I write to stop them. How are the children? I suppose you can come over for the Derby & remain over for Ascot. Let me know how everything is going on at home & if you want money I will send you a cheque. I found all my horses doing well at Newmarket & have an outside chance yet of the One Thousand with Maid of Perth.
With Love to the Children
Affectionately
R.H. LONG”17
Robert aspired to the heights with his attendance and participation in the most famous racing events such as the Epsom Derby [named in honour of our distant kinsman, the 12th Earl of Derby], Ascot and Newmarket. Unfortunately, Robert’s racing career was cut short by poor health. According to his grand-daughter, Robert lost a fortune betting on the horses. He suffered severe attacks of jaundice, and by the late 1870s, his health hadseriously deteriorated. Although he was feeling poorly, business affairs in North America demanded his personal attention, and he therefore departed from Liverpool for New York, on November 1, 1879, aboard the Cunard Line’s R.M.S. Gallia.
After visiting with his brother Marshal in New York City, Robert headed north to Montreal where he ultimately became critically ill, and there he died at the untimely age of forty-nine, on February 28, 1880.18 Here follows Robert’s obituary which appeared in the Spring edition of the 1880 Irish Sportsman:
“DEATH OF MR. ROBERT H. LONG
Intelligence has come to hand of the death of this highly esteemed & popular sportsman. For the last two or three seasons Mr. Long did not take a very active part in turf pursuits if we except his filling the office of starter at the Curragh, and various other important meetings throughout Ireland & occasionally in England.
Prior to the dispersal of the Mayfield Stud at Cashel, the green and crimson jacket was to be seen very frequently upon racecourses both in England and Ireland, but it was not carried in the van as frequently as all would have wished to have seen it. Mr. Long was passionately fond of flat racing. He was a keen sportsman and a gentleman whose gentleness and suavity of manner combined with his sterling straight-forwardness, made him a general favorite. Of blood stock he was a rare judge and his opinion at yearling sales was frequently sought after.
Yet although he followed racing after a princely fashion, he never approached to anything bordering on recouping his outlay, and during his turf career may be said to have owned but two clinkers in Angela and Maid of Perth. As a yearling, Lord Gough fell to his bid at the long figure of 1,800 guineas, but as a race horse he proved a failure whatever he may be at the stud. Very few of the rich plums fell to Mr. Long’s share although Maid of Perth carried his colors triumphantly in the Railway Stakes at the Curragh in 1871, Cottager finishing second and the Pleasure Colt third. Angela made a bold bid in her year for the Oaks having past the post third.
In all walks of society, Mr. Long was as universally esteemed as he will be regretted. The soul of honor, his word was his bond, as a sincere friend, warm-hearted to a fault; he had few equals and no superior. He despised chicanery of every description and his death, when only at middle age will cause a void in the ranks of Irish sportsmen that will not easily be filled up.
For some time past, Mr. Long has not enjoyed the most perfect health, having had an attack of jaundice, and with a view toward the restoration of his health, he left Ireland some six months ago for a tour in the Western Hemisphere. As a scholar, Mr. Long had a brilliant career during his studentship at Portora, and in old Trinity where he fairly and honorably won his spurs. To his bereaved and sorrowing relatives we tender our mix of sincere sympathy as well as the regret we feel at a fellow student being cut away from our midst this early in life.”
Just as Robert had feared in his February 1865 letter to Anna, he had died young and left her on her own to raise their family. Hopefully he did take out a life insurance policy as proposed in his letter. Anna Geraldine McAuliffe had six children by her husband Robert Hare Long: 1. Mary Geraldine Long, born July 8, 1866; 2. John McAuliffe Long, born August 21, 1867; 3. Charity Elizabeth Long, born August 1, 1869; 4. Anna Matilda Long, born September 2, 1870; 5. Robert Edward Crozier Long, born October 29, 1872;19 and6. Henry Archibald Long, born October 29, 1874.20
Anna certainly had her hands full - Harry, the youngest, was only five when his father died, and Mary, the eldest, was just thirteen. Anna apparently was a rather strict disciplinarian, and when she felt that her sons had misbehaved, she was inclined to lock them up in the cellar for a day or two. Anna mellowed with old age. Charmed by her adorable grand-daughter, Anna sent her a photo and inscribed it: “Dear little Tanya, with Love from Grandmama.” Eventually all three of Anna’s sons ran away from home when they were still in their early teens.
Since all the Longs save Victoria Long Thompson [and possibly Charity Long Price]had gone to live in the States and Canada, Anna would have had to turn to her own family for any help she might have needed. Her brother John McAuliffe, was well enough off to own a yacht, so perhaps he assisted her. Also, Robert’s Aunt Ellen, widow of Richard Long II, lived in the Dublin area, so one would hope that she might also have provided some assistance to her nephew’s widow and children. Anna Long, whose existing photos picture her as having been a rather elegant and formidable woman, left Ireland for good at some point in the early years of the 20th Century, and accompanied by her daughter Anna Matilda, they retired to the resort town of Bournemouth, located on England’s south coast. She resided there until her death circa 1920. Here follow very briefbiographical sketches of Robert and Anna Long’s children:
MARY GERALDINE LONG, born at Ardmayle in 1866, immigrated to Argentina around the turn of the Century and was never heard from again. Her family unsuccessfully attempted to locate her, and it is thus assumed that she must have fallen prey to a fatal illness or have lost her life in some horrible accident. Mary was not married when she left home. However, we should not rule out the remote possibility that she may have survived, married and left descendants! Which would mean Long of Longfield descendants in Argentina no less!!
JOHN McAULIFFE LONG, born at Ardmayle in 1867, ran away from home while in his teens, and eventually settled in Manchester, England, where he pursued a successful career, employed by “Black & White,” a well-known British distillery firm. He died in Manchester on November 10, 1931. John McAuliffe Long married twice, and by his first wife whose name is unknown, he had issue, a daughter, Hilda Long, born circa 1898; and by his second wife, Carrie, he had further issue, a son, James Long, born circa 1908. Jimmy Long led a rather bohemian existence and died unmarried in 1941. His half-sister, Hilda Long, married first, a businessman [name unknown] who was employed by Jardine & Co. as their representative in China, where Hilda and her husband lived for many years, and by whom Hilda had two daughters. Hilda Long’s second marriage was to Admiral Sir George Pirie Thomson, Great Britain’s chief press censor during World War II.
Sometime after her second husband’s death, Lady [Hilda] Thomson moved to Australia where she lived with one of her daughters, at Sandy Bay near Hobart, Tasmania. Hilda died circa 1980. Either one or both of her daughters [names unknown] settled in Australia, and may have married and had children. Unfortunately, their mother’s first cousin, Tatiana Long Daniell, has lost touch with them, not having heard from Hilda’s daughters for several years now. When I visited Cashel with my parents and aunts in 1985, we stayed at the Maryville Inn, owned by Mr and Mrs Patrick Duane, who recalled that an Australian woman who had stayed there the previous year, had told them she was a member of the Long of Longfield Family.
CHARITY ELIZABETH LONG, born at Ardmayle in 1869, apparently died young, possibly in 1883. Known as “Cherry,” she was a branch of the “Charity Tree,” (see page 33, last paragraph) having been named in honour of her aunt, great-aunt, and great-grandmother, Charity Moore Long (1760-1842).
ANNA MATILDA LONG, born at Ardmayle in 1870, was known to her family as “Maud.” As pictured in photos of her, Maud Long was a very attractive young woman, appearing gracefully serene and stylishly attired. Maud never married. She faithfully served as her mother’s companion for the duration of her life, and when Anna Long moved over to England, Maud went with her. Tragically, Maud contracted tubercolosis and died sometime in the 1920s when she was in her mid-fifties. I’ve sometimes wondered if she ever corresponded with her cousin Maude (1878-1916), daughter of Stephen Moore Long.
ROBERT EDWARD CROZIER LONG (1872-1938), born at Ardmayle House, Cashel, is perhaps the most famous of all the Longs of Longfield, and therefore deserves his very own chapter. Read on to Chapter 41.
HENRY ARCHIBALD LONG, the youngest child of Robert and Anna Long, was born at Mayfield House near Cashel, Tipperary, on October 29, 1874, his brother Robert’s second birthday. Young Henry was named after his uncles, Henry and Archibald Long. Emulating his elder brothers, he too ran away from home. Henry Long eventually went to sea and ultimately journeyed right across Cape Horn, South America. Harry disembarked somewhere along the Pacific coast of South America, and then he managed to cross the Andes Mountains on foot. After this last communication to his family, he was never heard from again and was presumed dead. Yet another disappearing Long! Just like his sister Mary and their cousin, Robert Long, son of Richard Long III, who, as you may recall, disappeared [according to his brothers and sisters] at the close of the Civil War. But you never know! Perhaps Harry Longescaped fatal misfortune and settled down in the Amazon jungle! Ever since old Captain Richard Long set sail for India back in 1772, a number of his descendants have expressed a deep-seated desire to travel the globe far and wide. How long will it be before a Long of Longfield journeys into outer space? I’ll hazard a guess - not too long!!
NOTES:
1. OL,#1, 1984, Long Extracts from the Ardmayle Parish Records
2. Alumni Dublinenses, p 73, circa 1880 edn
3. RD, Dublin, vol. 24, Mem. 259, 1863, “Robert Long to James Ronayne”
4. RD, Dublin, vol. 40, Mem. 60, 1864, “Robert Hare Long to Lewis Harris”
5. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
6. RD, Dublin, vol. 14, Mem. 98, registered 1863, “Edward Long to Robert Long”
7. See Chapter 33: The Long Brothers & Mary Featherston, under “Marcus Banner Long”
8. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
9. Marriage Register Books of Ireland, 1865, vol. 7, p 560
10. Ibid
11. RD, Dublin, vol. 54, Mem. 4, 1889, “Anna G. Long to William M. Battersby”
12. “The Phillips Cuttings Book,” p 26
13. Irish Families, by Edward MacLysaght, Hodges, Figgis & Co. Ltd., Dublin, 1957, p 50
14. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
15. RD, Dublin, vol. 29, Mem. 234, 1877, “Charity Elizabeth Price to Thomas Price”
16. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin
17. Ibid
18. “The Phillips Cuttings Book,” p 11
19. OL, #1, 1984, Long Extracts from the Ardmayle Parish Records, [Birth Records of the five eldest children of Robert & Anna Long]
20. LLC, 1988 letter from the Ven. & Very Revd David Woodworth, Rector & Dean of Cashel, Long Extract from the Cashel Parish Records
41. ROBERT EDWARD CROZIER LONG
“No, he’s not the one.” My Mother puzzled over this comment her Mother had written right across a newsclipping included in my Grandmother’s scrapbook. The article was an old one dating from the 1930s or ‘40s, and it had been written by someone with the surname of Long. Mom asked her mother why she had made that notation. Florence Long Howe replied to her daughter Anne: “Well, my Dad had a cousin who was a famous author and newspaper correspondent, but I cannot recall his exact name. I know he was a Long.”
When I began researching the lineage of the Longs of Longfield back in the Fall of 1983, my Mother told me about her Grandpa Long’s cousin, and I was fascinated. Expecting no miracles, I decided to go through all the Longs listed in the Toronto library’s author index. You can imagine my surprise when I came across the name “Robert Edward Crozier Long.” The Toronto library actually had a few of his books, including Russian Revolution Aspects1 and The Mythology of Reparations.2 I examined both books for biographical information on the author but found nothing. Then I recalled that the last time I had looked through the library’s genealogical collection, I had noticed a set of volumes entitled Who Was Who, a British publication which contained biographies of well-known people in Britain and Ireland. The first two volumes included mention of those who had died previous to 1929. The very next volume actually had what I was looking for: “LONG, Robert Edward Crozier, author and special correspondent; b[orn] Cashel, Co. Tipperary, 29 Oct. 1872; s[on] of [the] late Robert Hare Long of Ardmayle House and Mayfield, Cashel.”3
I could hardly believe my eyes! Robert Edward Crozier Long was without a doubt, a member of my Grandmother’s family, the Longs of Longfield. And his name sounded so familiar. Grandma’s eldest brother was Robert Edward Long, and they were the children of Robert Henry Long, son of Edward John Long, whose brother was Robert Hare Long, father of Robert Edward Crozier Long. The name “Crozier” comes from Edward John Long’s and Robert Hare Long’s mother, Mary Crozier Clarke Long, daughter of the Reverend Marshal Clarke by his wife, Eliza Hare, daughter of the Venerable Patrick Hare, by his wife, Mary Crozier, daughter of John Crozier of Magheradunbar, County Fermanagh, Ireland.
Robert Edward Crozier Long was born at Ardmayle House, near Longfield and Fort Edward, all three located just north of Cashel, Tipperary. Known in his younger days as Edward rather than Robert, he was the second son of Robert Hare Long of Ardmayle, by his wife, Anna Geraldine McAuliffe. When he was but two years old, his family moved from Ardmayle over to Mayfield House, east of Cashel. Another move followed in late 1877 when the family left Tipperary behind and moved on to Dublin, to the southern suburb of Kingstown [now Dun Laoghaire]. Since Robert Hare Long was often away from home on business or attending horse-racing events, young Edward did not get to know his father very well, and he was just seven years old when his father died in far-away Montreal in February, 1880.
On October 19th, 1881, a Church of Ireland Merit Certificate was awarded to Edward Long of Mariners Church, Kingstown.4 As regards his secular education, he presumably attended a local elementary school. Finding that his Mother was a bit too strict for his liking, Edward emulated his elder brother John and also ran away from home at about the age of thirteen. He made his way down to the waterfront and took the boat to Liverpool, England where he found a job working on the docks. Liverpool wasn’t the most exciting place for a teenager in those days, so it’s not too surprising to learn that before long, Edward had made his way down to London. About this time, he may also have made the decision to be known by his first name of Robert rather than by his middle name of Edward.
Settled into London by 1888, Robert Edward Long, through a stroke of good luck, was introduced to the famous humorist, Jerome K. Jerome, who promptly hired him as an office boy. Therefore, Robert Edward Long got his start in journalism with Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927), English author and journalist of Three Men In A Boat (1889) fame. Jerome was co-editor of Idler and sole editor of To-Day,5 two of the most popular British periodicals of that era. Robert soon began writing book reviews and other short items which he then submitted to Jerome. For the next several years, Robert continued to develop and polish his writing skills, and accordingly, he rose through the ranks, so that by 1897, Robert found himself on the editorial staff of To-day and Idler.”6
By 1894, Robert E. C. Long had become confident enough to set out on his own while continuing to work for Idler and To-Day. He now became “engaged in journalism as London correspondent for American newspapers.”7 From 1897 to 1904, he served as secretary to the famous English journalist, William Thomas Stead (1849-1912), who founded the Review of Reviews in 1890 and who went down with the Titanic in 1912.8“He was one of W. T. Stead’s staff on the Review of Reviews in 1898, in which capacity he went to Russia to interview [Count Leo] Tolstoy [1828-1910].”9 As a result, Robert Long became well-acquainted with the charismatic Russian novelist and philosopher [and author of War And Peace (1866)]. From The Life of W.T. Stead: “Tolstoy, who had great personal sympathy with Stead, deplored the Review of Reviews.....”“It lacked the single intellectual and moral trend which Tolstoy wanted in everything.” “I have this from my friend, Mr. Robert Crozier Long, who knew Tolstoy well.”10
Robert Long started with the Westminster Gazette early in his career, circa 1898, when he first went to Russia, and stayed with them until the paper folded. In the following year of 1899, he returned to Russia to report on the famine there as a special correspondent for the Daily Chronicle.11 By this time, Robert Long’s considerable linguistic talents began to emerge. Already conversant in French, he began to study Russian at the turn of the century. During 1904 and ‘05, he returned to “Russia as special correspondent of [the] New York American.”12
According to Tania Long Daniell, her parents met in Russia circa 1905. She does not recall where, or under what circumstances. However, they fell in love and were married in Russia sometime in 1909.Thus, Robert Edward Crozier Long married Tatiana, daughter of Arsene Mouravieff, President of the Tamboff District Court, by his wife, Vera Kreiter, of a Russian family with a Baltic name. Arsene Mouravieff was a relative of Count Nicholas Mouraviev-Amoursky (1809-1881), aide-de-camp to the czar and Governor-General of Eastern Siberia.13 The Mouravieffs, whose name is derived from the Russian word for ‘ant,’ are a family of the Russian nobility, dating from the period when Russia was invaded and occupied by the Tartars. Tatiana and Robert spent the first two years of their marriage residing in Russia. When Robert Long was assigned to Berlin by the Westminster Gazette in 1911, he and his wife left Russia and settled in the German capital. Two years later, on April 29, 1913, their daughter Tatiana [known as Tania], was born in Berlin.
During the Balkan War of 1912, fought between Bulgaria and Turkey, Robert Long was there as a war correspondent, and as was advisable, he bought himself a Bulgarian army uniform from a second-hand store, hired a servant, rented a horse, and off to war they went. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts formulating his next article, that before he realized it, he had wandered into the middle of the battlefield, and ended up being captured by the Turks. When they took off his uniform, they discovered that it had belonged to a Bulgarian general who had died. But the Turks didn’t know this and believed they had captured a real prize, a true Bulgarian general, so they threw Robert Long in jail where he stayed for an entire week before he was able to convince the Turkish authorities to contact the British consul in Constantinople. Meanwhile, his wife Tatiana was worrying herself to death back home in Berlin.
The stewing Balkan cauldron erupted again during late June, 1914, with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, at Sarajevo, Bosnia. This event triggered the first World War, with Germany and Austria poised to attack their European neighbours. “My father sent my mother and me out of Berlin in July 1914, as war looked imminent and he stayed behind. He had to leave his apartment, after storing all their possessions, in order not to be arrested as an enemy alien after war was declared, and took refuge in the British embassy which made him a (temporary) second secretary of [the] Embassy, giving him diplomatic status. He remained in Berlin until a special train left taking all the foreign diplomats out of Berlin about ten days after the declaration of war. Mother, my German nanny and myself stayed with my English godfather and family until father joined us.”14The Longs did not of course return until the war was over in November 1918.
If he wasn’t escaping one world hot spot, he was rushing toward another, this time to Russia at the outbreak of the Revolution. Sent there as a correspondent for the Associated Press of America, Robert Long arrived in Russia early in 1917. Before long, he had befriended Prince Lvoff, Prime Minister of Russia during the very brief liberal regime in the Spring of 1917. A passage from R. E. C. Long’s book, Russian Revolution Aspects, advises: “Had the Revolution settled down quietly under Lvoff’s practical and extremely democratic rule, Russia would be spared the humiliation and anguish of today. For Lvoff was not only a great and tried democrat; he was also a great patriot. Though himself an aristocrat and a man of wealth, he was ready to go to great lengths to meet the Socialist spirit of the workmen, soldiers and peasants.”15
R. E. C. Long also had something to say about Russia’s ill-fated royal family: “Three times in the course of my many visits to Russia, I saw [Czar] Nicholas II, the last, least considerable and unluckiest of the Romanoffs. The first time, he was at the height of his power; the second time, he had just unwillingly surrendered a part of that power; and the third time, he was returning to his palace between armed guards, a captive of the Revolution.”16 “The first time was for an instant in February, 1899.” “The second occasion was seven years later, in May 1906, when the First Duma was opened in the Winter Palace.” “When all were assembled, the Tsar entered the hall; read the document convoking the new legislature; and then with the Dowager Empress on his right arm, and the young Empress on his left, walked down the isle between the old Russia and the new, and disappeared.” “He read in a slow and agreeable voice .....” “He looked well, and extremely young; was self-possessed; and did not show the chagrin he felt.”17
Here follows the preface to Russian Revolution Aspects, by Robert Edward Crozier Long: “The aim of this book is not to give a history or interpretation of the Revolution in Russia; but to record in narrative form the more striking events seen by a newspaper correspondent long familiar with the country, people and language. Many books purporting to give a rationale or interpretation of these events have already appeared; and these are good or bad according as the writers were equipped with a qualifying knowledge of Russian conditions. As far as I know, I was the only foreigner who witnessed some of the occurrences, and visited some of the places here described; and the amount of material collected directly and therefore not to be omitted was so great that for the causes, the inner course and the future prospects of the Revolution there has been little space. Further, the time has not yet come for treating the Revolution in historical perspective and analyzing its finer elements. Russia is to-day in a state of flux, probably indeed still early in the prolonged process that will in future be called her Revolution; and no final judgment upon the events so far accomplished can be passed until the lines of ultimate progress are more clearly revealed.”18
With the recent collapse of the Soviet Empire in mind, it is rather amazing to realize that a member of our own family was there in Russia recording the events which led up to the birth of the U.S.S.R. Russian Revolution Aspects, which should be available in most college and big city libraries, includes interesting chapters such as: “The Last Romanoff; The Poison of Autocracy; With the Siberian Exiles; The Cradle of the Soviets; Prince Lvoff and his Reforms; The Rebirth of Nihilism; Bolshevism in Action; The Triumph of Bolshevism; Russia and America.”19 More amazing and much more romantic, is the fact that Robert Long fell in love with and married a Russian woman!
By the time of World War I and the Russian Revolution, R. E. C. Long had earned an international reputation as an outstanding journalist, so it is not surprising that he ultimately came to the attention of the American press baron, William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), who was so taken with Robert Long’s articles on the Russian Revolution, that he made him a very attractive job offer. So Robert Edward Long went over to the States with his wife and daughter toward the end of 1917. But soon thereafter, he quit since Hearst wanted to censor his articles and that made Mr. Long very indignant.
Tatiana, Robert and little Tania returned to Berlin in late 1918, having spent the war years residing in Stockholm, Sweden, where Robert could be close to the latest political developments in Russia. For the next several years, Robert Long’s journalistic career continued to prosper, and important newspapers engaged his services as a special correspondent in Russia, Scandinavia and the United States. Robert began his association with The New York Times in 1923, as their Berlin-based financial correspondent, and wrote weekly columns for them right up until the time of his death in 1938. He also wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and for newspapers in Birmingham and Leeds, England. Robert Long resumed working for The Economist [of London] in 1926 [having previously been employed by them briefly in the early 1920s], and continued writing for the London weekly until he died.
Not only did Robert Long possess a keen understanding of economics in addition to his journalistic and linguistic skills, he also possessed an inquiring logical mind. His daughter Tania relates: “Father was fascinated with the Einstein theory of relativity and understood it very well, having become a friend of Einstein’s principal assistant in Germany. He was a frequent visitor to Professor Freundlich at the Einstein Potsdam Observatory (where he took me) and wrote many articles on the subject.”20
A long-time resident of Berlin, Robert Long witnessed first-hand the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. In 1937, when Hitler placed restrictions on transferring money and bank accounts out of Germany, and therefore invoked mail censorship as a means of preventing such transfers, Robert Long managed to outwit the Fuehrer by mailing out instructions to his English bank by writing on a postcard! By September 1938, Robert recognized how dangerous Hitler and the Nazis had become, so “He went [to England] after the Munich Crisis, when many thought war would break out any second and met me [Tania] in England. He had sent mother to Bruges in Belgium while he remained to cover the dramatic events for a couple of British papers (as well as his own) whose correspondents had left Berlin. He was overworked and developed bronchitis and was ill when he arrived in London, having left the German capital at what seemed the last moment. He did not see Churchill but saw men close to Churchill, [men] who promised to pass on his message: if France and England acted immediately to show Germany they meant war if it continued on its way, war would be averted. But this would be the last chance. Another year, it would be too late, as Germany would then be strong enough to take on the allies, in fact the world.”21
When Robert returned to Berlin just a week later, he found himself to be the last British citizen still in Berlin, aside from the British diplomats. Although he had always enjoyed good health, Robert Long’s bronchitis, aggravated by the stormy political climate, tragically turned into pneumonia, which resulted in his death on October 18, 1938. The next day, The London Times published his obituary, extracts of which read:
“Mr. R. E. C. Long, correspondent in Berlin, of the Economist and financial correspondent of the New York Times, died suddenly in Berlin yesterday, telegraphs our Berlin correspondent. He was suffering from influenza last month, when with other English correspondents, he had to leave Berlin temporarily, and complications developed on his return.”“Robert Edward Crozier Long was a foreign correspondent of long experience, well-versed in German history and literature, and with a profound knowledge of the background to developments of the past five years, on which, particularily on the economic side, he wrote with distinction.” “At the time of his death [in October 1938], he had been longer in Berlin than any other English (or British or Irish) correspondent.” “He had written several books, mainly on German, Russian and Scandanavian life and politics. He was one of the first English translators of Tchekov.”22
The October 19th, 1938 edition of The New York Times devoted a lengthy column to our
kinsman. The following are excerpts from his New York Times obituary:
“ROBERT E. C. LONG, JOURNALIST, DEAD
- Financial Correspondent for New York Times in Berlin -- Wrote Several Books - REPORTER IN BALKAN WARS - Covered Revolt in Russia in 1906 - Had Contributed to Economist of London - Wireless to The New York Times: BERLIN, Oct. 18. [1938] - Robert Edward Crozier Long, financial correspondent of The New York Times and a contributor to The Economist of London, died here early this morning of pneumonia after a nervous breakdown. Actually, he may be accounted victim of the recent international crisis. He was 65 years old.
In a career of more than forty years in journalism Mr. Long experienced a series of international crises. He was in Russia during the revolution of 1906-97, with the Turkish Armies during the two Balkan wars and in Germany as correspondent of The Westminster Gazette at the outbreak of the World War. He left Berlin on the ambassadorial train in August, 1914, abandoning most of his possessions and returning only after the war.
This last crisis came when his only daughter was on the ocean on her way from the United States to join him. Advised to leave Germany with other journalists of British nationality, he sent his wife away but remained himself until what seemed the last moment, when he went to Belgium just before the Munich conference was arranged. After spending a few days in Brussels and London he returned a week ago to resume his old life here. But the experience had shaken him, and when he took cold, his power of resistance was insufficient to ward off pneumonia.”
“Mr. Long is survived by his widow, a daughter of the late Arsene Mouravieff, president of the Tamboff district court in Russia under the Czar’s regime, and a daughter, Mrs. Tatiana Gray, who until recently was engaged in newspaper work in New Jersey. She is now here.
A brilliant and lovable personality with native Irish wit, great linguistic talent and much travel made Mr. Long an attractive companion in any environment. In his leisure hours he was a great outdoor man, sailing, swimming, playing tennis and indulging in other sports whenever the opportunity offered.He was a general favorite in Berlin journalistic and banking circles. In the latter he was a trusted confidant of many prominent men. By his colleagues he was regarded as an epitome of all that was sound and upright in journalism. Funeral services will be held in the chapel at Mattaeikirchof in Schoenberg Thursday.”
“Mr. Long, who had written occasionally on financial topics from Berlin for The New York Evening Post before the war, became the regular financial correspondent of The New York Times in 1923. Since then he had sent a weekly cable on the German market and on the financial situation in that country, which was published on Mondays, and occasional dispatches on intervening days.”
“Born at Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland, on Oct. 29, 1972, son of the late Robert Hare Long of Ardmayle House and Mayfield, Cashel, he was educated at Dublin and was engaged in journalism as the London correspondent for American newspapers from 1894 to 1896. During the two following years he served on the editorial staff of Today, Idler and The Review of Reviews.
After he had been sent to Russia to interview Tolstoy, he became a special correspondent for The Daily Chronicle in 1899, covering the famine in East Russia. He also served in that country as special correspondent for The New York American in 1904-5. He came here for the Portsmouth Peace Conference of 1905, and returned to Russia the following year.”23
After his funeral service at Berlin’s Mattaeikirche Chapel, Robert Edward Crozier Long was buried in the adjacent cemetery. Since Tania had started working as a Berlin-based news correspondent, she and her mother stayed on in Berlin for several months, during which time Tania arranged to have her son join her from New York. When threatening war clouds gathered ominously over Europe in August 1939, Tania sent her mother, who held a British passport, and her son, who was an American citizen, to stay with Tania’s Mouravieff grandmother and aunt in Brittany. Just before Hitler’s invasion of France in May 1940, Tania had her mother and son join her in London. From there, Tatiana and her grandson Robert went over to Ireland.
When all Americans and other foreign non-combatants were ordered out of the European war zone in 1940, the United States sent three ships to Ireland to rescue Americans and other Allied civilians. As a result, Tatiana Long and her grandson went to live in the United States, residing for a while at Schenectady, New York, and then on to her daughter’s home in Westport, Connecticut, where she lived for many years. When her daughter and son-in-law, Raymond Daniell, went to live in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, Tatiana eventually joined them there in 1967. On March 29, 1978, Tatiana Mouravieva Long died at the age of ninety-three, just one week short of her ninety-fourth birthday, and her ashes were scattered over her daughter’s Ottawa rose garden. She was survived by her daughter Tania, her grandson Robert, her sister Vera and her niece Tatiana [Vera’s daughter].
With the death of Tatiana, the widow of Robert E. C. Long of the Longs of Longfield, the direct connection between the Longs in Ireland and North America had now been severed, Robert Long having been the last known living Longfield Long to have been born and raised in Ireland. Although he did not attend university, Robert Long did a good job of educating himself. He spoke at least seven languages. Aside from his native English, he learned to speak fluent German and Russian and he also spoke very good, though somewhat accented French. In addition he spoke fairly passable Swedish and Danish and read Finnish.
Robert Long was an active man who thoroughly enjoyed skating, swimming and sailing, and he owned his own boat. Fond of horses, he would often go out riding before breakfast in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park. Being somewhat absent-minded, Robert would become so absorbed in his thoughts - planning his next article - that he would become completely oblivious to where he was or to where he was going. Upon one occasion, he found himself on horseback at Potsdammer Platz, Berlin’s equivalent of Piccadilly Circus or Times Square! Upon another occasion he had gone out walking. His wife and daughter, who were out shopping, were both highly amused when they ran into Robert who bowed and politely tipped his hat to them. It was quite obvious he had no idea who they were!
Robert had a dry, wry, almost sarcastic sense of humour. When, as a girl, Tania would play, for example, some new fox-trot record, her Dad would say: “that’s the tune the old cow died of!” (which was also a favorite expression of their cousin, Florence Long Howe) Robert and Tatiana Long were very cultured and they often attended concerts, the theatre and the opera. And they enjoyed dinner parties with their friends.
“Tatiana Arsenevna Mouravieva was born in Tambov, Russia, ..... the eldest of three sisters, and by far the most beautiful. She had classic features, except for the eyes, which had an oriental cast, the result of her ancient Tartar ancestry.”“She had a great deal of charm and everyone who met her fell under her spell. She had many friends. At the same time, while basically intelligent, she could be naive and never in all her years as a wife learned to deal intelligently with her husband. For instance, at lunch she would tell him that her hair dresser was convinced the [value of the German] mark would rise, or fall, and when my father expostulated, she would insist that her hair dresser was a very well informed man, that he heard many important things from his customers. My father, who was correspondent of The Economist, and informed by leading German financial sources, would get annoyed and as she continued with her talks of her hair dresser, would eventually get furious (he had an Irish temper) and there would be a row. In other words, she would get on my father’s nerves, until she suddenly said something so funny or outrageous that he had to laugh. On the whole, I think they had a fairly happy life.”24
During his forty years as a journalist, Robert Long managed to find the time to read and translate books by Russian authors and to write several books and countless articles of his own: “The Reflections of a Russian Statesman (translated from the Russian), 1898; The War of the Future, 1899; The Black Monk, 1908; The Kiss, 1908 (both of the last from the Russian of Tchekhoff); Colours of War, 1915; (as Edward Edgeworth); The Human German, 1915; Russian Revolution Aspects, 1919; The Swedish Woman (a novel), 1924; The Mythology of Reparations, 1928; many articles in Fortnightly Review and other monthlies, chiefly on Russian, German and Scandanavian politics and literature.”25
As previously stated, Robert Long was one of the first to translate Chekhov [also spelled “Tchekhoff”] into English. According to the author’s note in R. E. C. Long’s translation of The Kiss and Other Stories, published in 1908, R. E. C. Long states that his 1903 translations of The Black Monk and Other Stories “published five years ago [were] the only collection of Tchekhoff’s stories that had up to that time appeared in English.” 26 It’s interesting to note that Robert’s second cousin, the late Irish essayist, Hubert Butler (1900-1991), also spoke Russian and translated Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard into English. 27 Hubert Butler’s mother was a Clarke, and another Clarke cousin was the Anglo-Irish novelist, the late Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973). Did some rare “literary” gene get passed down in the D.N.A. through the Clarke Family?
A letter to the editor appeared in the Sunday Book Review section of the September 13th, 1970 edition of The New York Times:
“Simon Karlinsky, in his article on Chekhov in the issue of July 26, writes about the ‘remarkably well-informed pieces’ on Chekhov published by Abraham Cahan and R. E. C. Long at the turn of the century, and in another reference to R. E. C. Long, adds the phrase ‘whoever he was.’
I would like to supply that information. Robert Edward Crozier Long was a British journalist who went to Russia before the turn of the century, fell in love with the country and its people, learned the language and, as Professor Karlinsky points out, was among the first to translate Chekhov into English. He also fell in love with a Russian girl, my mother, now 86, had a distinguished career as a writer on economics and finance (correspondent for The Economist, The New York Times, etc.), and died in October, 1938.
TANIA LONG DANIELL, Ottawa”
NOTES:
1. Russian Revolution Aspects, Robert Crozier Long, 1919, E.P. Dutton & Co., New York.
2. The Mythology of Reparations, Robert Crozier Long, 1928, Duckworth, London
3. Who Was Who, 1929-1940, Adam & Charles Black, London, vol 3, p 824
4. LLFP, Brewer Library, Richland Center, Wis.
5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol 13, University of Chicago, 1948, p 3.
6. Who Was Who, 1929-1940, vol 3, p 824
7. Ibid
8. Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol 21, Chicago, 1948, p 349
9. London Times, Oct 19, 1938
10. The Life of W.T. Stead, vol 1, Frederick Whyte, London, 1925, p 313
11. Who Was Who, 1929-1940, vol 3, p 824
12. Ibid
13. Dictionnaire de la Noblesse Russe, Patrick de Gmeline, Editions Contrepoint, Paris, 1978, p 413
14. LLC, Aug 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell, daughter of Robert E. C. Long
15. Russian Revolution Aspects, Robert Crozier Long, 1919, E.P. Dutton & Co., N.Y., pp 71-2
16. Ibid, p 1, “The Last Romanoff”
17. Ibid, pp 1-4
18. Ibid, Preface
19. Ibid
20. LLC, Aug 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
21. Ibid
22. London Times, Oct 19, 1938
23. The New York Times, Oct 19, 1938
24. LLC, Aug 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
25. Who Was Who, 1929-1940, vol 3, p 824
26. The Black Monk and Other Stories, Anton Chekhov, translated by R. E. C. Long, Duckworth, London, 1908
27. The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov, translated by Hubert Butler, H.W. Deane, London, 1934
42. TATIANA LONG DANIELL
“Mr. Long is survived by his widow ....., and a daughter, Mrs Tatiana Grey [recte: ‘Gray’].”1 This was amazing! I had discovered the obituary of R. E. C. Long in an issue of The New York Times dated October 1938. Not only had I “found” my Grandmother’s famous journalist cousin, I had now also discovered that he had a daughter and her name was Tatiana. Since her father was born in 1872, I guessed that she had most likely been born sometime between 1900 and 1920. Therefore she was probably still living. How could I possibly locate her? I read on: “[She] until recently was engaged in newspaper work in New Jersey. She is now here” 2 Since I was reading the New York Times and Tatiana had been working for a New Jersey paper, I therefore assumed she must have joined the New York Times.
I phoned the Human Resources Department of The New York Times and was advised that although they did have some record of Tania’s whereabouts, they could not, of course, give out her address. They seemed to think she was residing somewhere in France. With high hopes, I wrote to her care of the New York Times, only to have the letter returned a few months later marked, “address unknown.” In desperation, I phoned the New York Times again and ended up speaking to a very agreeable person who showed an interest in genealogy. As promised, he did a thorough search of their records and called me back later that same day to give me the exciting news that he had an address for her: “Tatiana L. Daniell of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,” just a few hundred miles from Toronto. And here I thought she would be living in New York, London or Paris. Rather than take a chance at sending her a letter to an outdated address, I phoned information and got her number just like that. And with the speed of lightning, I was speaking with her! Thus ended yet another near century-long separation between various branches of the family.
Tatiana remarked: “My father told me that most of the Longs had come to America but had no idea where they all lived.” Since Tatiana had no siblings and had lost touch with the daughters of her first cousin Hilda Long, she knew of no other Long relatives until that unforgettable evening in early 1986 when time and distance could separate us no more. Now all of a sudden, I was telling her she had hundreds of Long cousins all over the States and Canada, with more in Ireland, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. I get the feeling she might have been somewhat overwhelmed by it all!
When Tania came to visit my mother, sister and me in the Spring of 1986, she brought with her a surprise package which included photos of her parents, aunt, Long grandparents, and even one of her great-grandfather, Edward Thomas Long - the only known photograph we have of him - seated at a writing table. The “package” also included her grandfather’s letters - the correspondence of Robert Hare Long, his description of the Long of Longfield coat-of-arms, a copy of the 1822 Marriage Settlement of Edward and Mary Long, a list in Mary Long’s own handwriting, of the names and birthdates of all their children, and a letter written by Mary Long to her many children just before she died in 1853. What a treasure! Tania had inherited the Long Family papers and photos from her father, the last known Irish Long of Longfield. And to imagine, as you will discover, that those precious photos and papers so carefully kept all those years by Tania and her family, almost perished during World War II [and World War I too]! But more of that later.
When I explained to Tania how I had managed to locate her, she remarked that I had made a fortunate mistake in interpreting a line from her father’s obituary. Whereas I had understood “She is now here.” to mean that she had left the New Jersey newspaper to join the New York Times, that line actually meant that she was now in Berlin. My mistaken conclusion had led me to her much sooner than would otherwise have happened. In fact, she did not join the New York Times until 1942. My conversations and visits with Tania have led me to realize that she has emulated her father in experiencing a most fascinating life and career. Here follows a brief biography of our cousin, Tatiana Long Daniell:
Tatiana Long was born in Berlin, Germany, on April 29th, 1913, the daughter and only child of Robert Edward Crozier Long and his wife, Tatiana Mouravieff.“After several years of living in Scandinavian capitals and attending the Lorenz Lyceum in Berlin from 1920 to 1924, young Tania studied at the Ecole des Jeunes Filles at St. German-en-Laye, near Paris, until 1927. From then until 1930, she was a student at the Malvern Girls’ College in England. In her post-graduate work at the Sorbonne in Paris (1930-31), and at the Paris Ecole des Sciences Politiques, Miss Long specialized in history and economics.”3 “By observing and assisting her father ....... Miss Long received her first journalistic training.”4
While studying in Paris, Tania met and fell in love with an American, Merwin Mallory Gray, and after their marriage in Paris in 1932, they moved to New York City, where their son, Robert Merwin Gray, was born the following year. Circa 1935, Tania became an American citizen, and during the following year, she launched her journalistic career when she began working as a reporter for the Newark Ledger.
“In September of 1938, as the crisis leading to Munich developed, I began to worry about my parents’ safety. I had a premonition I would be needed in Berlin. I got a leave of absence from The Ledger and left by ship for Bremen with the intention of continuing to Berlin. During the crossing, Prime Minister Chamberlain began his visits to Hitler and the situation looked very grim. When the ship landed first at Southampton, I received a telegram from my father telling me to get off the ship and go to my godfather’s in London, where my father would meet me. My mother had been left in Bruges, Belgium, with some other British subjects who had left Berlin for fear of being caught after an outbreak of war. When I met my father I realized he was not well and had a bad case of bronchitis. After picking up my mother in Bruges the family returned to Berlin. My father’s health grew worse, and after about ten days, when he had developed pneumonia (there were no antibiotics then), he died.”5
Tania decided to stay in Berlin and look for a job. She was fortunate in getting one with the New York Herald Tribune. According to Current Biography, “Miss Long obtained a position with the New York Herald Tribune bureau in that city, largely because of her previous long residence in the German capital ... a consequent wide circle of friends and contacts ... combined with her linguistic abilities and thorough knowledge of many other European countries.”6 “Her first duties consisted of reading approximately forty daily German newspapers, selecting significant articles from them, and rewriting these for the Tribune. Her skill in writing both quickly and well soon led her to becoming assistant chief correspondent.”7
“I brought my son over from New York to join me and my mother and we remained there for close to a year. In August of 1939, however, Hitler, who had recently gobbled up Czechoslovakia and earlier, Austria, was close to invading Poland. War became fairly certain, so I decided to send my mother and son to France to join my grandmother and aunt in Brittany. I told my bosses at The Herald Tribune that if war came, I would have to leave Berlin, to be on the right side of the wartime border. This was acceptable and I was merely asked to wait in Berlin until my replacement arrived.”
“During that period, Berlin was an eerie city. The people were very quiet and clearly unhappy. There were air raid simulations, with the beams of searchlights playing in the skies and every now and then catching a plane that was trying to evade them. One night bags of flour fell onto the roof of Herman Goering’s Air Ministry, in a simulated bombing.”8 The sound of goose-step marching was pervasive and almost surreal, and she noticed that people were disappearing suddenly from her apartment building. After about ten days, she left for Denmark. Tania spent two weeks in Copenhagen taking down by hand the [news] copy from the Polish front sent by Joseph Barnes, Herald-Tribune correspondent, who had no other way of getting his copy to New York. Then she was ordered to Paris where she was told she would be permanently assigned.
“Leaving my heavy trunks and suitcases with American Express, I flew to Brussels, flying low so as to be recognized as a neutral plane by the Germans and then began a nightmare journey. I learned that all travellers to France required a special visa. [I] went to the French consulate [in Brussels] only to find thousands of Frenchmen and others lining up to get into the building. It looked hopeless. I then went to the US consulate, talked to a young consul, showed my credentials, explained my case, and he wrote me a note to his French colleague at the French consulate asking him to give me priority, etc. He told me to approach the French building from the rear and to tell the man at the door that I had a letter from the American consul and hoped he’d let me in. He did and before long I left the consulate with my new visa.”
“Then to the railway station. Complete chaos. Nobody knew anything about trains to Paris. People rushing hither and yon trying to get news of train movements. I finally sat down somewhere to rest and overheard a couple saying something about a train to Paris in an hour on Track 5. I made my way to Track 5 and found a conductor who confirmed the news and in about half an hour a train pulled in and was announced over the loudspeaker. Suddenly, it seemed like thousands were rushing for the train, which filled up in no time. I had gotten a seat next to a pleasant looking woman. I was starving hungry by then and asked her to guard my seat while I went in search of a sandwich. She asked me to bring her one. The station was still like an ant heap that had been disturbed, with people rushing hither and yon, but I eventually found a stall that was selling waffles. I bought four and went back to the train. The train left, then the trip became nerve-racking, as it would stop every now and then. Whistles would blow, shouts would be heard, and then off we’d go for another while. We arrived in Paris after nearly four hours, and I went straight to the Tribune and thence to a hotel across the street.”9
However, Tania was soon transferred to London [in late September 1939] where a shortage of staff had developed due to the illness of the bureau chief, Ralph Barnes. This was supposed to be a temporary [position] but became permanent. By the Spring of 1940, it became evident that Hitler would invade the Low Countries and France, and Tania got her family out of France and [over] to Ireland, safe from possible bombing attacks.10 At that time all American civilians were ordered out of the European war zone by the United States government which then sent three ships to Ireland to pick them up, and taking Tania’s son and mother to the United States.
In September of 1940, Tania was busy covering the bombing of London among other things. “Among Miss Long’s best stories [on the bombing of London]: the bombing of the Hotel Savoy while she was living there. Of the bombing of her hotel she wrote in a dispatch to the Tribune: ‘I was sitting in my third-floor room ready to get into bed when I heard the bombs coming. The second or third of the sticks landed in the street right outside my window. Only a split second later the next bomb hit the cornice of the hotel and went off, and almost immediately after that the other one hit the rear of the building. When one hears bombs coming that close there is no time to do anything. One hasn’t time to be afraid, that comes later.’”11
In February 1941, an article appeared in the New York Herald-Tribune: “The 19th annual Front Page Ball of the New York Newspaper Women’s Club was held last night [at] ... the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, wife of the President, was the special guest of honor.” “The highlight of the evening was the presentation of two awards ... by Mrs. Roosevelt for outstanding work by New York Citynewspaper women during 1940.” “The prize winners in the contest sponsored by the club were Miss Tania Long, war correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune, and Miss Kay Thomas, ... of The New York Sun.”12
Soon after arriving in London in the Autumn of 1939, Tania, by then divorced, met her future husband, Raymond Daniell, London correspondent for The New York Times. Before meeting Tania, Ray “had considered newspaper work in London, a man’s job”; but, he wrote later, she [Tania] ‘provided us with as much competition as any man in London.’”13 “One of the two American newspaperwomen in London, she looked after us all with a sort of motherly care. Her calm and courage during the frightful early days of the blitzkrieg helped us all to keep our nerves steady.”14
In November 1941, Ray Daniell published his book, Civilians Must Fight. Already one of the most respected American journalists of his time, he provided his fellow countrymen with some serious food for thought. “Before Pearl Harbor, his calm dispassionate book ... pointed out to Americans that their only choice lay between fighting Nazism and accepting the terms of ‘a Hitler astride three-quarters of the world.’ On November 22, 1941, Tatiana Long and Raymond Daniell were married in London.
Having united in marriage with a member of the competition, Tania appropriately left the Herald-Tribune and joined forces with the New York Times in February 1942. Remaining based in London for the duration of World War II, Ray and Tania, despite the dangers of crossing the Atlantic, nevertheless managed to return twice to their home in Westport, Connecticut, where they could savour two months vacation in the States. Here Tania was joyfully reunited with her son and her mother.
In 1944, Tania was asked to do a job for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA) and was assigned to the headquarters of the First Army in Spa, Belgium, just over the border with the bit of Germany that was already occupied by US forces. “Because of my fluent German, I was supposed to uncover any attacks on the US troops, by such as the ‘Werewolves,’ a group of German youth who strung thin metal wires across the roads at night to cut the throats of GIs travelling by jeep, for instance, or dug trenches that would trap US transport. The scheme never worked properly because of a change in First Army plans. It had been intended to have the army occupy a wide area of Germany around Aachen permanently, until the end of the war. This would have given me time to develop contacts, etc. But the First Army was suddenly ordered to move eastward and I kept being left behind, not knowing where the new army headquarters was. The whole thing became a farce and I resigned and returned to London.”15
As war correspondents for The New York Times, Tania Long and Ray Daniell followed the Allied forces into Berlin in 1945. Ray Daniell arrived there the day the Allies entered Berlin, and Tania followed the day after. During World Wars I and II, Tania’s and her parents’ possessions, including the Long Family papers and photos, had been stored in a downtown Berlin warehouse, and although the warehouse had been bombed, by some miracle, everything they owned survived intact. With the termination of the war, Tania remained in Germany and assisted her husband in the New York Times coverage of the Nuremberg trials. Then “Miss Long turned her attention to conditions in conquered Germany. Her articles in the New York Times Magazine, and her news stories, attracted considerable comment for the picture she presented of the dangerous effect of fraternization by American troops in Germany on the American occupation policy.”16
During 1946, rumours began to circulate that a royal wedding was in the offing. Despite denials from the palace, the New York Times went front page on December 16th: “Raymond Daniell reported from London that ‘only politics, which has blighted so many royal romances, is delaying the announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth, heiress to the British throne, and Prince Philip of Greece.’”17 Tania, as London correspondent of The New York Times, attended the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on November 20, 1947, and on June 2, 1953, Tania Long and Ray Daniell carried out their final assignment as London correspondents of The New York Times, with Ray writing the main story of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II while Tania covered the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey.
That same year, Ray and Tania were transferred to the Times’ Canadian bureau in Ottawa. Three years later, Tania reported the following: “Life in Ottawa is a peculiar mixture of the easy and the informal, and the very formal indeed.” “At the other extreme in our social life is the extremely formal - and darn good, too - dinner party at Government House [in Ottawa]. The Governor-General, Vincent Massey, a charming and completely simple man himself, nevertheless runs his establishment as a sort of court which, of course, it is.” “As he is the Queen’s representative in Canada, I must curtsy to him, while Ray bows from the waist.” “Ray and I, I believe, have been singularily honored by the Governor-General, for he has also invited us to his very small Sunday night suppers ...” “At one of these, Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson (Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-1968) and Mrs. Pearson and Ray and I were the only guests.”18
When Ray was assigned to the United Nations in 1964, the Daniells moved to New York City, thus enabling Tania to pay frequent visits to her mother in Westport, Connecticut. In 1967, Tania and Ray returned to Ottawa, Canada. “Ottawa became his home by chance. Assigned here by the mighty New York Times in the early 1950s, he stayed on for 12 years before accepting an appointment to the paper’s United Nations staff.”19 And when it came time to retire, Ray and Tania returned to a city where they had many friends and where they had spent many good and interesting years. Comfortably settled into their new home, Ray and Tania were to enjoy only two years of retirement together when Ray fell ill and died on April 12, 1969, at the age of sixty-seven. Comforted by the presence of her mother who had come to live with them in Ottawa, Tania found the strength to carry on.
In late 1969, Tania began her second career [which lasted for ten years], as the publicist for the Music Department ofthe National Arts Centre in Ottawa. “I began as a volunteer, as a member of the usual women’s committee formed to assist a new artistic undertaking, and soon became a member of the staff. The job was stimulating and demanding - I don’t think I ever worked as hard at it as I did then, really doing the job of two persons, working long days and often nights and just about every weekend. My main work was to publicize the newly created National Arts Centre Orchestra, a fully government subsidized ensemble and the only such a one in North America.”
“The orchestra’s debut concert in New York in 1971 was a tremendous success and received glowing reviews - of great importance to a new orchestra’s future. The ensemble then went on its first European tour later in 1971, playing in Poland, the then Soviet Union, France and Italy. It was warmly welcomed wherever it played, but nowhere as in Warsaw where the audience at the end of the second concert rushed to the stage to embrace the players. It was an emotional moment few of the forty-eight musicians will forget. The orchestra had its second tour of Europe, after more New York concerts and a tour of the US, in 1978, this time in Sicily and Germany. I went along on both European tours. This was my first visit to Russia and I was of course fascinated with both Leningrad and Moscow.”20
* * * * * * *
Tania’s mother, Tatiana Mouravieva Long had come a long way from Tamboff, Russia. She had come to Canada via Berlin, Brittany and Connecticut, and now, just a few days short of her 94th birthday, she fell ill with pneumonia and departed this life on March 29, 1978. Tania suffered personal tragedy again in 1981, when her son Robert Gray died at the age of forty-six. Although he had been married, he had no children.
Eventually Tania’s inner resolve once again gave her the strength to carry on since she has never been one to suffer life’s adversities lying down. With the help of time, and the support of good friends, her zest for life ultimately returned. For several years she has made annual visits to New York and Paris, home of her Aunt Vera and cousin Tatiana. And having visited Wisconsin in the late 1980s, she has had occasion to meet several of her Long cousins, one [Theron D. Long] of whom she said resembled her father.
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, Tania Long is an activist who believes strongly in participatory democracy. At the grassroots level, Tania has been known to organize petitions designed to improve the quality of life in her neighborhood. Brought up in the classical tradition of Europe, Tatiana enjoys attending the opera, ballet, and symphony concerts; her hobbies include reading, swimming and gardening. Almost aristocratic in demeanour, Tania nevertheless exudes a down-to-earth friendly American quality. Without a doubt, Tatiana Long embodies many of the finest traits one could hope for from a 20th Century descendant of Richard and Charity Long of Longfield.
NOTES:
1. New York Times, Oct 19, 1938
2. Ibid
3. Current Biography, 1946, H. W. Wilson Co., New York, p 357
4. Ibid
5. LLC, Oct 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
6. Current Biography, 1946, p 357
7. Ibid
8. LLC, Oct 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
9. Ibid
10. Ibid
11. Current Biography, 1946, p 357
12. New York Herald-Tribune, Feb 15, 1941
13. Current Biography, 1944, H. W. Wilson Co., New York, p 136
14. Civilans Must Fight, F. Raymond Daniell, 1941
15. LLC, Oct 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
16. Current Biography, 1946, p 358
17. Elizabeth And Philip, Charles Higham & Ken Moseley, Doubleday, New York, 1991, p 137
18. The New York Times, “Times Talk,” March 1956
19. The Ottawa Citizen, April 14, 1969, p 6, “Obituary of Raymond Daniell”
20. LLC, Oct 1997 letter from Tania Long Daniell
43. FURTHER RESEARCH
One might think that since the story of the Longs of Longfield has now been told, that there is nothing left to be discovered about our Long ancestry. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Now the really difficult research can begin. There are many mysteries left to be solved, and I have made a list of them:
Chapter 1: First and foremost, who were the parents and grandparents of Robert Long (d 1712) of Graystown, grandfather of Colonel Richard Long of Longfield, and where did Robert and his family hail from? According to family tradition, our earliest known Long ancestor is said to have been a Captain Long who went over to Ireland from England with Cromwell in 1649. Will we ever learn anything to substantiate this tradition or will possible future discoveries take us along a different path? Needless to say, the paucity of 17th Century Irish genealogical material may make such research painstaking and expensive. Might the present owners of the Graystown properties possess documents relating to Robert Long and his father? Might the marriage record of Robert Long and Mary Soame be found some day in England, in either London or Suffolk, where the Soame family lived? Stepping down a generation, another question emerges. We know that Robert and Mary Long of Graystown had three sons: Richard, James and our ancestor, Edward of Lacken and Cahir Abbey. Will we ever find any record of other children born to Robert and Mary?
Chapter 6: Edward Long (d 1773), of Lacken and Cahir Abbey married his second cousin, Elizabeth Mauzy, daughter of Dr. Lewis Mauzy of Huguenot descent. Here is definitely another ancestral line that calls for further investigation. If, as I have guessed, Lewis Mauzy was born in France and escaped with his parents to England or Ireland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, then we might possibly find some record of Lewis’s birth or baptism in the Mauzy homeland, located at Mauze-sur-le-Mignon, about twenty miles east of La Rochelle in the old French province of Aunis. Discovering the names and something about the lives of Lewis Mauzy’s parents and grandparents might prove just as rewarding as discovering the ancestry of Robert Long of Graystown.
Chapter 9: Captain Robert Long of the East India Company was the elder brother of Colonel Richard Long of Longfield. The Index to Prerogative Wills of Ireland states that Capt. Robert Long’s will was proved in 1798. Since only a copy of the will rather than the original was deposited at the Prerogative Court of Armagh in Ireland, I suspect that Robert may therefore have died elsewhere, in either India or England where his will might yet be found. Since many Irish wills and parish records perished in the 1922 disaster, the possible present existence of Captain Robert Long’s will takes on additional significance. Another mystery that needs solving concerns Richard and Robert Long’s sister, Jane, who married Robert Rogers and apparently had a daughter Jane. Did they have any other children and what happened to them? Early death or emigration to America perhaps?
Chapter 11: When Col. Richard Long purchased Longfield in 1787, the deed of sale gave his previous address as Biddiford, County Kildare. I have been unsuccessful in locating any deed involving Richard Long and Biddiford, nor have I been able to locate it. Such a deed might supply some useful information about Richard from the time he returned to Ireland in 1783 to the purchase of Longfield in 1787.
Chapter 23: Col. Richard Long’s younger son, Edward Thomas Long, married Mary Clarke, daughter of the Reverend Marshal Clarke, who is believed to have been the son of a Sir John Clarke by his third wife, a Miss Anderson. Now here’s an ancestral line I’d like to do further research on. Although the Clarkes are believed to have come from County Donegal, there are some indications that they may have had a previous Tipperary connection, plus a direct connection to England. Marshal Clarke’s wife was Elizabeth, daughter of the Venerable Patrick Hare, reputed to have been the grandson of Turloch O’Hehir, a chief of a sept of the O’Brien clan. I’d definitely like to learn a lot more about our O’Hehir ancestry.
Chapter 27: Among the many children and grandchildren of Edward and Mary Long of Fort Edward, are some whose lives I have been unable to trace up until the time of their deaths. We know very little about the last twenty years of the life of Richard Long III who died in 1901. Richard and his first wife Susanna, apparently had older children born between 1847 and 1851, probably in New York City. Who were they and what happened to them?
Chapter 28: What ever happened to Richard and Susanna Long’s son Robert, born in New York City in 1854 and living in Port Dalhousie, Ontario in 1871? Did he also return to New York as did his elder brother, Edward Moore Long, or did he remain in Ontario, Canada? For all I know, he could have descendants living down the street from me right here in Toronto.
Chapter 30: Charity Long Price, eldest daughter of Edward and Mary Long, may have gone over to the States with her elder son Thomas circa 1880, and have spent the last nine years of her life in Philadelphia. What ever happened to her children? Did Thomas and his brother, presumed to have been Richard Price, and their sister, Cherry Brereton, leave any descendants?
Chapter 32: Charity’s sister, Eliza Long Cameron, also presents somewhat of an enigma. She and her husband, Captain Charles Cameron, were living in Wisconsin circa 1860. The next and last record we have of Eliza is the visit she made to see her brother Stephen Moore Long in Washington, D.C., in February, 1892. Where was she living and did she and her husband have any children? There is a chance they may have moved to Ontario, Canada, home to many of the Cameron clan. There’s definitely room for further research here.
Chapter 33: Marshal Long, second son of Edward and Mary Long, was a teacher in New York City during most of the period from 1854 to 1880. Did he die in 1880 or move away? His wife’s name was Mary and they had an infant son Edward, who died in 1855. Did they have other children? Marshal’s brother, Henry Charles Long (d 1855), married Phelinda and they had a daughter Henrietta, who married Warren E. Jones of Minneapolis. Once again, were there children of the marriage? Mark Long, youngest child of Edward and Mary Long, died during the Civil War, and left a son, John F. Long who married Bridget Casey in 1886. No further record of them has been found in Wisconsin.
Chapter 38: Stephen Moore Long, seventh son of Edward and Mary Long, married Sarah Bates and had a large family. Their eldest son, Robert F. Long married Katherine Inman in Boulder, Colorado in 1882 or ‘83, and they had eight children, most of whom lived in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon. An advertisement placed in the personal column of the Portland newspaper might yet lead us to their descendants. James E. Long, youngest son of Stephen and Sarah Long, had a daughter, Honey Long, who married Irving Denton of Central Point, Oregon. Might Honey still be alive and living somewhere out on the West Coast?
So as you can see, there is plenty of work still to be done on the Long family tree. Hopefully, other members of the family will develop a passion for genealogy and will take up where Ormonde, Bernie and I left off. Unexpected surprises may be hidden amongst one’s family papers. When Donna Wolthausen of Washington State, was going through the papers of her late father, Donald Robert Black [grandson of Edward John Long], she discovered a copy of the will of Elizabeth Hare Clarke (d 1847), grandmother of Edward John Long. Ralph Clarke [of the Clarkes of Graiguenoe Park] advises that previous to Donna’s find, Elizabeth Clarke’s will had not been known to exist. Might someone out there have in their possession an old will or document which would shed further light on our Long ancestry?
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The Longs of Longfield
by
Dale Martin Long Howe Caragata
Toronto 1998