Amanuensis Monday: Elizabeth Long letter discussing Longs of Lycoming, PA, Pt 1/3

I wanted to start writing the history of my great grandfather Harry Howard Long, but I had to stop. I was looking at a source citation that referred to a letter written by his sister to my mother. In the letter, there were a few nuggets about great grandfather's Long relatives and a brief mention of the Marvin family. So, I decided to pause and transcribe the letter. The original letter was three pages, so I will share the letter in three posts.

Robert and Elizabeth Long of Lycoming, PA
Letter from Elizabeth Long to Penny Brown Geiszler, 9 October 1976;
digital image held in 2010 by Devon Lee.

Here is the transcription of page 1:

October 9, 1976

Dear Penny:

You have been on my mind for some time especially recently. I've been trying to remind myself to get at writing and then today your letter supplied the necessary push and so here's your letter.

I'm afraid I can't give you a lot of information about my father's family. Father never alked much about his family. What data I have was obtained from father's siter Aunt Mary Lewis. I've been urging Robert to get in touch with my cousin, Mildred Long Arnold, who was in Bucyrus. The Mehrling boys have cousins there whom they visit occasionally.

Information obtained from Aunt Mary, Aug. 1921, as follow's (from Aunt Gertrude's notes)

My fathers grandparents: Robert Long born 10/7/1770 and Elizabeth born 8/11/1785

Children of Robert & Elizabeth

James, born 12/3/1802
John W, b 2/16/1805 – Lycoming Co, Penn, county seat Willamsport
William, b 11/17/1807
Robert, b 2/25/1810
Maxwell, b 7/15/1812
Margaret, b 12/17/1814
William, b 2/25/1817
Samuel, b 4/11/1819

My sister Gertrude obtained the above from Aunt Mary (orally) in August 1921. No maiden name is given for Elizabeth but another entry gives the mother's name as Jennie Watterson (she was said to be of Scotch descent).

I wonder whether Robert had two wives – perhaps Jennie was a first wife. I'm sure the name Watterson comes in somewhere or perhaps she was a second wife. There seems quite a difference in ages between Robert and Elizabeth. She would have been 17 when James was born. I wonder about two sons named William.

Father's father was John W. and he married Hannah Patterson More b 8/14/1814. Note says her mother was Jennie Patterson. Hannah was born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Father, William Lester Long, was born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania 1/22/1849. He died in Columbus, February 28, 1925 and was buried in New Haven, Huron Co, Ohio. You certainly must have mother's dates but here they are Sarah Angeline Young (always called “Angie”) was born in Mansfield, Ohio Aug. 28, 1855 died October 14th 1931in Columbus buried in New Haven, Ohio. Married Sept 2 (?) 1875.

Information about my parents mostly obtained from personal knowledge. I have mother's birth certificate (late registration later rescinded)

I'll share the next installment next Monday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mystery Monday: Which Karlsberger married Charles Stahl?

Image
Genealogy is kind of addicting. Sometimes, I get rather lost in the branches. As such, I run into mysteries that I can't seem to solve from the top down. I figured the genealogy community is awesome and may have ways to help me solve a mystery. Otherwise, perhaps a Karlsberger from Franklin County, Ohio might stumble upon my blog and help me solve this problem. My potential 3rd great-grand uncle George Paul Karlsberger was born on 10 August 1825 in Bavaria. Another researcher suggested his connection to my 3rd great-grandmother Anna Magaretha Karlsberger who married Christian or Christopher Hoppe. Margaretha was born 29 February 1824. There are no definitive records linking George and Margaretha. And Margaretha's parents were not recorded, though parents for George were suggested. As you can see, I am about to head down a twig on the tree that might be gnarled, or legitimate. George Karlsberger had six children born in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio to his wife Maria Elizabeth
Read more

Happy Mother's Day Lura Long

Image
When I think of mothers on my family tree, Lura Smith tops the list of those I look forward to meeting in the afterlife. She is the adopted mother of my Grannie,  Louise Eleanor Long .  Grannie adored Lura. Lura was married to Harry Howard Long (1883-1937). The couple married in Columbus, Ohio on Jun 19, 1907. They were unable to have children and finally adopted their first child in 1916. In May 1920, a baby girl was born in Columbus, Ohio to an unwed mother. The mother died of preeclampsia. This baby girl would become my grandmother. Upon her mother's death, Baby Anderson became a ward of the State of Ohio Welfare Department. She had a caseworker, Ethel Huffman Ackerman, who wanted to place Baby Anderson in the home of Harry Long. The caseworker was a friend and classmate (at Ohio State) of Harry's sister Elizabeth Long. As Elizabeth retells the story, Ethel received Baby Anderson's birth mother's history and felt that Harry and Lura were just the parent
Read more

Joseph Geissler: Coming to America

Image
The previous post about Joseph Geißler reviewed that he was born in Baden about 1836 and included a brief history of Baden, focusing on the political climate in the 1840s before Joseph's likely immigration to the United States of America. This post considers the migration process, even though I have yet to discover a passenger list with my relative on it. Perhaps you'll see why in reviewing this article. Coming to America Joseph's naturalization process was completed in 1858 when he was around 22 years-old. i The naturalization process generally took about 5 years from start to finish. He would have been 17 when he initiated the process in 1853. If he, and his family, arrived in America during the early 1850s, he was likely in Baden at the time of the 1848 revolutions and was a part of the migration from the home and.  The only question is where he would go and did he travel alone? The primary locations where German immigrated during this time period included: t
Read more