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Longley-Langley Family

Page Updated 28 Nov 2007

Longley/Langley Y-chromosome DNA Project

       

 Campbell Longley

William Preston Longley

Dora Longley Skelly

Elizabeth Longley Plummer

1. Robert Langley patented "Langley's Habitation" 1659 in Baltimore Co., MD.

2. A Thomas Langley, 35 y.o. indentured servant, gave depositions 1664 and 1667 in Maryland and mentioned, "when I arrived in Virginia . . .," implying he arrived from England as an indentured servant and subsequently removed to Maryland.

3. Robert Langley of Baltimore who patented "Langley's Habitation" died in 1683 "without heir," but in 1687 his "only son and heir" John Langley came and sold the land, and was not mentioned further in Baltimore records.

4. John Langley bought land in 1687, Gloucester Co., NJ, which his widow Susannah sold at his death in 1699.

5. Thomas Langley was apparently the son of John & Susannah Langley of Gloucester Co., NJ; he lived in and sold land in Gloucester Co. in 1716, ; his wife was Mary Chew, daughter of Richard Chew, son of John Chew mentioned above from Lower Norfolk Co., VA (dissolved in 1691 when two counties including Norfolk were created from it).

6. Joseph Langley, Sr., & wife Mary Campbell were in Hunterdon Co., NJ, in 1732 when they signed an indenture by the heirs of her father, John Campbell, a Scottish Covenanter exiled to NJand; Earlier Joseph was mentioned in Gloucester, Salem, and Monmouth (where John Campbell lived) Cos.

7. Thomas Langley died 1735 in Cape May Co., NJ; his wife Mary Chew was his executrix. They were, by circumstantial evidence, the parents of Joseph Langley, Sr. mentioned in Gloucester, Monmouth, Salem, and Hunterdon Cos., NJ.

8. Joseph Langley, Sr., and Joseph Langley, Jr., were mentioned together in court records 1763 in Hunterdon Co., NJ; which within months said they moved to Philadelphia, and a few mos. later had removed to Virginia (Joseph Sr's wife Mary Campbell's family lived in Philadelphia Co. and her father died there). In April 1764 Joseph Langley was mentioned in Loudoun Co., VA, records.

9. William Longley, b. 1761 in NJ, served in the Revolution from Loudoun Co., VA.

10. Y-chromosome (paternal lineage) DNA results prove male descendants of Joseph Langley/Longley, Sr., of Hunterdon Co., NJ, and male descendants of Benjamin Longley of Baltimore, MD, had a common ancestor.

11. Was their patrilineal ancestor Thomas Langley whose deposition in MD 1667 mentioned arriving in VA? Was Robert who died in MD 1683 his son, and the father of John Langley who d. in Gloucester Co., NJ bef 1699, and his apparent son Thomas Langley who died in Gloucester Co., NJ 1735?

Most travel in the 17th century was by water -- there were few horses, and few roads; plantations were isolated from each other except by waterway. From Norfolk Co., VA, the Chesapeake Bay was an open pathway to New Jersey and Maryland.

 

JOSEPH LONGLEY

When our ancestor William Longley applied for a Revolutionary veterans pension he stated that he was born 1761 in New Jersey, brought to Loudoun Co., VA, by his parents when a boy, and was living with his father in Loudoun Co. when he enlisted in the Virginia militia in Oct 1780 in Loudoun Co. The only Longley tax payer or appearing in Loudoun Co. records (tax lists, jury duty and road maintenance required of all adult male citizens) at that time was Joseph Longley.

JOSEPH LONGLEY was from Hunterdon Co., NJ and was the son of Joseph LANGLEY, Sr., and wife Mary CAMPBELL. Mary was the daughter of JOHN CAMPBELL and his wife Charity ____, according to the settlement of John's estate in PA in 1731 when Joseph and Mary were stated to reside in Hunterdon Co., NJ.

Hunterdon Co. is bordered on the West by the Delaware River, across from Pennsylvania, with Maryland about 100 miles southwest. During the Colonial period when our family lived there, the New Jersey capitol, Trenton, was in Hunterdon Co., which bordered Gloucester Co. to its south, which bordered Salem Co. to its south -- the three counties where our Longleys left records. The seat of today's Hunterdon Co., Flemington, is about 20 miles north of Trenton. At least part of our Langleys lived in the Twp. of Kingwood:

 Current Location of Hunterdon Co. on New Jersey Map

 Townships of Hunterdon Co., NJ

 Kingwood Presbyterian Church (now Unitarian) built 1754

Also in Hunterdon Co., NJ, and in Loudoun Co., VA was the BODINE family. The Bodines (le Boudin or de Boudain) were French Huguenots who immigrated from Cambray, France to New York before 3 Nov 1677 to escape religious persecution. Before 1686 they were in Staten Island, NY. There the father, Jean Bodine, died in 1694. Staten Island is a short distance from Cranbrook, Middlesex Co., NJ, where they moved after 1736.

Both the Longley and Bodine families left Hunterdon Co., NJ and went in 1760s to Loudoun Co., VA, on the upper reaches of the Potomac River in the Northern Neck. (Northern Neck Map)

William Longley, some other Longleys, and some of the Bodines left Loudoun Co. in the 1780s, after William returned from the Revolutionary war, and moved in stages down the Shenandoah Valley (today's I-81) southwest toward Sevier Co., TN. They stopped in Shenandoah, Montgomery, and Washington Cos., VA, arriving in Sevier Co., he said, in 1800. Unfortunately, the Sevier Co. Court House has burned twice and no records exist for the period of their residence there.

William Longley married Mary Ann Bodine, whose father is believed to be James, born in Middlesex Co., NJ, married and lived for a while in Burlington Co., NJ, and moved to Loudoun Co. VA. On their migration south, William was guardian and surety on the marriage of Etha Bodine to James Burk. Etha was Mary Ann's sister, as sworn on her affidavit in Mary's Revolutionary widow's pension file.

There were more Bodines in Hunterdon Co., NJ records than Langley/Longleys. Cornelius Bodine was administrator of John Bodine's estate as seen in Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas, but no actual estate records have been found. Cornelius Bodine left a will in Loudoun Co., VA. We don't have all the answers yet!

 Some Longley researchers have believed that William Longley was the son of a William Longley who was the son of a James Longley and Sarah Nicholson "who married in Loudoun Co. VA". However, James and Sarah married in Norfolk Co., VA, not Loudon; had only two daughters, and there is no evidence they were ever in New Jersey. Descendants list the daughters as Anna who married James Rouviere, and Frances. Therefore, they have no Longley descendants:

"1. James Langley (William Langley1 of Norfolk Co., VA) died 1752, married Sarah Nicholson in May 1731. She died probably in mid 1700s.

Children of James Langley and Sarah Nicholson:
2 i. Anna Langley was living in 1752. She married George Rouviere bef 1752. He died by 7 Apr 1759 in Norfolk, Va.
3 ii. Frances Langley was living in 1752."

Other researchers have suggested that our William Longley descended from the Massachusetts pilgrim by that name ca 1640 whose family was massacred by Indians in Groton, CT, except for one son, John, who was captured and lived with the tribe for some years, had a large family after release, and some of whose sons went south and "took up with Jersey women," but did not include a Joseph. Ancestral Tapestry, a quarterly published only four times in 1972-73 on the Longleys, included the statement, "A thorough search of the records of the New England branch of the family shows that there is only one Longley who could possibly have been his father. This would be William Longley, son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Foster), born Chelmsford Mass. April 25, 1731. This William is not found in any later Massachusetts records. He would have been thirty years of age in 1761, the year of Mr. Longley's birth."

Again, there is no evidence of that William being in Loudoun County, VA, when our William was a boy. If all others of the Pilgrim William Longley's children can be ruled out, then it appears the whole family has been ruled out. But there are many other possibilities not of that family.

Suffice it to say, there were several Longleys in NJ, numerous early transportees to VA as named on Patents, who were more likely to be our Joseph and William's forebear: There was a John Longley in Gloucester Co., NJ by 1689 when he purchased property, as mentioned in the 1699 deed of sale from his widow Susannah.

In 27 Aug 1710, James LANGLEY (Quaker), son of William, was rec'd on certificate in NJ from Southampton Monthly Meeting, England; the certificate dated 14 Apr 1710 (HCQG 2:576). By 25 Oct 1717, there was a Thomas LANGLEY witnessed deed of Henry Chew "late of Cape May Co., in Gloucester Co., NJ. This Thomas died by 17 Feb 1734, when his widow Mary had his Salem Co., NJ estate inventoried. (Cape May, Gloucester, and Salem are neighboring counties, none very large). A Joseph Langley/Longley was in the same area by 1724.

In 1731 Joseph Longley who married Mary Campbell (daughter of John Campbell and Charity _____) was in Hunterdon Co., NJ when Campbell's estate was settled in PA. By the 1750s Hunterdon Co. had a Joseph Longley, Sr., Joseph, Jr., James and Thomas Longley, up to 1763. In 1764 Joseph Longley was in Loudoun Co., VA. Presumably the parents died and the sons went south, for once again there was a Thomas in Gloucester Co.

Meanwhile, a second William Longley (designated Sr.) arrived in Loudoun Co., VA about 1787 and both Williams were on the Jun 1788 tax list. Other Langleys whose relationship to ours is not known were in neighboring Frederick Co., VA beginning with John in 1766. The oldest Langley in Frederick Co. on the 1810 census (1790 and 1800 are missing) was a Benjamin 45+.

Some of the later Longleys to arrive in Loudoun Co., VA were sons of Benjamin Longley, believed to have been by 1742 was in Baltimore, MD. Several of his children came to Loudoun in early 1800s before going to OH, while his son James was in Washington Co., VA before 1800. One of Benjamin's sons was the William Longley (1784-1831), who enlisted in War of 1812 in Maryland and received a pension.

Meanwhile, Joseph Longley Jr. and Sr. remained in Loudoun Co. after William and the Bodines moved on south. There were two Josephs in Loudoun Co. in the 1810 census, as well as some other unidentified Longleys who were probably their sons of Joseph, Sr., and Jr. It is quite probable the Langleys of Frederick Co. were also Joseph Sr's sons or grandsons.

Before 1820 a Joseph Longley was in Rockingham Co., VA -- along the migratory route of our William. I believe he was William's brother Joseph Longley, Jr. That Joseph too named a son Joseph.

 Joseph Langley, Sr. (who married Mary Campbell and went to Hunterdon Co., NJ) was probably the son of Thomas Langley of Gloucester Co., NJ, and wife Mary Chew (b. 1690, Flushing, NY, d. aft 1737, dau of Richard and Frances Chew who went from Flushing, NY to NJ), because both Joseph and Thomas are found in Gloucester and no other older Thomas was found there ~ but this is probably unprovable.

Mary Chew Langley remarried after the death of Thomas, to John Martin and had a child Patience Lodge Martin 1737-1762.

Thomas Langley died 17 Feb 1734 and Mary was adm. of his estate, Salem Co., NJ, from whence she moved to Cohansey in Cape May Co. while adm. the estate. She and bro. Thomas Chew were left in 1736 shares in the residual estate of sister Charity Chew Brown (widow of John Brown) of Philadelphia.

Apparently Thomas Langley and wife Mary Chew had sons (1) William, (2) Joseph, and (3) Thomas, possibly (4) James, as well as daughters.

(1) William died 1770 in Salem Co. leaving wife Mary, dau. Sarah, and a son John not named in his will who md. Sarah Allen 1761 in Salem Co. [There were Allens in Hunterdon Co., NJ as well.]

(2) It appears Joseph who md. Mary Campbell had a son Thomas who went back to Gloucester Co. when they left Hunterdon and had sons George, Thomas, Reuben, and Samuel. Thomas's son Thomas married Ruth Chisum in 1775, Gloucester Co. There were two Thomas Langleys in Gloucester Co. tax lists 1778-80, and one 1779-96 in Deptford Twp., Gloucester Co.

(3) Thomas died 1758 in Morris Co. leaving widow Margret.

Thomas Langley (son of #2) and wife Ruth Chisum apparently had William Langley, born 1782, who md. Rachel ___ and I have a copy of the family Bible record listing their son Reuben b. 1805 and his wife Sarah Jones and children, from files of the Gloucester Co. Historical Society in Woodbury.

This is largely hypothetical, based on scant information available. One of the three extant Langley deeds for the NJ Colonial period was for Joseph Langlee in 1729. All are VERY difficult to read.

The only known possible NJ parents of this Thomas who married Mary Chew were John Langley and wife Susanah:

 Susanah Langley of Woodbury, Gloucester Co. of Province of West Jersey, relict of John Langley, Deceased, who in 1689 was granted land by William Salisbury, Governor (recorded in Records of West Jersey Book B folio 32). John died by 30 Dec 1699, according to Susanah's deed to John Tatum for 100 acres of land on Woodbury Creek -- one moeity or half part of ye 200 acres being next fifty acres lying between the land of William Warner and Jno. Jost.

My efforts to decipher this 4-page deed (very dark ink, and the writing on back of paper bled through) haven't revealed much else, not even the price.

RICHARD CHEW and wife FRANCES WOODWARD's children were Richard, Henry, Hannah, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, and Charity.

RICHARD CHEW OF FLUSHING, Long Island, NY was assessed there in 1675-8,
and 1699. On 1 May 1700, Richard Chew, "late of Flushing, NY" purchased land
in Gloucester, NJ (NJA Vol. XXI, pp. 677-8). A full account is in PROCEEDS (Vol. VI, 1908, pp. 20 et seq.).

The Gloucester Co., NJ Historical Society published a thick book, GENEALOGY OF THE CHEW FAMILY, by Robert Chew, in 1982 and has copies for sale.

William Longley

Birth: 1761 as stated on his Revolutionary Pension application (probably in Hunterdon Co., NJ); some use his middle name to be C. or Campbell but no source has been found. (However, there was a William C. Longley in Frederick Co.'s 1850 census who married there in 1826.)

Note: fr 1779-1781 He and Joseph Longley Sr. (1725-1810); Loudoun Co., VA; were on tax list in Cameron Parish.

Military: In Oct 1780 Loudoun Co., VA, lived with his father when he enlisted in VA Troops, Revolutionary war; Pvt. in Capt. Humphrey's Co. under Maj. Armstead, Cols. Kiswonger, George Eskridge, and Summers. Was in Battle of Burrel's Ferry, was among 700 troops who marched from Loudoun Co. to Battle of Williamsburg, was in the siege of Yorktown, and was one of the soldiers who formed the hollow square in which Lord Cornwallis's sword was surrendered to Gen. Washington's aide at Yorktown. SEE REVOLUTIONARY PENSION DECLARATION. He was discharged in Maryland, Feb 1782.

William married Mary Ann Bodine (1766-1844) on 1 Sep 1784 in Loudoun Co., VA, per her Revolutionary widow's pension application. Mary Ann's maiden name is proven by her sister Etha "Effie" Bodine's sworn statement in Mary's pension application, that they were sisters; and by William Longley's signed consent as guardian and surety for Etha to marry John Burke, 30 Sep 1797 Montgomery Co., VA.

William and Mary moved down the Shenandoah Valley in stages, settling in Sevier Co., TN, in 1800, he stated on his pension application.

William and Mary Longley had 166 acres on Little Pigeon River. Grant No 1040, 25 April 1807 issued 12 May 1810. His land was adjacent to George Oldham, Thomas Hill, John Chastain. (Land located on the East fork of the Little Pigeon River.

Mary's brother Francis Bodine had 50 acres on the waters of Flat Creek, grant No. 11590, 22 Feb 1825 issued 20 Aug 1825. Land adjacent to J. Manning, William Maples and J. Clark.

map excerpt from Sevier County, Tennessee, State of Tennessee Land Grants 1806-1900, compiled by George and Juanita Fox

 

William and Mary's children were:

1. Andrew Jonathan Longley, born 1 Jul 1788, Loudoun Co., VA, died 1851; year of birth in his sworn statement 29 Apr 1844, Polk Co., TN in mother's pension file.

2. Joel Longley, born 1 Sep 1791, Rockbridge Co., VA; "2nd son," date in his sworn statement 22 Nov 1845, Polk Co., TN, in mother's pension file.

3. James Longley, born 1 Oct 1792, VA; died 1870.

4. Joseph Longley, born 1795, Rockbridge Co., VA; was 35 when he died 29 Nov 1829/30 per oldest son Campbell Longley.

5. Mercy Longley, born 1797, VA.

6. Abigail Longley, born 1799, VA.

7. Sarah Longley, born 1803, Sevier Co., TN; probably.

8. John C. Longley, born 4 Nov 1806, Sevier Co., TN; probably; died 1878.

William Longley stated in his pension application, "After Revolution he lived a short while in Loudoun Co., then Shenandoah, Rockbridge, and Washington Cos., VA. In 1800 he moved to Sevier Co. TN."

On 4 Mar 1827, in Hiwasee Dist., McMinn Co., TX, No. 3145, "William Langley this day enters as general enterer, the North West quarter of Section 35th of township 3, Range 2, West of the Meridian, in the County of McMinn, Hiwassee District, beginning on the North West corner of said quarter 4th, March 1827. . . 160 acres."

I do certify the above to be a true copy of the records of my office, 4 March 1827. Grant No. 1102 4th March 1829. Nat Smith, Entry Taker.

On 26 Dec 1828, Hiwasee Dist., McMinn Co., TN; William Longley deeded 160 acres to son Joel. "For value received, I give the within deed to Joel Langley, as witness my hand. William Langley."

William and Mary Ann's sons Joel, John C., and James Longley; daughter Abigail and her husband William T. Patterson, moved to Catoosa Co., GA, at different times. William T. was a brother of Joseph Longley's wife Priscilla Patterson.

Their nephew, William T. Patterson got a Land Grant in Texas for which the application was co-signed by James Burk (more on that later, land grant copy is on order) -- most likely they were first cousins.

 Note: A William T. Patterson was issued a 3rd class 320-acre Texas Land Grant on 6 Sep 1856 in Nacogdoches Land District, "to be surveyed on any of the vacant unappropriated public domain of the State of Texas" (Grant File C-6379). By 2 Mar 1857 he had sold half of the certificate to Joseph H. Burke [probably his cousin], who laid down his 160 acres in Cherokee Co., 7 1/2 miles West of Rusk (Grant File 3-3334). 3rd-class grants were issued to individuals arriving in Texas after Oct 1837 and before Statehood, 16 Feb 1846.

Priscilla's nephew William T. Patterson (son of her brother Charles), is buried in Austin and left an estate record which named his siblings, nieces, and nephews. He is said to have acted as attorney to defend his cousin "Wild Bill" Longley (son of Campbell and grandson of Joseph the son of William).

We would like to hear from descendants of William T. Patterson and Abigail Longley.

On today's highways, it is 831 miles and a 13-hour trip from Staten Island, NY, where the Bodine (le Baudain) family of French Huguenots landed in America by 1690, to Polk Co., TN, via stops of several years in Middlesex Co., NJ, Burlington Co., NJ, Hunterdon Co., NJ where the Longley and Bodine families met, then both to Loudoun Co., VA, continuing down the Shenandoah Valley through Shenandoah, Rockbridge, and Washington Cos., VA, stopping several years in Sevier Co., TN, McMinn, and finally to Polk Co., TN. From there, William Longley's family spread to Missouri, Georgia, and Texas. His sister-in-law Effie Burk and some of his children went to Georgia.

 

 

 

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