Long Family

William A. Long, Sr.
Abt. 1730-?

William's grandson, Sheriff Andrew B. Long (1808-1901) said of William in 1898: " He was a Scotchman, and shortly after marriage emigrated to America, his first born being presented to him on the voyage across to the new world. He settled in Pennsylvania, and afterward, with may sturdy Scotch Presbyterians moved to North Carolina..." (The Vindicator, 11 Aug 1898). William Long's son William Long Jr., moved told the census taker in 1850 that he himself was born in North Carolina. If these censuses are accurate, William Long moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania between 1766 and 1769. A Tax list of Rowan County, NC, from the late 1760's lists a William Long. Because John Smart and William Smart who moved to Rutherford County were listed as well, it is believed that this is the same William Long who settled on Cane Creek.

In October 1780 William Long was involved locally in the Revolution according to his grandson Andrew Baxter Long (1808-1901) and recorded in a letter from W. L. Twitty to Lyman Draper dated 19 October 1780 (Draper Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin): "....Mr. A. B. Long who had this revolutionary incident from his father John S. Long born 1766 (this date was taken from his gravestone) 14 years old in 1780 himself the son of William Long who was in the infantry which marched to Kings Mountain under a forced march reaching the battle ground only a short time after the fight closed..." Andrew B Long himself wrote Draper on 4 Sept. 1880: " I had an Uncle killed by a Tory who was one of his neighbors". Long also noted that "this Cane Creek was a mere Wilderness at that time the Bottom lands was just covered with cane higher than a man's head".

William Long, Sr. served as a juror in Rutherford County court in October 1785, and April 1786. On 27 July 1787 William Long entered a claim for fifty acres on the Tent Branch of Cane Creek, including the meeting house and spring. It is not clear why he took so long to enter a claim for this land on which he had apparently lived since at least 1779. The tract was surveyed on 9 July 1788 with chain bearers Alexr. McGaughey and William Long, Jr. and the grant was issued on 26 November 1789.

Click to enlarge
Brittain Presbyterian Church
Rutherford County, NC

On 19 Feb 1796 William Long made a deed for five acres of this tract "including the Graveyard" to the trustees of the Congregation of Little Brittain, "for the use of a meeting house and graveyard". This is the present site of Brittain Presbyterian Church. (pictured above) On 27 June 1801 William Long purchased 200 acres on Cane Creek from John Smart, being one-half of a tract granted in 1764 to John Smart who was killed in 1780 by one of his neighbors at the Battle of Kings Mountain. It is not clear whether this was William Long, Sr or William Long, Jr. Almost immediately William Long sold this tract on 9 July 1801 to John Long (1766-1843). 

William Long Sr, did not leave a will in Rutherford County and not all of his children are known. The 1790 Rutherford Census shows his household with four males over 16 and three females. Two of the males were certainly his sons John Long (1766-1843) and William Long, Jr. (1769-1853).