Francis Marion Long and Flora Linn
Francis Long started out from Medina County in 1875, and drove his herd to Taylor County, where he ranched them upon the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. The next year a brother [Andy] followed with an additional herd, making a total number in their possession, at that time, of 1,200 head. Finding the pasturage of Taylor County too circumscribed for their rapidly increasing stock, he resolved to move farther westward, where the range was broader, and took the herds to the neighboring county of Nolan, where they kept them on Oak Creek for the space of four years. His last move was made to Garza County, where he located permanently.
Francis Long was reared upon the range and became early accustomed to the hardships which are a part of the cattleman's life. He has had many adventures and interesting experiences and smiled when he quietly said to the writer that it would scarcely be believed that at one time he had seen as many as 100,000 buffalo grazing upon his ranch in Garza County.
Francis Marion "Frank" Long Flora Temple Linn
Frank Long married Flora Temple Linn (1865-1920) in 1882. Flora was the daughter of Mary Charlotte Kemble and John Zillifrow Linn.
Frank and Flora's children were:
| Alice Pearl | 13 June 1883-? | married John H. Greer |
| Louis Elmer | 30 Sept. 1885 - 1955 | married Clair Berry |
| Temple May | 19 Dec 1889 - 17 Feb 1891 | |
| Marion Linn | 16 Nov 1892 - 1985 | married Margaret Claire Coleman |
Frank Long died on July 8, 1917, and he was buried in the family plot in the Sweetwater Cemetery.
Flora always referred to her husband as "your father", "your grandfather", or to others outside the family as "Mr. Long". William T. Long, their grandson, said, "I never heard her call him `Frank' but was never startled by her show of respect for him because, even at eleven years of age, I was aware that it was her way of showing genuine love and affection....She loved, admired and respected her `Mr. Long' and it was her privilege to resort to her own ways of proving it. Her health began to fail about two years after Frank's death. She died in 1920 and was buried beside her beloved "Mr. Long" in the old Sweetwater Cemetery.
Frank Long and his brother Andy were among the very first settlers of the Nolan County area. Another old settler, D. S. Arnold came to Sweetwater in 1882, and in letters to R. C. Crane he wrote:
The outstanding social event of the season 1882-83 was the marriage of F. M. Long to the daughter of Captain John Lynn, the big supper and dance. ... Dancing was the proper enjoyment, accompanied by a fiddle (not violin), and the use of the old familiar melodies, "Turkey in the Straw", etc. The jingling of spurs kept time with the music as the call for changes in the square dance rang out above the noise of the prancing, fun and laughter.Early Days - Nolan County vol 1 from R. C. Crane's article which appeared in 1932 in West Texas Historical Association Annual, page 17.
As John Linn's family appeared in the 1880 census of Ellis County, Texas, the Linn family must have moved to Nolan County in 1881 or so.