John Long
John Long was born in Tennessee 9 March 1807. He was a son of
Joseph Long and Catherine Foster. Three of John's children were reportedly born in Tennessee: Joseph in 1830, A. C. in 1832 and Delilah in 1835. He must have married, then, by about 1829. His marriage to Hannah Gore is recorded in the Baker/Long Bible, but the page is torn, leaving "Jan" as the only readable date. Hannah Long's death is also recorded as April 29, with the year unreadable. She must have died some time after the birth of Delila in 1835. Perhaps that was what led him to move to Alabama where other members of his family were living.
On 21 June 1836, John Long was named as administrator of the estate of John Gore of Talladega, Alabama. The next record we have of his activity is a deed. On Dec 10, 1836, he bought for $237, the North 1/2 of Section 19 Township 17 Range 5E from Jesse Duren of Benton County, Alabama. He sold that land for $1200 on 29 June 1839 to Tabitha Randall adm'x of the estate of Alexander Randall.
In October 1837, John Long married Mary Davis in Talladega County, Alabama.
On August 31 1839, he bought N 1/2 of S 35 T 18 R 5E from his brother William F Long of Bedford County, Tennessee for $3200.
On 25 Dec 1839, he sold to Green T. McAfee for $150 NE 1/4 of NE 1/4 S 30 T 17 R 5, about 40 acres. It is not clear when he came into possession of this land in Section 30, Township 17, Range 5.
The 1840 census of Talladega County, Alabama, lists him age 30-40, with a woman 30-40; 3 boys and 10 girls. Those thirteen children were clearly not the product of John and Mary's marriage three years earlier. In 1840, John's son Joseph E. was 10, daughter A.C. was about 8, and Delila about 5. John and Mary's daughter P.J. was born about 1840 and may be included in this census.
The other children could reasonably be children of Mary's by a previous marriage and/or children of William F. Long, who reportedly lived with relatives in Alabama even before their father's death in 1841.
The boys, besides Joseph E., could be William F.'s sons William Henry, born about 1830 and Claiborn, born around 1837. The other two girls under 5 besides P.J. could be William's Matilda age 4 and Mary Ann age 2. The three girls 5-10 would fit Amanda age 5, Elizabeth age 7, and America age 10 or 11, depending on when the census was taken.
Four more girls aged 10 to 15 could include Sophia, who was 12 and Jane about 13.
If Mary Davis Long had married about 1825 at 19, she could well have had two daughters who were ten to fifteen years old in 1840. Such a scenario would account for the children in the census in John Long's household and locate the children of
William F. Long.
In the Circuit Court of Talladega County, Alabama, reference is made [January Term 1848 Book 16, Part 1, p. 172] to
a promissory note made by John Long, James Long and William F. Long, 14 Feb. 1840. At time of note, the makers all resided in Talladega County. William F. Long left the State and died previous to maturity of note (note was due 25 Dec. 1841). John Long was in Tennessee when note became due and James Long was in Talladega on that day but left immediately after for that State; and returned with John on 9 Jan 1841....James Long administered on William F. Long's estate in Talladega and John Long was his administrator in Tenn. James Long resided in Talladega up to last of January 1842, when he removed to Randolph County where he remained until the last of January 1844; he then returned to Talladega County and has resided there ever since. He administered on the estate of William F. Long after latter's death, about September 1841. Present suit was instituted in January 1844.
On 9 March 1843, John & Mary Long sold for $150 to Beersheba P Cain of Benton County, Ala E 1/2 of SE 1/4 of S 27 T 19 R 6 about 80 acres in Talladega County, Alabama.
John Long's associations with Jesse Duren continued. Duren had sold Long his first parcel of land in Talladega County in 1836. It appears that the John Long family followed Jesse Duren and others from Talladega County to Cherokee County, Texas. Perhaps Duren was kin to John or his wife, Mary. Duren was born in South Carolina about 1804. His wife, Margaret Brothers, was born in Tennessee about 1817. They had a child born in Mississippi in 1845.
By the fall of 1848, Jesse Duren, formerly of Alabama, was buying land in Cherokee County, Texas. He bought a tract from Jane D. Sullivan, the remarried widow of Isaac Killough, Jr. The Killough family group had moved from Talladega County, Alabama, to Cherokee County, Texas in 1837. Eighteen members of the group were killed or captured by a band of renegade Indians, Mexicans and whites on Oct. 5, 1838, in what became known as the Killough Massacre. It is not clear whether the Duren family actually lived in Cherokee County or not. They became well established in Houston County, Texas, where they appear in the 1850 census. The Durens' daughter Mary is shown as being born in Red River County, Texas about 1847.
In the winter of 1847-48, Jesse Duren laid off the town site of Talladega in the northwest corner of Cherokee County, Texas, where the ancient Caddo Trace and the Nacogdoches-Saline Road merged to form a single trail to the Neches River salt marshes.
The same area was the location of the town of Larissa, in the southwest corner of the Absalom Gibson Survey, which was surveyed about the time Talladega, Texas, made its appearance. By 1852, Talladega had lost out as a town, and business was concentrated at Larissa. Larissa was apparently where the Long family settled. At Larissa, Joe Long was remembered as being among the county's first expert cabinet makers.
A newspaper clipping from 1914 gives memories of A. W. Flaniken, written in 1914. He moved to the Larissa neighborhood in 1874. He recalled the town of Larissa "when she had four seperate churches and congregations. The Baptists were on the west side, The Presbyterians were on the north side near Dr. Bone, the Methodists and Cumberlands were on the east near the school house and Mr. Joe Long's Shop."
John Long's family made the move to Texas some time after October of 1852. They were still in Alabama in 1850.
The 1850 census of Benton County, Alabama lists
John Long 43 m Tn overseer
Mary 44 f Ga
J E 20 m Tn
A C 18 f Tn
Delila 15 f Tn
P J 10 f AL
In Benton County, Alabama, Joseph E. Long was married 27 Oct 1852 to Harriet Gosset by Edw. Patton, minister of the Gospel. The Gossett family has not been researched. It appears likely that Harriet's brother James relocated with the Longs.
Census reports from Cherokee County, Texas, in 1860 show John and Mary with daughter A.C. still at home, aged 22. John's son, Joseph, 30, and his wife with four children are near by.
In 1870, Joseph and Harriet's children are shown as Homer 17, Alice 15, George A. 13, Robert 11, Josephine 8 and Mary 2.
Homer Long married Sarah Artilissa Smyrl Dec. 8 1874, in Cherokee County, Texas. They are found in the 1900 census of Smith County. Sarah was a daughter of Thomas Smyrl and Mary Jane Goode. Thomas Smyrl was killed in the Civil War.
By 1880, Homer and "Ottie" are shown with children "Uno" 4, Thomas 2 and Frank 8 months.
In 1900 they were in the Smith County, Texas, census, with Una 24, Alice 18, Hattie L. 16, LeRoy 14, Minnie 10 and Mary J Smyrl 66, mother-in-law.
No grave marker has been found in Cherokee County for Joseph E. Long. He does not appear to be in the 1900 census, so presumably was dead before 1900. His wife, Harriet M. Gossett Long is buried at the Old Larissa Cemetery in northwest Cherokee County. Her grave marker gives the dates of 12/2/1824 - 5/23/1887.
Homer Long (1853-1921) and his wife Sarah A Long (1855 - 1932) are buried in Smith County, Texas. Nearby is Sarah's mother, Mary J. Smyrl 1835 - 1907.
No other descendants of John Long have been traced.
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