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Jacob Long
JACOB LONG, retired merchant, is now principally occupied in bee raising,
and also has other interests in Armstrong county; he has lived in Red Bank
township since he was ten years old. Mr. Long was born May 3, 1939, in
Westmoreland county, Pa., son of Jacob and Sarah (Huffman) Long.Jacob Long, his father, was born probably in Northumberland county, Pa., in
1796, and died in Armstrong county in 1867, at the age of seventy-one years.
He was a weaver by trade. When he came to Westmoreland county he bought three
acres of land, which he put under cultivation, but continued to work a his
trade. In 1848, he left Westmoreland county and came to Armstrong county,
settling in Red Bank township, where he purchased a tract of eighty-five
acres, which, at the present time, is occupied by G. W. Hankey. He erected a
weaving shop on his land and part of his crop was flax, which his sons
assisted him to prepare for weaving. He married Sarah Huffman (her mother’s
maiden name was Good), and they had the following children: Emily, who married
Peter Branthoover (both now deceased); Sarah, who died when twenty-one years
old; Elinor, who died at the age of seventeen years; Hannah, who married John
Wallet (both now deceased); Elizabeth, who died in Red Bank township, at the
age of fifty years; Esther, who married Adam Carnahan, of Leechburg (both
deceased); Solomon; Jacob; John who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg,
during the Civil war; George, who is deceased; Abigail, who is the wife of G.
W. Hankey and lives on the old Long homestead in Red Bank township; Mary, who
is the wife of G. D. Smith, residing at New Bethlehem; Rachel, deceased, who
was the wife of Wesley Neal, residing in Wayne township; and Jemima, who died
when eight years old. The mother died when aged about seventy-eight years, and
was buried in the Eddyville cemetery. Jacob Long, Sr., was nominally a
Democrat in his political membership, but he was a man of good judgment and
entertained independent views on public questions. He was a member of the
German Reformed Church at Eddyville and at times served in church offices.Jacob Long began his education in the schools of his native county and
continued to attend school after the removal of the family to Red Bank
township, Armstrong county. He was given good advantages, attending until
twenty-one years old, after which he taught two terms in Red Bank township,
first at Chestnut Ridge and later at the Cross Roads school. During the
summers he worked for his father on the farm, in the winter time rafting logs
on the creeks and digging coal both for his neighbors and in his own coal
banks. During the Civil war period he bought a tract of seventy acres in Red
Bank township, at that time mostly in timber, which he cut, rafting it to
Pittsburgh. He also bought timber from other parties which he rafted to the
market at Pittsburgh, being engaged in this work off and on for four years. He
had considerable experience in the oil fields, where he worked for a year,
there receiving the highest wages he ever earned. He was employed near Oil
City and did drilling, pumping, hewing timber and cutting cordwood. He has
made other purchases of farm land, his holdings today aggregating about 150
acres, one hundred acres of which are cleared and the balance in timber.
Though he was engaged in lumbering for some years he sold considerable of his
timber on the stump, and his son, George H. Long, now has a portable sawmill
on his property and is cutting the remainder of his timber. Until 1885 Mr.
Long carried on farming in connection with his other operations, in that year
embarking in the general mercantile business, buying a store at Phoenix,
Armstrong county, which he carried on for about twenty years. When he first
gave up that business he lived retired about six years and then conducted his
store again for three years, at the end of which time he again retired. His
principal occupation at present is the raising of bees, of which he has a
present thirteen colonies. He owns a half interest in a grist mill a Phoenix,
which his son-in-law, C. K. Barnett, operates, and he owns a tract of
twenty-two acres in Wayne township, this county, which is occupied by his son
Barclay E. Long (an addition to the 150 acres before mentioned).Mr. Long has held positions of high responsibility in his locality. He was
formerly treasurer of the township, and for one term a notary public, his
commission expiring March 10, 1913. He has been quite prominent in church
work. Originally a member of the Lutheran Church, he served as elder, later
joining the Methodist Church at Phoenix, of which he was a trustee, and he
also taught in the Sunday school. Many years ago he was a member of the
Armstrong county Grange. Politically Mr. Long is a Democrat.In 1865 Mr. Long married Catherine Ann Doverspike, daughter of Daniel and
Margaret (Beck) Doverspike, of Mahoning township, this county, who are
mentioned elsewhere. Mrs. Long was born in December, 1839, and died April 21,
1912, at Phoenix, where she is buried. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Long: Valeria died in infancy; Nanina May died when between two and three
years of age; Daniel Webster, late of Indiana Harbor, Ind., married Lottie
Matthews; Barclay Esco, of Wayne township, married Cora Hetrick; George
Hubert, of Red Bank township, married Dessie Smith; Effie married Luke
Shumaker, of Clarion, Pa.; Elsie is married to David Keppel, of Indiana
Harbor, Ind., Jacob H., of Vandergrift, Westmoreland county, married Bertha
Little; Pansie is the wife of C. K. Barnett, of Phoenix, Pennsylvania.Source: Pages 583-585, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed January 1999 by Connie Mateer for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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