My Genealogy Hound

JOHN LANGFORD, a real estate dealer, and one of the older business men of Jamestown, was born in Wales, May 20, 1822, and is a son of John, Sr., and Rebecca (Roberts) Langford. His paternal grandfather, Edward Langford, was a life-long resident of Wales. He married and one of his children was John Langford, Sr., the father of the subject of this sketch. John Langford, Sr., like his father before him, made the land of his nativity the land of his life-long residence. He died in 1846, aged fifty-nine years. He was an industrious man and married Rebecca Roberts. They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters: Edward; Ann, dead; Merab, deceased; John, Elizabeth, now a resident of St. Louis, Missouri; Mary, who died at an early age; Sarah, who lives in Jamestown; Thomas, a painter by trade, and now a resident of Baltimore, Maryland; and Rebecca, now deceased.

John Langford was reared in his native country, and was carefully trained to good business methods. He received his education in the rural schools of Wales, and was variously engaged until he was twenty-eight years of age, when, in 1850, he embarked on board a vessel bound for America. After landing at New York he pushed westward in the Empire State until he arrived in this county, where he has resided ever since in the city of Jamestown. He was formerly in the meat business, but of late years has been engaged in farming and dealing in real estate. He has been successful in business life, and now owns two good farms, one of which is situated in the town of Ellicott, and the other lies in the adjoining town of Ellery. Since coming to the United States, Mr. Langford has supported the principles of the Democratic party, although he has never allowed political matters to engage any of the time that rightfully belongs to his business affairs.

On June 28, 1854, he married Laura Heath, daughter of James Heath, and a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y. They have five children, one son and four daughters: Anna, wife of George Maltby, now superintendent of the Jamestown street rail-way; Mary; Rebecca; Edward, a jeweler of Jamestown, who married Mattie Lakin; and Blanche.