My Genealogy Hound

WASHINGTON LONG; farmer, Sec. 17; P. O. Versailles. Stephen Long, the father of Washington, was born in Kentucky, on the 8th day of August, 1798, and emigrated to Miami Co., Ohio, in the year 1806, where he farmed for a period of about twenty-eight years; moved to Darke Co., Wayne Township, Sec. 17, where he resided till his death, which occurred on the 29th day of December, 1854. Sarah his wife, died on the 27th day of December, 1871, on the old home farm. Washington Long, the subject of this sketch, was born in Miami Co., Ohio, on the 15th day of October, 1823; came with his parents to Darke Co. in the year 1834, where he has continued to reside ever since; he worked on the farm till he arrived at the years of his majority; however, in the meantime attending the district school obtaining a good common-school education; went before the Board of Examiners, obtained a certificate, and taught his first school when only 22 years of age now thirty-four years ago, receiving for his labor the enormous salary of $10 per month; continued to teach during the winter months, working on the farm in the summer, for a period of about eleven years, with good success, giving entire satisfaction wherever he taught. Mr. Long is quite an active worker in the cause of religion and temperance, being a member of the Christian Church for a period of about twenty years; his religious impressions were mainly due to his mother, who was a pious, thrifty and hard-working woman, given to saving, and devoted to her family. His father was a minister of the Gospel, being a regular ordained minister of the Christian Church. Versailles, at that time, contained only about three families; the settlement was then called Jacksonville. Mr. Long is not in any sense of the term an office-seeker, yet he has held various offices much of the time during his residence in Darke Co., viz. Township Trustee, Assessor, and in the fall of 1879, was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for Representative of the Twelfth Congressional District to the State Legislature, and was elected by an overwhelming majority; has many warm friends, and is beloved by all who know him; has by his industry, and the help of his good and amiable wife, accumulated a considerable amount of property. Mr. Long has been married twice; first, to Miss Susan M. Lyons, on the 1st day of May, 1862; one child was born to them, viz. Joseph N., born on the 19th day of December, 1862; Susan M. Long departed this life on the 27th day of December, 1862. After a period of four years, he married Miss Polly Brewer, the nuptials being celebrated on the 16th day of October, 1866; she was born in Darke Co., Ohio, on the 6th day of December, 1832. Elizabeth Brewer, her mother, was born on the 24th day of August, 1806; she departed this life on the 24th day of July, 1864; two children were the result of his second marriage, viz.: Ellen J. was born on the 23d day of July, 1867; the other was not named—died in infancy. When Mr. Long came to Wayne Township, there were but three families living in Jacksonville, now Versailles, there being only about ten acres of cleared land on the tract; he now has 200 acres, valued at $50 per acre.