My Genealogy Hound

MRS. ELIZABETH LONGAKER, widow of Davis Longaker, who kept the Longaker Hotel at Lansdale, is the daughter of Philip and Eve L. Ullman, of Lower Providence, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She became the wife of Davis Longaker in 1866.

The Longakers are an old family in Montgomery county. Jacob Longaker (grandfather) resided at Parker Ford, in Chester county, in the early part of his life, but removed from that side of the Schuylkill about 1737 to a farm on the river near Pawling’s Bridge, where he died in December, 1806. Jacob Longaker married Catharine Detwiler, of another old family long resident in Skippack township. She was a daughter of John Detwiler, and was the tenth child of a family of thirteen sons and daughters. The sons were Abraham, Jacob and John. One daughter died unmarried. The others were: Susanna, wife of Henry Kolb; Barbara, wife of Isaac Cassel; Elizabeth, wife of Nicholas Halderman; Hester, wife of Henry Hunsicker; Catharine, wife of Jacob Longaker (grandfather); Hannah, wife of Jacob Benner; Magdalena, wife of Abraham Gotwals; Salome, wife of John Connor. All these had children except Susanna Kolb, and their descendants are now very numerous, the great majority of them residing in Montgomery county. Catharine Longaker survived her husband many years, dying in March, 1817. Jacob Longaker was a farmer all his life. Jacob and Catharine Langaker had a family of eleven children, of whom the best known, perhaps, was Henry, who had a twin brother Isaac.

Henry (father of Davis Longaker) was born February 4, 1792, at Parker Ford. He died November 2, 1872. At the time of his father’s death in 1806, Henry Longaker could speak both English and German, but, his parents removing to a neighborhood where only English was spoken as a rule, he lost his knowledge of the language, but regained it when he was later sheriff and associate judge of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was a carpenter by trade, and his twin brother a shoemaker. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He and Isaac resembled each other so closely that even their relatives could not always in their early manhood distinguish one from the other. They were inseparable as companions, and in their first purchase of real estate they were jointly interested. They dressed alike, were similar in growth and in tastes, and they were so nearly alike that only their mother was able to tell them apart, their father addressing each as Henry or Isaac.

In 1825 Henry Longaker was appointed a justice of the peace for Upper and Lower Providence, Limerick, and Skippack and Perkiomen. In 1831 he was elected sheriff and served three years. In 1836 he was elected an assemblyman and re-elected in 1837. In 1851 he was elected as one of the associate judges of Montgomery county, and commissioned for a term of five years. He was re-elected in 1855. In 1834 and 1835 he was colonel of the militia. As a justice of the peace a legislator, a judge and a man of business, he conducted himself with the greatest integrity as well as sound judgment. He was one of the most influential men in Montgomery county for many years. In several important cases in which the president judge differed from Judge Longaker, the supreme court of the state affirmed his view, showing that his conclusions were not reached without careful study of the cases. His religious sentiments were those of his forefathers as taught and practiced by the Mennonites. He married, in January, 1816, Catharine, daughter of Henry and Catharine Brower. His death occurred at the property known as “The Bridge,” on the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike, in Upper Providence township. He died in 1872. He owned at one time or other several properties in Norristown. The children of Henry and Catharine (Brower) Longaker: John, Henry, Jr., A. Brower, who was judge at Allentown for a number of years; Albert, who spent most of his life in Norristown and became a large real estate owner; Frances B., Sarah, Mary J., and Davis, subject of this sketch. There was also a twin sister of A. Brower Longaker, Elizabeth, who died at the age of sixteen days.

Davis Longaker was born on the homestead in Upper Providence township in 1833, and died in 1896 at Lansdale. He was educated in the public schools of Upper Providence, and after devoting some years to farming went to the old Bridge hotel on the Perkiomen, which he purchased. Later he engaged in the marketing business in Philadelphia. At the time of the rebellion in 1861 he enlisted as a musician with the Pennsylvania Reserves in the Collegeville Band, and was thus engaged until the end of the war, when he returned and again took charge of the old hotel on the Perkiomen, remaining there until 1871, when he removed with his family and conducted the hotel at Lansdale, remaining there until his death. His widow, assisted by his sons has managed it since. The children of Davis and Elizabeth (Ullman) Longaker: Eva L., Catharine B., Harry D., David B., married Maud Rice; John W., Francis B., Elizabeth S., George E.; Abbie W., Helen Larue. Mr. Longaker was an energetic and industrious man who left behind him a good record, his qualities endearing him to a large circle of friends. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a charter member of his lodge, and also belonged to the Knights of Pythias. In politics he was a Democrat, as have been most of the Longakers in that branch of the family, and a very active worker for party success. He was elected to the town council of the borough of Lansdale, and served very efficiently in that position. He also served as burgess for two terms.

Philip Ullman, father of Mrs. Longaker, was a carpenter in Lower Providence. Mrs. Longaker is very successful in her management of the hotel property at Lansdale, and has well maintained the reputation of the establishment.