Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A Standard History of Starke County, Indiana McCormick, Joseph N. - 1915 [245-248] JOHN W. LONG. In every community will be found a quota of men of distinctive initiative and constructive ability and their influence is ever potent in the furtherance of civic and material progress. Starke County has such a citizen in the person of MR. LONG, who is known as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of the county, where his capitalistic interests are varied and important. At Knox, the thriving county seat, he is engaged in the lumber business; he is the owner of several hundred acres of valuable farming land in the county and has been successful in the purchase and sale of several hundred acres asidefrom his present holdings, and more recently he has been a potentforce in the development of a large brick manufactory near North Judson, this county, this being destined to prove one of the leading industrial enterprises of its kind in this part of the state. The prosperous and representative lumber business now owned by MR. LONG was established many years ago, by WILLIAM BOLLMAN, who was the controlling principal of the enterprise for a long period. For two years the business was conducted under the firm name of R. Close & Company, but MR. BOLLMAN then resumed control, to continue as the owner of the business until 1902, when MR. LONG purchased the same. The present proprietor has admirably upheld the high reputation that has ever attached to the enterprise and he conducted the business in an individual way until March, 1912, when he sold a half interest to ALBERT H. THOMPSON, of Francesville, Pulaski County, with whom he has since been associated under the firm name of Long & Thompson. The firm has a large and well equipped plant and controls an extensive business in the handling of all kinds of building material, including paints, lime and cement, besides which they also make a specialty of handling coal. The trade extends into all parts of the county and the plant includes substantial buildings and sheds adequate to meet all demands. MR. LONG takes a due measure of pride and satisfaction in reverting to Indiana as the place of his nativity. He was bom in Cass County, this state, on the 10th of April, 1855, and he is a scion of sterling pioneer families of that county, where both his paternal and maternal grand-parents settled in an early day. MR. LONG is a son of JOHN H. and HELEN (PALMER) LONG, the former of whom was bom in Pennsylvania, of German lineage, and the latter of whom was bom in Virginia, a rep- resentative of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The parents were young at the time of the removal of the respective families to Cass County, Indiana, and there their marriage was solemnized. CHRISTIAN LONG, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was one of the first settlers in Cass County, which now opulent section of the state was little more than a forest wilderness at the time he there estab- lished his home and instituted the task of reclaiming a farm. He be- came one of the successful pioneer farmers of the county and his kindliness and consideration gained to him the lasting friendship of the Indians, many of whom still wandered through that section. He erected log cabins for a number of Indian families and when he settled in the county his nearest white neighbor resided five miles distant from his humble log house. CHRISTIAN LONG became one of the influ- ential pioneer citizens of Cass County and both he and his wife con- tinued to reside on their old homestead farm until their death, when well advanced in years. They were primarily instrumental in the or- ganization of the first Presbyterian Church in their township, and the modest little edifice of the pioneer congregation was erected on the farm of their son, JOHN H., this continuing for many years as the family place of worship. CHRISTIAN LONG obtained his land from the Government, played well his part in the development and progress of Cass County, and his name merits enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of Indiana. After his marriage JOHN H. LONG began his independent career on a farm adjoining his father's homestead, and he became also a skilled workman as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He personally supervised the building of the little church edifice previously mentioned, and he personally sawed nearly all of the lumber utilized for the building, much of it being taken from fine black walnut trees that were then abundant in that locality. He also manufactured by hand many of the coffins used in that county in the pioneer days, measurements for these "narrow houses for the long home" having been taken after per- sons had paid the final debt of mortal nature. MR. LONG continued to give attention to the management of his farm until he was about fifty- six years of age, when he opened a general country store at Big Indian, a little cross-roads settlement in Cass County, and there he conducted a successful business until his death, at the age of seventy-five years. He was born about 1812 and his death occurred fully a quarter of a century ago, his wife having passed to the life eternal in 1856, when about forty years of age, and both having been zealous and devout members ofthe Presbyterian Church, with a faith that made them true and faithful in all of the relations of life. JOHN H. LONG never wavered in his allegiance to the democratic party and was called upon to serve in various offices of local trust, in- cluding that of trustee of Harrison Township, a position of which he was the incumbent for twelve years. JOHN W. LONG, whose name introduces this review, was reared to man- hood in Cass County, where he early gained fellowship with honest toil and endeavor and where his educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of the period. At the age of nineteen years he became identified with the lumber business, and during the long inter- vening years he has not severed his connection therewith, the while he has achieved marked success in this field of enterprise. He is familiar with all branches and details of the business and prior to coming to Starke County he was actively concerned with the business in Cass and Fulton counties, in the latter of which he operated a planing mill for seventeen years, at Kewanna, where also he owned and conduct- ed a grain elevator for two years. He has maintained his beautiful and modern residence on Main Street, Knox, Starke County, since 1907, and is one of the progressive and representative business men and honored citizens of the county, where his character and achievement have given him inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem. He has recently become associated with others in the development of a noteworthy en- terprise in this county, that of manufacturing brick from the excel- lent sands found in the vicinity of North Judson, millions of tons being available for the purpose. The extensive plant will manufacture in large quantities a purely sand brick of superior quality, the same being of vitrified order and possible of production in many delicate gray tones, the brick being perfectly smooth and having met with the highest commendation on the part of architects and builders. As before stated, MR. LONG is the owner of valuable farm property in Starke County and has shown marked discrimination and good judgment in his various investments, from all of which he has received excellent returns. In politics MR. LONG has designated himself an independent democrat, with firm belief in the basic principles of the party but with no partisan bias in matters of local order, where no general political issues are involved. He has been a member of the town board of Knox since 1908; both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with Knox Lodge, No. 639, Free and Accepted Masons, having previously been affiliated with the lodge at Kewanna, Fulton County, and having served as treasurer of the same. He is a member of but not now in active affiliation with the Knights of Pythias. In addition to his lumber business MR. LONG is vice president of the Farmer's State Bank of Knox and president of the Long Vitrified Brick Company, of which mention has been made and which was organized in 1906. At Kewanna, Fulton County, November 24, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of MR. LONG to Miss GEORGIA M. SHAFFER, who was born in that county in 1865 and who was there reared and educated. She is a daugh- ter of URIAH and HELEN (NORRIS) SHAFFER, who settled in Fulton County many years ago and who later removed to the City of Logansport, Cass County, where MR. SHAFFER was elected mayor and gave a most effective administration. He later returned to Kewanna, where his wife died in 1912, when about sixty-five years of age, and he later came to live in the home of his daughter, MRS. LONG, where he died, January 12, 1915, aged seventy-eight years six months and five days. He had always been a stalwart republican, and was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also his wife. Mr. and Mrs. LONG have one child, HELEN ADALINE, born February 12, 1892. She graduated from the Knox High School and also from Tudor Hall, Indianapolis, and is a young woman of many accomplishments. ===========================================================================