San Francisco County
Biographies
PERCY V.
LONG
One of the attorneys practicing at the bar of San Francisco, Percy V. Long, has a somewhat varied career as a public official. He was born at Sonora, Tuolumne county, California, March 26, 1870, a son of William Giles Long, a native of Saint George, Maine, who came to California in 1850 as first mate of a sailing vessel that made the trip around Cape Horn. He arrived at San Francisco in March of that year and went immediately to Tuolumne county to engage in mining, becoming the owner of the ditch that ran from Jimtown to Camp Sego, Poverty Hill and Quartz Hill, now known as Stent. His partners in this enterprise were P. B. Smith and W. W. Trailer, and they operated under the name of Smith, Trailer & Long.
In the ‘50s Mr. Long returned to Maine, where he married Miss Mary Jane Linekin. Purchasing a number of vessels, he was engaged in the Atlantic coast trade, but later sold them, and, with his wife, returned to California, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama, Mrs. Long riding across the Isthmus on a mule.
In young manhood Mr. Long had been training officer, with the rank of captain, on a transport during the Mexican war, and when war broke out between the north and the south he became a member of the Sonora Home Guards. Later on in life he was very active, politically, serving in 1874 and in 1884 as a member of the California state assembly, and for four years was United States marshal under President Harrison. When John Sedgwick was made internal revenue collector Mr. Long became one of his assistants. Very zealous as a Mason, he was deputy grand master of the order in his district. His death occurred in 1912, he having survived his wife a year. They had the following children: Robert L., who is a mining superintendent of Kern county; Charles S., who is engaged in the mining business in Kern county, and in fruit growing and agriculture in Tuolumne and Alameda counties; Percy V., whose name heads this review; Jennie A., who is the wife of Frank Doughty, a civil engineer and a member of the firm of Haas & Company; and Mrs. Wilietta Fairbanks, who is a resident of San Francisco.
Percy V. Long attended the public schools of Hayward and the Oakland high school. He was admitted to the bar of California at Los Angeles, October 10, 1892. From 1891 to 1895 he was deputy clerk of the supreme court of the state, and from 1901 to 1903, served as a justice of the peace in San Francisco. From 1903 to 1906 and again from 1907 to 1918 he was city attorney of San Francisco. He is a republican and has taken an active part in politics, having served on the state central committee for many years, and with Mr. Requa had charge of the Coolidge campaign in California during 1924. In addition to his practice Mr. Long was assistant general counsel of the National Board of Fire Underwrites. He belongs to the Bohemian Club, the Commonwealth Club, the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a thirty-second degree Mason and belongs to Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. S.
On May 30, 1900, Mr. Long married Miss Emma B. Sexton, a native of San Jose, California, and a daughter of William Sexton, who came to California in 1852, and became one of the prominent men of Placer county, which he served as sheriff, and from which he was twice elected to the state assembly as its representative. Mr. and Mrs. Long have two children: Nettie Sexton Long and Mildred Sexton Long.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 86-88.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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