San Joaquin County
Biographies
JOSEPH MARION LONG
JOSEPH MARION LONG, at
present Under-Sheriff of San Joaquin County, was the eldest of four children,
was born in Ohio, in 1834, a son of Jacob and Sarah Jane (Graham) Long. The
father born in Pennsylvania in 1811, learned the trade of cabinet-maker and was
working in that line in Ohio when he was married. The family moved to Illinois
in the spring of 1835, settling on a farm near Galesburg, and thence to Iowa,
while it was yet a Territory, in 1839. The mother, born in Ohio in 1818, died
near Muscatine, Iowa, January 22, 1858, the result of a runaway accident; the
father is living at Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California, in 1890.
Grandmother Long reached an advanced age.
J. M. Long, the subject of this sketch, received
the usual district-school education and he helped on his father’s farm until
March, 1853, when he set out for this coast, across the plains, arriving at
Portland, Oregon, in September. He worked in that State until the following
spring, in a brick-yard, in splitting rails and in logging, when he came to
California, arriving in Stockton, March 20, 1854. Here, with three others, he
was engaged in chopping wood for wages, a couple of months, within what are now
the city limits, and then in burning brick, for which the wood-chopping was a
preparation, until June, 1854. He then worked a month at the Twelve-Mile House
on the Sonora road, and in July, 1854, went to mining at Stevens’ Bar, above
Jacksonville, in Tuolumne County, and afterward at Deer Flat in the same
county. He returned to this county in June, 1857, and helped one season on a
threshing-machine, when he went to work on a ranch in Stanislaus County,--what
is now known as Langworth. In 1858 he returned to Stockton and engaged in the
business of restaurateur for about three years. He was elected County Assessor,
September 4, 1861, entering on the discharge of his duties on the first Monday
in March, 1862, for a term of two years. Some years later he was Deputy
Assessor under C. H. Covell for two years. His connection with the sheriff’s
office has covered several terms. He was appointed a deputy-sheriff by the late
T. K. Hook, February 7, 1865, filled the same position under Sheriffs Rynerson
and Mills, and has held his present position under Sheriff Cunningham since
1875. He was candidate for sheriff on the Republican ticket in 1869, and was
defeated for that office, but on May 9, 1870, was elected Police Judge of this
city, holding the office one term. With the exception mentioned he has been identified
with the sheriff’s office of this county from 1865 to the present time.
Thomas Jefferson Long, a brother, was born
December 9, 1836, moved to California in 1861, is now a resident of San
Francisco, and is an employe of Sutter street railroad in that city.
Newton G. Long, a brother of our subject,
was born near Galesburg, Illinois, November 8, 1838, was educated in Iowa,
finishing within a year and a half in the Wesleyan University of that State. On
the outbreak of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the First Iowa Volunteers, being
a member of Company A, the first that was mustered into service from that
State. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Wilson’s creek, including many
other with those in the hospitals which fell into the hands of the enemy. While
a prisoner he served his more unfortunate fellow-captives in the hospital, and
on his release, without waiting to return to his home in Iowa, he re-enlisted
as a private in the Twenty-Fourth Missouri Infantry Volunteers, in which he
arose through the successive grades of Corporal, Sergeant, Second and First
Lieutenant to the rank of Captain. After his discharge at the close of the war
he was elected Clerk of Dallas County, Iowa, and twice re-elected to the same
office. He died about 1879, comparatively young, the result of spinal
curvature, the germ of which was probably an incident of his military service,
and from which he severely suffered for several years before his death.
Minerva E., the only sister of our
subject, resides with her husband, A. J. Westbrook and family, on the old
family homestead near Muscatine, Iowa.
Mr. J. M. Long was married in Stockton,
March 16, 1870, to Miss Kate Journay, born in Staten Island, New York, a daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. David Journey. The father, of Huguenot extraction, was a
soldier of the war of 1812, and lived to an advanced age. His wife was still
older, dying on Staten Island, late in 1889, at the age of ninety-three. Mr.
and Mrs. Long have one child, Hattie N., still a school-girl (1890).
Mr. Long is a member of Charity Lodge, No.
6, I. O. O. F., being Past Grand of the samer (sic) and a member of Charter Oak
Lodge, No. 20, K. of P. He is also a member of the Central Methodist Episcopal
Church of this city, and at present superintendent of its Sunday-school.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 560-561. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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