Shasta-Butte County CA Archives Biographies.....Long, Southy W. 1822 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2007, 10:15 pm Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891) SOUTHY W. LONG, who has resided in Vaca Valley since 1850, is a California pioneer of 1849. He was born in Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky, March 17, 1822, his parents being John and Mary (Stevenson) Long, natives of Kentucky, whose parents had come from Virginia among the first settlers, one grandfather coming with Daniel Boone. While Mr. Long was yet a child the family removed to the vicinity of Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, in 1826; and this was young Southy's home until 1846. He then joined Company C of Colonel Doniphan's regiment for the Mexican war. This command, raised in Northwestern Missouri, marched from Fort Leavenworth through Kansas, the Indian Territory, and into Chihuahua, forming a junction with General Taylor at Walnut Springs, near the Rio Grande. Before this the regiment had been engaged in the battles Brazito and Chihuahua, as well as in some minor engagements with Indians. They were about fifteen months making the march, going as far as Durango, and losing only a few men in those engagements. After the close of the war they marched to Brazos at the mouth of the Rio Grande and took ship to New Orleans, where they were paid off—the money thus received being the first that was paid to them during their whole term of service. Returning to Missouri, Mr. Long remained there until the spring of 1849. He had already three brothers—John Pope, Henry Clay and Willis—who had settled in California in 1846. In the spring of 1849 our subject, in company with his brothers James and William Buck, left St. Joseph in April, and traveled with ox teams across the plains and mountains, reaching California in August on horseback, while the wagon teams did not arrive until the next month. Mr. Long went at once to the mines and operated on Feather River, near Oroville, until March, 1850, mining and merchandising, with fair results. He and his brothers then came to Vaca Valley and purchased a half league of land (2,219 acres) and engaged in stock-raising; later Mr. Southy W. Long added fruit raising to his industries. In 1862 he became interested in mining in Idaho and Montana. His farm now comprises eighty acres, fifty acres of which is stocked with bearing fruit trees and vines, consisting of Zinfandel grapes, peaches and apricots. About the 10th of August, 1887, he was striken [sic] with paralysis, and since then has been an invalid. He was married in 1874 to Miss Sallie Clark, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Long) Clark; her father a native of Virginia and her mother of Kentucky. Additional Comments: Extracted from Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California. Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of Prominent Citizens of To-day. "A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendents." – Macauley. CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1891. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/shasta/bios/long1185nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb