Lange Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Jan. 2005
Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives.

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LANGE FAMILY CAME TO THIS AREA IN EARLY 1850'S

(The following historical sketch of the Lange family, one of Ponchatoula's early
families, was submitted by Jim Perrin, local school principal and local historian)

BY JIM PERRIN

East Julius Lange was born about 1822 in Konigsburg, Prussia, Germany.

He appears to have come to America by the early 1850s.  He married Henrietta 
Seefeldt/Seafield, who was born about 1823, also in Prussia.

Julius and Henrietta seem to have moved their family to the Ponchatoula area about 1859, 
and Julius soon opened a retail store.  He purchased Lot 9 in Square 42 in the Town of 
Ponchatoula in March, 1860.  He added to his land holdings in September, 1861, when he 
purchased Lots 15 and 16 in Square 51 in the town of Ponchatoula, which is on the corner 
of East Oak Street and Southeast Railroad Avenue, where Dr. Allen's Clinic is now located, 
and Lot 10 in Square 42, which is today near the C.J.'s Antiques building.

Julius and Henrietta lived on Lot 9 and operated their store across the street, where the 
Allen Clinic is located, although the Lange Store is thought to have faced Railroad Avenue.

The Civil War years were devastating to the local economy, and by September, 1865, Julius 
was forced to mortgage his store and 640 acres he owned on the west bank of the 
Tangipahoa river for $5,000 in credit from Fruzilla Rheams, the wife of Purnell Starns.  

Julius was listed as being a retail merchant on the 1870 census, but his business seems not 
to have been very successful.  The Lange town property was again mortaged, this time to 
Robert J. Hardy in January, 1871, for $1,150. After Julius failed to pay the mortgage note, 
Mr. Hardy bought the Lange property at a sheriff's sale to satisfy a court judgment against 
Mr. Lange.

In the spring of 1874, Julius and Henrietta left Ponchatoula and moved to Kenner, where he 
put in a crop of rice. They then returned to Ponchatoula and moved into a house on Southeast 
Railroad Avenue near where they had previously lived.

Julius and Henrietta were living in Ponchatoula when the 1880 ceneus was conducted, and 
Juilus was listed as being a laborer. Julius died sometime after 1885.  He and Henrietta were 
buried in the Wetmore Cemetery west of Ponchatoula.  They had three daughters.

Ida R. Lange was born in 1855 in Louisiana. She married on Dec. 7, 1878, at St. Joseph's 
Church in Ponchatoula to Laurence A Mullahy. There were divorced in 1885.

Ida and Laurence had a son, Lawrence Julius Mullahy, who was baptized at St. Joseph's on 
Dec. 2, 1879.

Ida died on March 20, 1835, at her sister Leila's home in Ponchatoula, where she had lived for 
many years, and was buried beside her parents in Wetmore Cemetery.

Julia Henrietta Lange was born about 1859 in Ponchatoula. She married William Fannaly 
(1861-1953), who worked as section foreman for the Illinois Central Railroad Co. Julia died 
March 27, 1920, at Ponchatoula and was buried beside William in the Ponchatoula Cemetery. 
They had children: Leila Bell (1891-1910); William T. (1893-1973); and James W. Fannaly 
(ca 1895-1957).

Leila Louis Lange was born about 1861-1867 in Louisiana. She married Aug 31, 1892, at St. 
Joseph's Church to Stonewall Jackson "Stone" Campbell and they had one son, Thomas 
Stonewall Campbell (1897-1948).

Stone operated a brick plant in Ponchatoula for many years.  Lelia died May 31, 1928, and 
Stone died Oct. 5, 1932.  They and their son are buried in Wetmore Cemetery.