Marion County, West Virginia Biography of Charles Howard LONG This file was submitted by CJ Towery, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pages 229-230 CHARLES HOWARD LONG has been a resident of Mannington since 1905, identified with the business life of the city and for a dozen years an independent merchant. He was born at Dayton, Ohio, February 2, 1879, son of John and Ella (Heffner) Long. His grandfather, Amos Long, was a native of Maryland, and as a young man removed to Pennsylvania. John Long while living in Dayton, Ohio, was extensively engaged in the nursery business for a number of years, and there met and married his wife, a native of that city. She died at the birth of her son, Charles Howard. Failing health subsequently caused John Long to return to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1888, and he died there in 1890. C. Howard Long was reared in Bedford County from the age of nine, attended public schools there, and in 1896 began his business career as a clerk in a store at Everett, Bedford County. A few years later he returned to Cumberland, Maryland, subsequently spent two years in New York City, where he continued clerking in a large leather belting manufacturing concern. When Mr. Long came to Mannington in 1905 he entered the service of H. H. and F. E. Furbee, merchants, as a clerk, and remained with that firm until 1909. He then resolved to put into effect the long cherished purpose to become a business man on his own account. With limited capital he opened a small clothing and men's furnishing goods store, and the business has steadily grown from year to year until now it is the leading establishment of its line in Mannington. The business occupies two floors and basement in a substantial three-story brick building which Mr. Long owns having purchased the property in 1911. He keeps in close touch with the commercial affairs of the state, being a member of the West Virginia State Retail Clothiers Association. He is a charter member of the Mannington Kiwanis Club and is affiliated with the Elks and Odd Fellows. He and Mrs. Long are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1907 he married Miss Grace Prichard, a daughter of Charles Prichard of Mannington. Mr. and Mrs. Long have two children: Nancy, born in 1909, and John, born in 1915.