| Citations |
- The Face of Some Longfellows
by Russell C. Farnham
Literature on this family is practically non-existent, excluding of course that concerning the poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Lest the purists descend on me I should note there is a miniature treatment, Genealogy of the Longfellow Family (Byfield, Mass.: printed by Old Byfield Press, 1898), by an unknown descendant. This work treated the single line of Nathan (1773–1840) and Anna (Downer) Longfellow of Newbury, and consisted of only fourteen pages. It lacked detail and depth, and offered nothing to enlarge our knowledge of the entire family. Two short monographs cover the Machias, Maine, judge, Jonathan Longfellow,[1] and his earlier life at Deerfield, New Hampshire.
So after more than 330 years, my sister, Marjorie M. (Farnham) Seale, and I would spend the better part of the last fifty years researching this family. The potential for putting a face on family members was enormous, and could only begin with the immigrant William (1650–1690). He was born at Horsforth, near Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, and was baptized at Guiseley, “sonn of William Langfellow.” He spent his early youth in England before arriving at Newbury, Massachusetts, about 1670. Passenger lists are silent. His arrival is found variously as “about 23-years old”[2] [or 1673]; “came in his youth;”[3] or 1675, when he is found in a deed.[4] He is best described as an opportunist, who was lazy, loved legal skirmishes, and enjoyed his spirits at the “Blue Anchor” tavern in Newbury, where he was late in paying his bill. He was described as “ill conditioned and outwardly shabby” at the funeral of Henry Sewall.[5] He did little to distinguish himself before he perished on the failed expedition of Sir William Phips (1651–1695) to Québec in 1690, leaving a small estate of £68.[6]
The second generation — brothers Nathan2 and William2 Longfellow — offered some interesting challenges. William has been said to be the ancestor of the Maryland Longfellows, a popular notion online. I found no evidence for that idea in New England primary sources. Space limitations prevent me from elaborating, but more detail can be found in my book. Nathan, father of the Machias judge, continued the immigrant’s love of the courtroom, a habit which was to run through three generations.
Judge Jonathan Longfellow (1713–1786) was the first circuit court judge at Machias. Earlier he had shown some odd behavior at the civil court at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Of 240 common plea court cases [1713–1761] that concerned the Longfellow family, one-third involved Jonathan. He was a young man of twenty-three when he was conducting a lawsuit against his mother and stepfather, Joseph Macres [sic], of Salisbury, Massachusetts.[7] At age twenty-five, Jonathan tore off the door of the home of Kezia Stannyan [sic], wife of Joseph of Hampton on January 19, 1740.[8] Two days later Kezia took Jonathan to court (such speed in those times was rare), alleging he “threatened” her and told her to “carry-away her Goods & get away by night [or] he would throw her & there Goods too out of doors.” His attempt to “quash the compt [complaint]” was denied by the court. Like many of his neighbors in the Hampton area, Jonathan was not one to honor his debts promptly, often taking his chances with the legal system. Jonathan complained to the Portsmouth court in March 1740 that “someone stole his silver headed cane” (ten months earlier). He urged the court to have the sheriff search homes, which he did, finding the cane in the house of Jonathan Gove.[9] The cane would later appear in the inventory of his estate, and was probably inherited from his grandfather, Captain Jacob Green. In addition to this behavior, Jonathan was assaulted by the tanner Matthias Towle (1707–1764) in the Exeter tavern of Captain John Light on January 23, 1750.[10] He was again assaulted at Machias in 1770 by four persons, which may have prompted him to offer his resignation.[11] His payment for the Deerfield Garrison which he bought from a Mr. Leavitt was in the form of a Negro slave. His father was known to have at least two slaves.[12]
Green Longfellow (1731–1760) was a younger brother of Jonathan. At twenty-two, he married Abigail Prescott, age seventeen. They left no children. Green was sued by his nephew Jacob (1737–1781) and Green’s widow, Abigail, sued her brother-in-law, Nathan Longfellow (1729–1819), on a trespass case, as well as for failure to pay his demand note. Nathan refused to pay the judgment against him and was put in the Portsmouth “goal.” Coincidently in this same “goal” a few years earlier his brother Green had been locked up after the sheriff “inlisted” him in the militia for failure to pay his bills. The sheriff declared “evil minded persons” prevented him from serving. Likely it was the smallpox that Green incurred at the “goal” that caused his death.
Notes
Green was sued by his nephew Jacob (1737–1781) and Green’s widow, Abigail, sued her brother-in-law, Nathan Longfellow (1729–1819), on a trespass case, as well as for failure to pay his demand note. Nathan refused to pay the judgment against him and was put in the Portsmouth “goal.” Coincidently in this same “goal” a few years earlier his brother Green had been locked up after the sheriff “inlisted” him in the militia for failure to pay his bills. The sheriff declared “evil minded persons” prevented him from serving. Likely it was the smallpox that Green incurred at the “goal” that caused his death.
- [S62] M. D. William Prescott, The Prescott Memorial.
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