John and David Long - Father and Son

     I love this family!  As I was doing their research I was impressed with the unity and closeness that I found. Often times I would find several families and multiple generations living in the same home. When one family would move the others would soon follow. Whether to escape the hardships of drought or establish new homesteads on the plains, they were together. Many times to understand why people do something we need to learn the events that occurred during their lifetime. This requires study and investigation. This was the case with the David Long family. They were married and their first child was born in Kansas. Why then were the following children born in Iowa? By 1880 the family has returned to Kansas. This occurred during an era of difficult travel right before the civil war.  The trip would have been made by train, boat and wagon. Kansas was still a territory and did not become a state until 1861.  Why would they leave for so many years and then come back?   I found one answer to that question in a second hand store when I came upon this neat old text book.  It is copyrighted in 1914 and is over one hundred years old, the title drew me right in. 

From History of Kansas reader:

*The drought -- "It began in June 1859 for period of more than sixteen months. The ground became so dry that it broke open in great cracks, wells and spring went dry. . . crops were a total failure." --- "They could fight ruffians, but they could not fight starvation."--- "After a year they began to give up and go back east. No fewer than 30,000 settlers abandoned their claims and left Kansas." 

     The Long family was among those that left and return to Iowa. Now I understood one of the reasons for their move.  The fact that they were teamsters may have facilitated their decision.  Their experience with traveling great lengths and hauling goods from place to place would have been a great asset. They owned or had access to multiple wagons.  Here is a wonderful photo of a member of the Long family with his wagon. 

     The story of the Long family is a story of unity, hope for the future and hard work. I am sure with so many people in such close quarters there were times of difficulty, and disagreements, that is normal.  The wonderful thing is we share their DNA and have access to their spirit, their strength and love that can carry us through whatever lies ahead.

Long Family Teamster

• John Long 1792-1887 married Dorothea Bastedo parents of 
• David Long 1832-1924 m Mary Jane Walker parents of
• Getty (Gertrude) Long 1864-1930 m Daniel Marion Gragg parents of
• Eva Marie Gragg 1896-1964 m Carl McKinnley Brooks Parents of
• Shirley Alene Brooks/Miller 

     There is so much to learn from our ancestors and I have a lot of information on the Long/Gragg family that I will share in future posts.  But for now I promised myself I would keep these short. Great reading for a Sunday or FHE.  So sign up for those email updates!

 *A History of Kansas - by Anna E. Arnold Author of Civics and Citizenship, Published by the State of Kansas 1920, Topeka

William Greenhalgh 1861-1943

William Greenhalgh was born on 18 March 1861, in Whalley, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom. His mother Mary Moorcroft was 34 years old when William was born. His father was Thomas Greenhalgh and was 40. William was the seventh child of ten children. 

From the autobiography of his sister, Mary Greenhalgh Mace we read, "In April 29, 1865, our family of nine children with Father and Mother, left Liverpool for America on a sailing vessel called the Belle Wood. This ship was in the charge of Captain Freeman, a large red-headed Yankee, who said he had crossed the ocean six times. Our trip on the ocean lasted five weeks and two days. The captain said it was the nicest trip he had ever taken across the Atlantic Ocean."

"We landed at Castle Gardens, New York, June 2, 1865, and found the country in deep mourning over the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln. Everywhere we saw soldiers who were returning home from the Civil War. I remember one troop carrying what remained of a huge American Flag. The center had been taken out by a cannon ball, and soldiers were carrying it down the street by its corners. They looked ragged, tired and sick as they dragged themselves down the street to their quarters amid the shout of cheers and martial music." What a sight this must have been for 4 year old William after traveling so far on a difficult journey."

"My baby brother, (Francis Moorecroft Greenhalgh) who had been sick on voyage, died one month after we landed in New York and was buried in the Green Wood Cemetery."

"Our family stayed in New York City until the middle of September, where my sister Sarah and I obtained work in a silk factory. We were dissatisfied here because Father could not find work and we did not like living in a city either, but we were obliged to stay until we could do better. In a short time we heard of a manufacturing town called Co hoes, ("Spindle City" )which was eleven miles from Albany, so we moved there. Here we obtained a comfortable house in which to live, and secured work for us all. . ." We lived here until July 10th or 12th, 1866, when Father decided to move west to Utah."

Thomas and his family were called to the Cotton Mission, 1867

"We arrived in the little town of Washington, Utah on November 7, 1867," recalled his daughter Mary Ann. "Here we found a factory operating Mendenhall hand looms. Father now started to set up power looms immediately, and I began to weave cloth as soon as he got the first loom set up." These were the first power looms in the state of Utah.

William Marries Sarah Emily Potter, 1892

William Greenhalgh married Sarah Emily Potter from Kanab, Utah
2 November 1892. She was just fourteen years of age and he was thirty one.

Sarah's mother had passed away in December of 1891 after the birth of her ninth baby. "It was a sad thing for this Potter family of small children to have their mother taken from them. After this Elijah was never satisfied to stay in one place for long. He never remarried. . . Elijah kept the boys with him as they traveled around from place to place. " *

Keele Family Move, 1938

During the Great Depression in about 1938 the family of Chester R. Keele and Elizabeth Ruth Greenhalgh Keele moved to Twisp, Washington. They probably moved to find employment and join Elizabeth’s sister Sarah Melissa Workman that moved to the Wenatchee sometime before 1930.

It appears that William arrived in Wenatchee Washington only eighteen months before his death in June 1941. This may be one reason that most family members did not know of his gravesite. He lived with his daughter Elizabeth Greenhalgh Keele on Springwater Avenue.  William died when he was 81 years old in Wenatchee, Chelan County, Washington and is buried at the Wenatchee City Cemetery. Please share his story so that he will not be forgotten!

William Greenhalgh saw a lot of changes in his lifetime, from a small boy born in England traveling with his family across the Atlantic, to a covered wagon train crossing the mountains to Utah. He may have saw the passing of his baby brother. His family settled in Southern Utah as pioneers. They established and worked in textile mills and at farming.

He had married a girl young enough to be his daughter and began his own family. He toiled on his farm raising children through dust bowl and depression through two world wars and the invention of phones, electricity and automobiles. Three of his children and his wife died before his passing in 1943. We can only imagine the life he led and the things he experienced, his personality, his work ethic and his love as a father.

His life and legacy lives on in each descendant that remembers and looks forward to a glorious reunion in the eternities.

Children of William Greenhalgh and Sarah Emily Potter:

• Sarah Melissa Greenhalgh 1893–1948, married Lindsay Nathaniel Workman 
• Elizabeth Ruth Greenhalgh 1900-1971, married Chester Reynald 

             Parents of Cleo, Chester, Fern, Beth, Ramona, Velva Jean and Lawanna. 

• Mary Emily Greenhalgh married Dumont Arbuckle 
• Alice Fern Greenhalgh married Denzil Rex Gardner 
• Myrtle Nellie Greenhalgh married Keith Warby 
• William Wallace Greenhalgh married Anne Sevella Wilson 
• George Greenhalgh born and died in 1907
• Eva Greenhalgh born and died 1908
• Elijah John Greenhalgh married Fern Marie Lamb 
• Wanda Greenhalgh married Charles Ambrose Potter 

*From the bio of Elijah John Potter, Familysearch.org

Thomas Henry Keele Jr. 1857 - 1900

Thomas Henry Keele, son of Mary Angeline Jolley and Thomas Keele, was born 10 April 1857 in Palm Town, Utah County, Utah. This town is now known as Salem. He was the third child in his parent’s family of 12 children, 7 daughters and 5 sons. He was baptized in the church. He was not a pioneer across the plains, but a son of pioneers who helped to settle the barren lands of Utah. He was very much acquainted with the pioneer life and hardships and  trials which they must have endure.

He was a very dark handsome man, black hair and dark brown eyes. He is remembered for his wit, as he was a happy sort of man. He was very kind and gentle with his family.

He lived in Long Valley where he and Margaret Annie married 14 October 1875 in Mount Carmel, Kane County, Utah.

He loved his wife and family and their home was one of peace and contentment. Music played a large part in making his home so choice and inviting. The love and tenderness of these good parents made it a heaven on earth. Twenty lovely children graced this home, which was a two-room log house located on a bench south of Emery town about 3 to 4 miles. How did a family of 14 live in so small a house? Many ticks were filled with fresh clean straw and stacked on the beds and at night were pulled onto the floor where the children slept comfortably. When company came, another tick would be filled and there was always heart room and house room. The hot biscuits, fresh butter, cottage cheese, and honey were a common appetizer in this house. After Lester, the last son was born; Henry Thomas got smallpox and died. Before he got the disease he went out into the hills to get a big load of wood for his family as it was winter time and very cold. While he was doing this a voice said, “This is the last wood you will ever haul.” He took the wood to his wife and family who were living in town to escape smallpox and returned back to his farm where his oldest son, Thomas, was very ill with the disease. He took the disease and died without ever seeing his wife and family again. Margaret Annie now left with a large family to care for did many things to make a living, and all her children sought for jobs which would aid in feeding and clothing themselves.

She wove carpets and rugs. She was a beautiful seamstress and sewed clothing for the dead when needed. She was the switchboard operator for the telephone in Emery, which was housed in her front room. She did a lot of beautiful hand work and quilts and everything she did was perfection. She lived at Neola for a few years, then traveled but lived mostly with her daughter, Alice, in Ferron where she passed away 9 November 1939 and was buried in Emery Cemetery beside her choice companion, Henry Thomas Keele. 

Their children are:

 Mary Angeline (twin) 

Annie Margaret (twin) 

Thomas Henry

James Rasmus 

William Manning 

Chastie Luticia 

Susan Evelyn

Jennie Luella 

Sylvia Loraine 

Alice Marie 

Chester Raynal (sp)

     father of Velva Jean Keele

Lester Englestead

From the "The Jolley Family Book" published by Brigham Young University Press 1966, written by Bryant Manning Jolley and his committee.