Fairfield County is in central Ohio. The county seat is Lancaster.
Indiana became a state in 1819. The north was settled by people from New England and New York, the center by people from the Mid-Atlantic states and Ohio, and the south by people from Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.
In the 1830s settlers began arriving in Iowa from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. Iowa became a state in 1846.
John H. Long was born on March 10, 1844 in Fairfield County, Ohio. His parents were John Long and Mary LaFever.
He moved to Lancaster, Wells County, Indiana with his family when he was young.
He served during the Civil War in Company B of the 73rd Illinois Infantry. He mustered in on August 21, 1862 and was discharged on August 7, 1863 with a disability. His residence when he enlisted was Sand Prairie, Tazewell County, Illinois.
He married Isabelle Joyce on February 13, 1864 in Delavan, Tazwell County, Illinois. She was born in 1847 in England.
James H. Long was born in 1867 in Illinois.
Rose I. Long Belcher was born about 1869 in Iowa. She married Reason J. Belcher.
Pink Long Wood was born about 1872 in Illinois. She married Charles Wood.
Erasmus Darwin Long was born on May 11, 1878 in Missouri. He married Etta Meisenback.
Daisy Long Reilly was born about 1880 in Kansas. She married William Reilly.
At the time of the 1880 census the household was in Trego, Kansas. The household consisted of John H., age 34, Isabelle age 32, James age 13, Rose age 11, Pink age 8, Erasmus age 4, and Daisy age 4 months. John was a farmer.
Margaret E. (Madge) Long Allen was born in February 1882 in Colorado. She married Oberlin E. Allen.
Floyd Harrison Long was born on January 20, 1892 in Colorado.
In 1900 they were in Colorado Springs. The household consisted of John age 56, Isabel age 52, James age 31, Madge age 19 and Floyd age 7. Isabel's mother, Mrs. Joyce, also lived with them. She was 66 [sic] and had been born in England. Isabel had given birth to 9 children, 8 of whom were living.
In 1910 the household consisted of John, Isabel, James and Floyd.
During World War I, Floyd was a painter 1st class in the U.S. Navy.
In 1914, they celebrated their 50th anniversary and John died before the 1920 census. In 1920 the household consisted of John, Isabel, James, Floyd and his wife Alta. James and Floyd were house painters.
John died on August 16, 1920. John was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.
In 1930 the household consisted of Isabel, James, Floyd and Margaret Allen.
Isabel died in 1936 in Colorado Springs and was buried with him at Evergreen.
Tazewell County, Illinois was formed out of Peoria County in 1827.
The first U.S. railroad opened in the 1830s. In 1869 the first transcontinental railway was completed.
The Civil War had more casualties than any other American war. Disease and infection were the biggest killers.
Illinois became a state in 1818. A large influx of American settlers came in the 1810s by the Ohio River.
from the Colorado Springs Gazette, February 18, 1914.
Golden Wedding Day Is Celebrated by Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Long
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Long residents of Colorado Springs since 1880, last night celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their home, 709 South Sahwatch street. All but one of seven living children were present at the celebration, and all but one of the six grandchildren. Numerous other relatives were present.
Mr. and Mrs. Long are 69 and 67 years old respectively, and are in excellent health for that age. At the "wedding" last night they appeared to be among the youngest of all and forgot the burden of age to return in memory to the days of youth.
Mr. Long was born in Fairfield county Ohio, and Mrs. Long who was Miss Isabelle Joyce, was born in Chatland, Northumberland, England.
Mr. and Mrs. Long came to this city from Mackinaw town, Tasewell county, Illinois, for Mrs. Long's health and made the entire trip in camp wagon. Enroute, they stopped in Missouri and Kansas. Mr. Long has been engaged in house moving for years.
They were married in Delavan, Tazewell county, Illinois, 50 years ago yesterday. When they had been married but a short time, Mr. and Mrs. Long lived in a house that was occupied by Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln first began the practice of law. Mr. Long has a frying pan which was left in the house by Lincoln. The pan was hammered out of a single piece of copper. Mr. Long proudly displays the relic at every oppertunity, and last night was no exception.
The following children of Mr. and Mrs. Long are living: James Long, E. D. Long, Floyd Long, Ms. Daisy Reilly and Mrs. Madge Allen, all of Colorado Springs, Mrs. Rose I. Belcher of Pueblo and Mrs. Pink Wood of Cairo, Ia.
Mr. Long was a member of the Seventy-third Illinois regiment, Company B in which he enlisted July 22, 1862. He served in the army until the end of the civil war.
At the celebration last night the couple received many handsome gifts appropriate to the occasion.
In the Civil War (1861 to 1865) eleven Southern states seceded from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America.
American pioneers migrated west to settle areas not previously inhabited by European Americans.
from History of Colorado, Volume II, 1918
Forty-six years have passed since Reason J. Belcher came to Colorado and he has been an interested witness of the growth and development of the state from pioneer times to the present. He is now a leading and influential business man of Pueblo, where he is well known as the president of the Mountain Ice & Coal Company. He was born in Cass county, Missouri, on the 2nd of March, 1863, and is a son of A. J. and Sally Ann (Judy) Belcher.
The family came to Colorado in 1872, making their way across the plains to Colorado Springs, where the parents continued to make their home until called to their final rest, their remains being interred in a cemetery of that city. The father had served with a company of volunteers from Missouri during the Civil war and after the removal to the west he took active and helpful part in promoting the pioneer development and progress of the community in which he located.
Reason J. Belcher well remembers the trip to this state when he was a lad of nine years. He rode with a bunch of cattle over the plains as the family slowly made their way to their destination, reaching Pueblo on the 8th of July, 1872. The family home was established at Colorado Springs and he pursued his education in a private school there, for the public school system had not yet been instituted. He afterward became a cowboy on the plains and also a stage driver and he engaged in teaming in the early boom days of Leadville and of Cripple Creek. There are few phases of pioneer development and experience in Colorado with which he is not familiar. He owned hauling outfits and contracted to haul ore from the mines of Leadville and Cripple Creek to the railroad and he drove stage for the firm of Barlow & Sanderson. He has been in nearly all of the early boom camps and there are few events which figure prominently on the pages of Colorado's history in the early days with which he is not familiar.
Mr. Belcher took up his abode in Pueblo in 1897, at which time he established his present business as a dealer in ice and coal. He first shipped ice from Lake George and from a small beginning has developed a business of extensive proportions. Originally he had but two teams, this being all that was needed to care for the trade. Something of the growth of his patronage is indicated in the fact that he now employs eighty men and utilizes forty head of horses and six auto trucks. The company has its own Ice plant and is now shipping much of its product. In the coal trade, too, the company has secured a liberal patronage and in fact the business is one of the foremost commercial enterprises of Pueblo.
On the 16th of June, 1889, Mr. Belcher was united in marriage to Miss Rose I. Long and their children are: Mark R., who is now with his father in the wholesale ice cream business; Stella I.; Lynn L., who is employed at the plant; and a daughter, Edith E., who was the oldest and died at the age of nineteen years.
Fraternally Mr. Belcher is connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is also a member of the Commerce Club and belongs to the Colorado State Association of Retail Coal Dealers. He greatly enjoys hunting, fishing and other forms of outdoor life when leisure permits him to indulge therein. The greater part of his time and attention is concentrated upon his business affairs and his intelligently directed industry, firm purpose and unabating energy are substantial factors in his growing success, which has placed him among the prosperous men of the state.
