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WILLIAM A. LONG
Vol. 3 page 1090-1091

One of the flourishing young cities of Oklahoma that do not glory so
much in the past as in their present condition and future
possibilities is Dewey, in Washington County. Mr. Long is an
intermarried citizen and has been identified with this section of
Oklahoma for many years. His career has been one of diversified
endeavor and enterprise, and he is esteemed as one of the fine old
pioneers in Washington County.

His birth occurred February 28, 1851, near Eaton, in Delaware
County, Indiana, a son of John C. and Carolina (COX) Long. His father
was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in Tennessee. The former was
a general farmer and was one of the early settlers of Delaware
County, Indiana. The mother of Mrs. Long died in 1895. William A. is
the oldest of four children. His brother Calvin lives at Coffeyville,
Kansas, his brother Robert lives near Wheeling, Indiana, and the only
daughter, Jennie, is now deceased.

Until twenty-two years of age Mr. Long lived on the old Indiana farm
with his father. He attended school at Ridgeville in his native
county and also was a student in the Valparaiso Normal School. While
employed on his father's farm he taught school during the winter
months, but in 1875 went to Hoopeston, Illinois, and became foreman
on his uncle's extensive ranch of 3,500 acres in that vicinity. After
two years there he went west to Leadville, Colorado, during the high
tide of mining development in that region, and was a worker in the
quartz mines until 1879. For about six years from 1879. Mr. Long was
engaged in general farming and stock raising enterprise at
Coffeyville, Kansas. He was also a buyer and shipper of cattle in
Texas, and after his marriage in 1890 engaged in farming on about
1,800 acres of land in the northern part of Indian Territory. For
nearly twenty years farming and stock raising provided abundant
opportunities for his business ability, but since 1910 he has been
retired and lives in Dewey, and has operated considerably in local
real estate. Mr. Long since moving to Dewey has platted what is known
as the Long Addition to the town, comprising altogether forty acres.
Mr. Long also owns mining interests near Boulder, Colorado, and for
the past ten years he and his family have spent their summers in that
city.

On April 10, 1890, Mr. Long married Mrs. Eliza (MCCAY) BLOSSER. She
was born in the Goingsnake District of Indian Territory, and is of
one-eighth Cherokee blood. Her parents were William P. and Jane
(COLEMAN) McCay, both natives of Tennessee and members of the
Cherokee Tribe. Her father was of Scotch decent, was a farmer,
blacksmith and wagon maker, and was employed in those capacities in
the vicinity of Tahlequah for a number of years. Mrs. Long was one of
a family of five children: William, deceased; Lucinda, deceased;
Alfred, who lives at McAlester, Oklahoma; Mrs. Long; and one that
died in infancy. Mrs. Long was born November 17, 1849, and her first
husband was Emanuel Blosser of Bluffton, Indian Territory. He died in
August, 1886, and the one child of that union is Joseph D. Blosser,
who was born August 18, 1874, and is now a carpenter and sawmill
foreman at Deweyville, Texas, and married Mary PRATT. In 1864, while
the Civil war was in progress, Mrs. Long and two other children in
the family set out to walk from near Tahlequah to Fort Smith,
Arkansas, a distance of forty-five miles. It was in the midst of the
extreme summer heat, but they finally accomplished their journey and
joined their father at Fort Smith. Mrs. Long's brother Alfred was
taken prisoner during the war and kept at Tyler, Texas, for a number
of months. For the past thirty years he has served in the Indian
Department at McAlester. Mr. Long is a republican and Mrs. Long is a
member of the Eastern Star and of the Christian Church.

When Mr. Long first became identified with the ranching interests of
the old Cherokee Nation in what is now Washington County, there was
not a house between Bartlesville and Coffeyville, Kansas. The
extensive land over which he grazed his stock was an extended prairie
with grass so thick that it was almost impassable in places. He
showed a great deal of enterprise and progressiveness in his farming
and stock raising interests. He put a seven-wire fence around about
800 acres of land and later developed 500 acres as cultivated land.
He kept as high as several thousand head of cattle on the range, and
will always be remembered as one of the leading cattle men of his
day. About the time the Indians were allotted their respective
portions of land he leased 1,600 acres near the Kansas line. He was
at that time at the height of his prosperity as a cattle raiser. Many
of his friends recall the heavy misfortune which befell him soon
afterward. He bought 500 head of select Colorado steers, all of one
color, uniform in size and standard, and said to have been one of the
best bunches of cattle ever grazed in Northern Oklahoma. After
fattening them, he sent them to the Chicago market. Apparently they
were in the best condition, but as a matter of fact the entire herd
had been infected on the range with the Texas tick, and on arriving
in the Chicago stock yards there were immediately condemned by the
inspectors and the entire investment proved a total loss. This was
one of the heaviest discouragements [sic] Mr. Long ever met in his
career, though he has seen a great deal of vicissitudes, and has made
his modest fortune by constant perseverance and persistence and a
courage that has enabled him to begin all over again when necessary.

His estate at Dewey is known as Maple Grove, one of the most
beautiful and picturesque places in Washington County. His home has
most attractive surroundings in a grove of splendid maples, and he
has also done much to improve the growing city by laying out one of
the best residence sections of the town.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, November 23, 1998.