Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 808-809

HENRY LONG. This gentleman is a well-known stock farmer of the town of Harrison, Grant county, and is an industrious and honorable representative man in his noble calling. He has had a long life in the West, and it is with pleasure that the pen of the historian records such a modest and unassuming, but sound and substantial life.

Mr. LONG was born near Dubuque, Iowa, Aug. 12, 1837. His father, Casper LONG, was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother, Martha (HITCH) LONG, was born in Delaware. They came West when young, and settled near Dubuque, where they lived some time. They moved to Potosi, Wis., where the husband and father died in 1840, when only twenty-five years of age, leaving a wife and two children, Henry and Mary. The daughter married Samuel VANNATTA, and lived in Platteville, where she died in 1897, leaving three children, Effie, Edith and Charles. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Martha LONG married William WITHROW, of Potosi, and after some years they removed to the town of Paris, where she died in 1885, leaving a family to Mr. WITHROW.

Henry LONG grew to manhood in the home of his step-father, and received his early education in the schools of Potosi and Paris. When the Civil war broke out he made haste to don the Union blue, and enlisted in August, 1862, in company H, 25th Wis. V.I. They were sent to Minnesota to suppress the hostile Indians before their departure to the South. They were afterward sent to the seat of war, via Columbus, Ky. (where they stayed three months). For two months they were a part of the besieging force at Vicksburg, and were then sent by boat to Helena, Ark. In February 1863, they returned to Vicksburg, whence they went to Cairo. From there they went to Alabama and the disputed territory along the Tennessee river. With Gen. Sherman they went to Atlanta, and the young soldier bore a stout hand in many bloody battles and skirmishes from Vicksburg to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to the sea, returning through the Carolinas. Mr. LONG was taken sick at Helena, Ark., but bore up and refused to go to the hospital. For four months he was seriously out of health, but he recovered, and feels that perhaps he owes his life to his indomitable will. The history of the regiment covers many of the most stirring scenes of the war in Tennessee, Alabama and in the Mississippi valley. It was a part of the army that broke the back of the rebellion, had a share in the glory of the grand review at Washington, and was mustered out at Madison, Wis., in June 1865.

When the war had closed Mr. LONG came back to Grant county. He had extensive lumber interests at Dubuque, and in October, 1867, he married Miss Mary McMANN, a daughter of Thomas McMANN, of one of the old-time families of Grant county. Mr. LONG purchased his present home very soon after his marriage. He has cleared it up by unflagging labor, and has added to it from time to time until he now owns a fine estate of four hundred acres of farm and timber land. For a number of years he has been one of the large cattle dealers of the southwestern part of the State, buying largely, fattening and shipping to the Chicago and other markets. Mrs. Mary LONG died in 1873, leaving her bereaved husband with two children, Gertrude and Dora. Gertrude died when an infant, and Dora, born in 1870, was educated at the State Normal at Platteville, and for several years was a successful teacher, but is now the wife of Samuel VANNATTA, Jr., of the town of Harrison, and the mother of one daughter, Lela.

In April 1874, Mr. LONG married his present wife, Miss Mary HIMAN, in the town of Paris, who is the daughter of O. P. and Irene J. (LOUTHAIN) HIMAN, an old pioneer family of the town of Harrison. Mrs. LONG was born in Paris in August, 1853. She was reared to womanhood in Grant county, and received her education from the public schools. After her marriage she settled with her husband on his farm, and became the mother of two children, of whom only one is living, Ida and Bertha. Ida, born Aug. 26, 1878, died in August, 1892; she was a bright, thoughtful and loving girl, and her affectionate disposition endeared her to her parents and her young companions, and her loss left a vacancy in this home that can never be filled. The mother is a member of the Congregational Church of Mt. Zion in the town of Harrison. Mr. LONG is a supporter of the Republican party, and takes much interest in the cause of education, religion, and every forward movement. Henry LONG began life on his own footing. He formed habits of industry and prudence which have attended him through life. What he earned he carefully invested, and from a small beginning he now owns one of the largest stock farms in the town of Harrison. He keeps large herds of fine cattle which go forward to market at the most favorable season, and he is a wealthy and prosperous farmer, standing high in the esteem of the people of Grant county.




This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck