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Messages - jlongstreth45

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The Lighter Side / Re: Blog: Mundane to Sublime
« on: Saturday 30 October 10 19:19 BST (UK)  »
I doubt that there is much more to the shift in the spelling of the Langstroth/Longstreth/Longstroth/Longstreath name than pronunciation conventions and historical move towards standardized spelling that paralleled the early migrations of the Ameraican Longstreths.  The immigrants to America that became predominantly Longstreth arrived about 1700; the wave that used the Langstroth spelling after arriving in North America arrived 50-75 years later, so spent at least 2-3 more generations in the English homelands.  In that interval, the US public school system had begun to develop, and towards the end of that time span Noah Webster's Speller had appeared and begun to be used in American schools.  This educational tool tended to produce standardized spelling, whereas previously the spelling in many documents appeared to driven more by phonetics than tradition.  This is true even in the early US census records where there are numerous spelling variations of the Longstreth name.  There are even cases where the same newspaper spelled the name of the same Longstreth person multiple ways.

So the first wave of Langstroths to America had multiple generations to Americanize before their Langstroth cousins in the second wave came over, and the environmental pressures leading to accent, pronunciation and spelling changes were substantially different.  I suspect also that in England, there was a similar movement towards standardizing spelling, in which case the second wave of Langstroths may well have "known" how to spell their name before they arrived, which might not have been the case 50-100 years earlier.

A small group of Longstreths in western PA adopted the spelling Longstreath, which is not a huge surprise if one recognizes that a diphthong accent is not particularly unusual in that Pennsylvania and West Virginia area.  The peculiar thing about this particular spelling variant is that not everyone in a family necessarily adheres to it - so various sons and daughters of a father who uses the "ea" spelling, may keep the "ea" spelling, or may revert back to the "e" spelling. That makes for an interesting challenge for the genealogist to place family members, even now.  The "ea" spelling currently has 3 geographical foci because of assorted migrations that have occurred - western Pennsylvania, western Ohio and Oklahoma.

The Longstroth spelling appears to be associated with a third wave of immigration from England.  As near as I can tell, the original Longstroths may have immigrated to America from England to join the Mormon movement.  They originally settled in Utah, but are now located in a few other western states also.

I suspect that there are more Longstreth/Langstroths in England than most people realize.  A look through Facebook can identify at least 3 sets of families in England with members in the younger generations.  And I encountered two or three groups without trying too hard in the Skipton and Yorkshire areas back in 2002 when I visited.  There also appears to be a branch of the family name in Ireland.  But I have not been trying to follow all these so cannot personally identify the assorted connects, even if I suspect they exist.

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The Lighter Side / Re: Blog: Mundane to Sublime
« on: Friday 29 October 10 18:35 BST (UK)  »
Continuation of the Longstreth history in America

Generations 6 and 7
Recovery from the Civil War coincided with the opening of vast new territories from North Dakota to Oklahoma, and from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains. The economics of the country were also changing rapidly during this time. Migrating Longstreths included, in addition to the usual farmers, many employed in industries (coal mining, oil fields, railroads, steel plants, construction), and the service sectors (real estate, insurance, medicine). Oil workers from the Pennsylvania oil fields moved to Oklahoma and Texas; farmers from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri moved to Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma to homestead. The Dakotas attracted two Longstreth physician families – one from Ohio, the other from Iowa. Teachers and war veterans from Iowa moved to Arkansas; blacksmiths, coal miners and construction workers fanned out across the new western lands and became farmers, real estate agents, railroad workers, and even a gold miner or two.

In addition to the westward and southwestward migrations, for the first time we encounter Longstreths migrating back east. Part of this was related to education with sons and daughters being sent to prestigious eastern schools as families gained more wealth, but also, occupations were changing as urbanization crept westward. The maturing country found Longstreths who grew up in the former frontier area choosing to practice their crafts and professions in the large governmental, financial, cultural, teaching and research centers of the east coast. Families that had left the east coast nearly 200 years before, now saw their sons and daughters heading back to the lands of the original homesteads to find their place in society. (Actually some family members have taken the historical return route so far as to end up back in England.

Generations 7 and 8
Are you wondering when the Longstreths got to California? Longstreth adventurers were visiting California, by sea and by land almost from the beginning of California’s emergence as a commercial destination. However, the 1900 census is the first to find a significant number of Longstreth families settled there. That is also the first census to show Longstreths living in Washington state and Oregon, suggesting that settling the west coat was the result of another wave of migration. The families appearing on the west coast came from Philadelphia, western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kansas (and one Longstreth family claiming to be from Mexico).

By the 1930 to 1950s, Longstreths were located throughout the continental United States, in Alaska and Hawaii and several provinces of Canada. There are also anecdotal reports of family members settling in Mexico, or further south in Latin America. Today, 300 years after landing in Philadelphia, Longstreths can be found in almost all the states of the US, with the largest numbers residing in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan (moving there from Pennsylvania to work the auto plants, and from Ohio to farm the orchards), California and Florida. It appears that 90% or more of the Longstreths alive in the US today are direct descendants of either Bartholomew or Martin Longstreth (the two brothers mentioned at the beginning of this note). There are some Longstreths, especially in a line historically connected to New Jersey that may be descended from one or more other Longstreths. Then, there is the Longstreth branch that originated in Ohio and Indiana area about 1900. Literally, they originated there, the result of a name change about 1918 when a family of three decided to change their last name, and the name they chose was “Longstreth”. Descendants of that family have kept the name Longstreth.

Here ends this short rendition of the first 300 years of the Longstreth family settling in America. It is fairly safe to guess that when you meet another Longstreth, you are probably related (unless you know you are part of the small group originating with the name change in Ohio). The current generation of Longstreths (those being born near the beginning of the 21st century) are typically the 10th generation of Longstreths in America. The most distantly related individuals will be 9th cousins to each other, their common ancestor being 11 generations back (Christopher Longstreth of Yorkshire, England).

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The Lighter Side / Re: Blog: Mundane to Sublime
« on: Friday 29 October 10 18:30 BST (UK)  »
Continuation of the Longstreth history in America

Generation 4
Generation 4 continued the movement begun by generation 3. Even more families living in western Pennsylvania pulled up stakes and headed westwards, settling in western Ohio (around Dayton was popular) and eastern Indiana. Families leaving the Philadelphia area during this generation moved to central Ohio (in or near Columbus), western Ohio (near Dayton), and Meigs County (near the border with West Virginia).

These westward migrations now brought small collections of the two Longstreth branches (one branch being Bartholomew’s descendants and the other being Martin’s descendants), separated for 2-4 generations, back into close proximity to each other. All signs indicate that these two converging family lines were no longer aware of their common heritage, even though only 100-150 years had past. To this day the Dayton, Ohio area contains a mix of descendants of Bartholomew Longstreth and descendants of Martin Longstreth (and another group also, but I hope to come back to that later).

Generations 5 and 6
The next migration wave in the Longstreth families began around 1850, continued through the Civil War and until about 1880. The predominant destination in this round was the upper Midwest, especially Iowa and Missouri. Iowa had a least four independent foci of Longstreth settlers within a 25 year span –three Longstreth siblings from Philadelphia moved their families to Muscatine (eastern Iowa); two siblings from Dayton, Ohio (descendants of the western PA line) moved their families to Letts, just a few miles from Muscatine; three siblings and at least two cousins moved their families from eastern Ohio (Morgan/Perry counties) to Union County (south central Iowa); and finally, three or more siblings from West Virginia moved their families to Iowa County (central Iowa). Longstreth families from Morgan/Perry counties settled in northern Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota; at least two families from Philadelphia went to St. Louis; and another family left New Jersey for Kansas.

By 1880 Longstreths could be found in most of the northern states from Pennsylvania to Kansas, but almost none had headed south except for the border states of Maryland, Virginia and Missouri, although many had business connections in southern cities. Many Longstreths were soldiers in the Civil War - Longstreths from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa can be found on the rosters of the Union Army. I have not yet come across any Longstreths in the Confederate army, but that does not mean there weren’t some. This pattern may just be the result of the vast majority of the Longstreth migration in the 1700s and 1800s being westward across northern states. However, one cannot discount the strong Quaker heritage in the family. Several branches of the Longstreth family contained outspoken and active Abolitionists, and there are numerous tales within the family of ancestors acting as way stations on the underground railroad.


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The Lighter Side / Re: Blog: Mundane to Sublime
« on: Friday 29 October 10 18:23 BST (UK)  »
I am providing below a copy of a short history of Longstreths in America that I circulated a few years ago to my relatives.  I may need multiple posts to present the entire document.
Leaving England
The Longstreth story in America began in 1699 with Bartholomew Longstreth’s arrival in Philadelphia from Yorkshire, England. He was part of the Quaker exodus from England to Pennsylvania orchestrated by William Penn. At least one of his brothers (or perhaps cousins), Martin, followed soon thereafter. It is possible that one or two other brothers or cousins came over about the same time, because direct descendants of Bartholomew and Martin may not account for all the Longstreths in America (especially
some in New Jersey).

Settling near Philadelphia
Both Bartholomew (about 30 years old when he arrived) and Martin (about 25 years old when he arrived) settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. Bartholomew became a farmer and businessman, while Martin, at 7 foot, 2 ½ inches tall, made a livelihood as a traveling brazer, or tinker, with a circuit that included parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and perhaps Virginia.

First Families
At the age of 48 Bartholomew married Ann Dawson, a woman 24 years his junior and the daughter of a local inn keeper (The Crooked Billet). They had 11 children, 9 of whom reached adulthood, all staying in the Philadelphia area, and raising their families there. Some moved a county westward, others a bit north, or south (e.g., Baltimore and Virginia) or east (New Jersey), but generally they remained within 25-50 miles of the Old Homestead.

Martin, the other brother being followed in this note, married a woman by the name of Abigail. Her first name is about all that we know about her. They had at least 3 children, one of them also being named Martin. This younger Martin frequently referred to himself as “Bartholomew, Jr”, which suggests he may have had a close relationship with his uncle (i.e., the Bartholomew mentioned in the previous paragraph). This younger Martin left the Philadelphia area about 1765-1770 with his teenage and young adult sons, heading west into the Indian lands of western Pennsylvania. They settled in Bedford County near the spot where today Interstate 76 heads into the tunnel under Sideling Hill.

Thus, descendants of the two brothers became geographically separated with the second generation in America, even before the start of the American Revolution. The two groups have become known as the “Philadelphia Longstreths” and the “Western (Pennsylvania) Longstreths.

The American Revolution
Many of the Philadelphia Longstreths remained members of the Quaker movement, whereas the Longstreths who moved to western Pennsylvania appear to have dropped their formal affiliation soon after the move. By the time of the Revolutionary War, the third generation of Longstreths in America had reached adulthood. Some Longstreth families in the Philadelphia and Valley Forge area actually had skirmishes occur on their lands and roadways during the Revolution. The Longstreths in western Pennsylvania had sons and husbands who become soldiers in the Revolutionary army. One of these sons, Bartholomew, the eldest son of the younger Martin, never returned home from the War and is presumed to have died during some campaign.

Generation 3 Moves On
Longstreths of the third generation in America joined the early wave of westward movement into newly opened territories. Some Longstreths of this generation, although born in the Philadelphia area, spent much of their adult life on newly staked out farms or in new communities in Ohio –Springfield, Tuscarawas, and Fort Ancient appear in the records. Most of the Longstreths of Bedford County left there during this generation, heading onward. One brother took his family north, settling near Pittsburgh; another brother moved his family to the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, while the family of a third brother moved to eastern Ohio, just south of Zanesville.  Even now most of the Longstreths around Pittsburgh can trace their ancestry, replete with coal miners and oil field workers, back to one brother who moved there about 1800. Most of the Longstreths in southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia can trace their ancestry of farmers and coalminers back to another brother who moved there about 1820, and to this day, most of the Longstreths living in Ohio east of Columbus and south of Akron can trace their ancestry of farmers, coal miners and pottery makers, to the third brother whose family settled in Morgan and Perry Counties about 1815.

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The Lighter Side / Re: Blog: Mundane to Sublime
« on: Thursday 21 October 10 02:16 BST (UK)  »
Its been many months since the last posting here, but maybe some of the Langstroth line are still active.  I have been working on a genealogy of the Longstreths of America for the past several years and have about 80% of them since 1700 into a single family tree (30,000 strong with about 3,500 having the Longstreth surname).  Leave a reply if we might have some overlap in interests.

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