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.
