Bio. of Tom Dean Long ~ husband of Miss. Maggie Crilly
IOWA
ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION
VOLUME III
1804-1926
T. D. LONG
Tom Dean Long is prominently connected with journalism in northwestern Iowa,
being one of the owners and editors of the Manson Journal and Democrat, one
of the most popular papers of Calhoun county, comparing favorably with the
best local sheets in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and
mechanical execution. The county regards Mr. Long not only as a keen
newspaper man but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that effects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and respect of the people. There are probably few men who can lay claim to a longer line of pioneer ancestors than Mr. Long. The paternal ancestral line is traced back to Scotland, where the family was established for a number of generations. In the course of time the Long family, together with some neighbors, went to Ireland to plant the seeds of Protestantism and incidentally to establish a home. Time passed, and again the love of
adventure of the lure of pioneer life started a part of the Long family overseas. In 1720 John Long, with his wife and children, landed at Salem, Massachusetts. Here the family remained forty years, when again the pioneer fever took possession of them and the entire family moved to Shelburne, Massachusetts, which at that time was a frontier settlement, so that the Indians were for years a constant menace to the peace of the community. As time passed, the
family again turned their faces westward, seeking the open spaces, some going to western Pennsylvania, some to eastern Ohio, and in 1842 Alonzo Long went to Wisconsin, making his home near Sun Prairie, about twelve miles east of Madison.
There was at that time no railroad in that section of Wisconsin and the
farmers hauled their wheat to Milwaukee, a distance of seventy miles, and as
there were no graveled roads it took a week to make the journey. The local
merchants usually made arrangements with the farmers to haul a load of merchandise for them on the return trip. That was the period of state bank currency, and when a farmer received his pay for a load of grain the only safety for him lay in spending it as soon as possible, for bank failures were numerous, and when a bank went down it carried down a lot of currency, which condition made both pioneering and farming doubly hard.
Several years before Mr. Long went to Wisconsin, Richard Dean and his family
removed to that state from near Manchester, England, and purchased a large
tract of land sixteen miles east of Madison. Mr. Dean was the father of four
sons and five daughters, of whom Mary was next to the oldest. Alonzo Long
became a frequent caller at the Dean home and in 1844 he and Mary Dean were
united in marriage. To this union were born four children, Tom Dean Long being
the youngest and the only one surviving. In 1862 Alonzo Long died, and in
1866 his widow became the wife of Nelson Bacon, who was something of a trader and had come into possession of a thousand acres of land situated in Calhoun county, Iowa. Because of possessing this land, and on account of financial conditions at Deansville, Wisconsin, the family decided to move to Iowa and start over again in a new country. They arrived in Lake City, March 18, 1868, and remained there two weeks while the household goods and other effects were being hauled from Glidden, on the Northwestern railroad, to the new home at Twin Lakes.
Through a peculiar provision of the land laws of the country, central
Calhoun county was slow in developing. The south tier of townships was settled in the early '60s by people from Cass county, Michigan. Coon river and Lake creek passed through the southwest part of the county, and along the borders of
these two streams there was an abundance of timber. Here the first settlers made their homes. The north tier of townships was divided between the proposed railroad and the homesteaders. Every odd numbered section went to the
railroad and every even numbered section was homestead land. In 1867 and 1868 the homesteads were all taken up. Thus there were settlements in the north and the south parts of the county, but the two middle tiers of townships were owned by what were known as speculators. This land lay wild for many years after both the north and south parts of the county were well settled. The Bacon land was in the middle tier of townships and so the Bacon home was four
miles from a neighbor, sixteen miles from a store and twenty miles from a mill. Their first home was built of hay and sod. Posts were set in the ground and poles laid from one to another; then across these other poles were laid.
Brush was then laid over all and hay on top of the brush, and last, but not least, sod was laid over the hay, the sod having a double purpose, first, to keep out the cold, and second, to protect the hay from sparks from the smoke pipe.
It was perhaps a rude combination, but many a weary traveler was glad to spend a night under such a roof.
For a time after the family located here there was no school within traveling distance, and so the younger children received no schooling then. However, after a long controversy with the powers that controlled the township to the north, to which this middle township was attached, a three-months school was provided, and here the Long boys, George and Tom, received a meager education. When Tom D. Long was nineteen years old he left the home farm and went to Manson, where he entered the office of the Journal as an apprentice to the printing trade. His older brother, George I. Long, had purchased a half interest in the paper and shortly afterwards the firm of Long Brothers was formed and took over the entire business. A little later a combination of circumstances brought about a political upheaval. The Journal was the only paper in the county to side with the dissenters and in the political fight that followed it took a leading part. The bolters swept the county from coroner to treasurer and the Journal and the Longs at once became a power in the political affairs of the community. During the more than forty-five years that have elapsed since that contest the Journal and the Longs have retained their prestige.
During his forty-six years' residence in Manson, T. D. Long has served his
community as councilman, school director and mayor, and for thirteen years was
postmaster. While taking part in both local and state politics for many
years, his political connections have been, with few exceptions, in the interest
of his friends.l The minor offices he held were taken mostly to convince
his opponents that he could be elected if he wished. Although never a member
of the legislature, he has been instrumental in having a number of important
laws passed. The most far-reaching one, and the one in which he takes the
greatest pride, is that creating the state board of conservation and authorizing
the establishment of state parks. Some twenty years ago the Journal began
advocating state parks for the benefit of the whole population of the state.
For a time there was little or no response to his efforts but in 1916 he
secured the cooperation of two state senators, P. C. Holdoegel and W. W.
Anderson, and the law was passed. Since that time more than forty parks and
recreation grounds have been established under this beneficent law.
On June 9, 1883, Mr. Long was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Crilly, who
also is the child of pioneer parents, the Crilly family being one of the
first to settle near Fort Dodge, in 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Long have been born
three daughters, the eldest of whom died in infancy. The second daughter,
Beulah, is the wife of Colonel Casper Schenk, of Des Moines, and the youngest,
Merian, is associated with her father on the Journal and Democrat.
http://www.iagenweb.org/history/index.htmlhttp://www.iagenweb.org/history/index.html
More Replies:
-
Re: Bio. of Tom Dean Long ~ husband of Miss. Maggie Crilly
Deborah Stanley 4/22/05