Wife: Emma (Eastman) (1840 - 23 Aug 1878)
married 1864
Wife: Ellen "Nellie" C. (Chase) (1 Mar 1860 - 2 Feb 1883)
married 1879
Wife: Annie (Collins) (15 Feb 1857 - 17 Sep 1922)
married 1888
Father: Marston M. Long (Feb 1802 - 24 Nov 1874)
married 1828
Mother: Betsy (Loud) (12 Jun 1803 - 6 Apr 1887)
The following was taken from a souvenir issue of the Aroostook Republican printed during 1895:
"Here he [Mr. Long] has made from the wilderness a farm of 200 acres that will compare favorably in beauty and production with any farm in the County. Of this 200 acres, Mr. Long cleared 150 acres himself. His largest crop of potatoes was raised last year. From 45 acres he harvested 3200 barrels - a yield of about 238 bushels per acre. Of other crops he raised 1200 bushels of oats and 75 tons of hay. A few years ago he raised 375 bushels of wheat but does not think wheat as profitable a crop as potatoes.
Aside from his 200 acres of cleared land Mr. Long has about 200 acres of woodland. He has 100 acres of land plowed and ready for next seasons planting and he proposes to plant the whole of this tract with potatoes.
All large farmers in the County now have potato planters and potato diggers as much as they have mowing machines and horse rakes and we found Mr. Long well supplied with all modern farming implements. He built a potato house near his dwelling house last fall and in which he now has stored 1500 barrels of potatoes.
Several years ago Mr Long erected a building in the Village [Limestone] which is now used for a general store, the proprietors being himself, John M. Ward and W. B. Ward.
In 1884 Mr. Long erected the large building at the Village, the lower part of which is occupied by C. W. Trafton as a general store and the upper of which is used as a hall. Mr Long and the Ward brothers who are associated with him in the store contemplate building a starch factory the coming season on Shirley Brook in Caribou.
The following is a description of Warren A. Long written by his daughter Ethel M. (Long) Noyes about 1978.
"My first memories of my father are trudging behind him as he sowed grain or dropped potato seed and on Sundays going along with him to salt the sheep in the sheep pasture where he gave the sheep their weekly ration of salt. I can still hear him calling "Ka-Dah, Ka-Dah" and see the sheep come running and tumbling over each other in their eagerness to eat salt from his hand.
He was a slight wiry man with more vitality and energy than any man I have ever seen. He had thick white curly hair and a long white beard. I never saw him without this white beard as he was quite old when I was born. He was never sick and although he worked from daylight until dark I have often heard him say he never knew what it was like to be tired, therefore he had no patience with the ailing or weary.
He left his home in New Hampshire when he was a young man coming to the little town of Limestone, Maine when it was virtually a wilderness. With his two hands he cleared three farms which are now numbered among the best farms in Aroostook County. I have often heard people say there was no one who could keep up with him. He was one of the first to envision a great future for Aroostook County. He realized he had a particular type of soil suitable for the raising of potatoes and was the first man who ventured to raise 100 acres all in one field. He sold them for 25 cents a barrel but that did not discourage him.
In the years that followed he had many ups and downs and in 1890 [when] he was 50, he lost everything - he had heavily mortgaged, with given determination he worked harder than ever until he was free of debt again.
He was married three times and had three sets of children so that for 40 years he had children in school. We enjoyed sitting around the kitchen table studying with a big bowl of apples in the center while he popped corn for us. He had very little schooling, but educated himself by reading. There was no problem in arithmetic that he could not solve in his head. He used to become very exasperated with us when we could not work them out on paper after he had explained them to us. His temper was quickly and easily aroused and his favorite expression was "Hell and Damnation".
We had a shelf in the kitchen where we kept a comb and a dipper for drinking purposes. He wanted them always in their places and as [they] seldom were, he chained them to the shelf with a heavy chain. It also bothered him terrible because some of us were [always] looking for a pin and were never able to find one. He went down town and bought 27 papers of pins and nailed one on the wall of every room in the house. Naturally this brought forth expressions of curiosity from visitors and embarrassment to no end. With six girls to dress, in his lean years he found it cheaper to buy a whole bolt of cloth.
Whenever he entered a room he would grab the window shade and let them go to the top with a bang. My father never smoked or drank but kept his pockets filled with Canada peppermints and raisins. He was either chewing on one or sucking on the other. He would sit in our parlor and eat raisins and when his mouth was full of seeds he would blow them all over the floor. He was very fond of children and had plenty around partly on account of the raisins. Although he was a hard worker, he ate very little. He loved salt pork, hash, pancakes, gingerbread, sour milk, biscuits and applesauce, pumpkin pie, and molasses doughnuts. Every Sunday night he cooked himself a mess of corn meal mush - 20 minuets stirring continuously. The next day when it was cold, my mother would slice it and fry [in] butter and serve it with molasses. He never wanted any change in his diet.
Carpentry was his hobby and he was always thinking up something new. We were in seventh heaven when we moved [to the new house in Caribou] of course we did not have enough furniture to furnish it so my father installed twin beds. He wanted to have enough [room] for all the company. We had to be a little different, he put odd shaped door knobs on all the doors. He built a beautiful lawn putting a row of concrete blocks up the center, he mixed his own concrete putting dyes in it [resulting in] every block being a different color -needless to say we did not like it a bit. He built a nice garage and spoiled it by painting it red, white and blue. He loved to startle people. Not withstanding all his oddness, he was a good indulgent father, a kind neighbor, a trustworthy man whose word was as good as his bond. He had all the stamina and grit of a spartan.
Doctors were scarce and dentists unheard of so he did most of his own doctoring. Once he operated on his knee with his jack knife removing a piece of bone - it heeled right up. Another time a horse stepped on his foot and an infection set in his toe. He calmly put his foot on a block and chopped the toe off. I have heard him tell of prying an aching tooth out with some kind of a lever that he had among his farm implements. Years later he had all his teeth extracted without [a pain killer]. He was absolute boss in the family and his word was law. There were no secrets kept from him because he had the sharpest ears and keenness eyes - nothing escaped him. He loved sunshine and hated curtains at the windows saying "those damn curtains"."
The following is a letter written by Warren A. Long at the time of his second wife's death:
Limestone, Feb 18, 1883
Dear Mother, Brother & Sister,
It has been a long time since I wrote you, how long I do not know. I have had so many cares so much to do that I have left many things undone that I had ought to have done. I have sad news to write, I am left alone again, my dear wife, my poor little Nellie is gone and I feel so lonely. She was taken sick about the middle of Oct. with the pneumonia which broke down her lungs and ended in the quick consumption. From the time she took her bed until she died the 2 of Feb, she was very sick all the time could not be balstred up in bed more than half upright and that but a few minutes. Patient and cheerful taking an interest and directing the girls about the work till the very last. I wish you could have known her - so kind and thoughtful ever trying to help and assist those around her. She had many friends. I have known her from the time her mother died when she was only five or six years old. Poor little Nellie is possible that I am never to see her dear form again, never hear her play and sing again. O it is too much, it cannot be right to take one so young and good and useful, one that is needed so much and leave those that are not
much good for themselves or anyone else.
She was 19 when we were married three years last August. We have a little girl born last April. One of the neighbors are taking care of her and will till I can make other arrangements. Our school is keeping and a girl is working her board and going with the children so that I am alone through the day and it is very lonely. If Nellie could have lived, what comfort we would have taken with our baby this winter but what a change. I do not know what I will do this summer, if I let the farm the family will be separated and perhaps never live together again and it is so hard to get a good housekeeper, one that you can trust with everything and will take any interest in the work what changes it seems but yesterday that I was left alone before. I am almost discouraged so much to think of and so much to do.
How is Melissa poor girl her lot has been hard. I suppose there is not much hope of her getting well. I must write to her soon.
I want you all to write and don't worry about me for we have plenty to make us comfortable.
W. A. L.
Warren not only was a successful farmer and business man but he also wrote poetry. See the following poem:
THE OLD PIONEER
THE OLD PIONEER WITH HIS BRAWN AND HIS MUSCLE
IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS OFTEN HAD QUITE A TUSSLE:
FOR OFTEN HE MET WITH A GREAT DEAL OF LOSS
BY HAILSTORM OR TEMPEST OR UNTIMELY FROST.
HE AWOKE IN THE MORNING, WAS UP WITH THE LARK
HE WORKED LIKE A TROOPER FROM DAYLIGHT TILL DARK
WITH The AXE AND THE HOE AND THE OLD WOODEN SPUD
HE MINGLED HIS SWEAT WITH THE SMUT AND THE MUD
THE OLD PIONEER'S ALWAYS READY AND WILLING
TO GIVE YOU A LIFT OR TO LEND YOU A SHILLING,
BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THAT WE'LL REAP AS WE SOW
AND HE'LL DO WHAT IS RIGHT TO MAKE THE THING GO.
FOR THE OLD PIONEER, WE'VE THE GREATEST RESPECT
AND HAVE NOT A DOUBT BUT HE'S ALL THE ELECT:
FOR TO DO ANY MISCHIEF NO TIME DID HE TAKE
AND HE OUGHT TO FAREWELL FOR SWEET JUSTICE'S SAKE.
THE OLD PIONEER, OH! LONG MAY HE LIVE
THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD, OLD AROOSTOOK TO GIVE
THESE MEN WHO COULD CONQUER AND BUILD UP A TOWN
WITH LITTLE REWARD AND LOSS OF RENOWN.
THE OLD PIONEER, HIS HAIR'S TURNING WHITE
HE FOUGHT A HARD BATTLE, BUT WON A GOOD FIGHT,
WITH EYE ON THE FUTURE AND HAND ON THE PLOW
THE SUCCESSES HE'S WON BRINGS THE VICTORY NOW.
THE COUNTRY IS GROWING SO GREAT AND SO FAST
THAT THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON BE OF THE PAST.
BUT WORKS THAT ARE LAID ON A SOLID FOUNDATION
WILL HAVE A GOOD BEARING ON COUNTRY AND NATION.
THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON PASS FROM OUR VIEW
THE OLD BE REPLACED BY THE MODERN AND NEW
WHEN THE RIVER'LL BE CROSSED AND CROSSED WITHOUT FEAR
WE'LL ALL SAY FAREWELL TO THE OLD PIONEER.
by W. A. LONG
Click Here for Family History
married 1864
Wife: Ellen "Nellie" C. (Chase) (1 Mar 1860 - 2 Feb 1883)
married 1879
Wife: Annie (Collins) (15 Feb 1857 - 17 Sep 1922)
married 1888
Father: Marston M. Long (Feb 1802 - 24 Nov 1874)
married 1828
Mother: Betsy (Loud) (12 Jun 1803 - 6 Apr 1887)
The following was taken from a souvenir issue of the Aroostook Republican printed during 1895:
"Here he [Mr. Long] has made from the wilderness a farm of 200 acres that will compare favorably in beauty and production with any farm in the County. Of this 200 acres, Mr. Long cleared 150 acres himself. His largest crop of potatoes was raised last year. From 45 acres he harvested 3200 barrels - a yield of about 238 bushels per acre. Of other crops he raised 1200 bushels of oats and 75 tons of hay. A few years ago he raised 375 bushels of wheat but does not think wheat as profitable a crop as potatoes.
Aside from his 200 acres of cleared land Mr. Long has about 200 acres of woodland. He has 100 acres of land plowed and ready for next seasons planting and he proposes to plant the whole of this tract with potatoes.
All large farmers in the County now have potato planters and potato diggers as much as they have mowing machines and horse rakes and we found Mr. Long well supplied with all modern farming implements. He built a potato house near his dwelling house last fall and in which he now has stored 1500 barrels of potatoes.
Several years ago Mr Long erected a building in the Village [Limestone] which is now used for a general store, the proprietors being himself, John M. Ward and W. B. Ward.
In 1884 Mr. Long erected the large building at the Village, the lower part of which is occupied by C. W. Trafton as a general store and the upper of which is used as a hall. Mr Long and the Ward brothers who are associated with him in the store contemplate building a starch factory the coming season on Shirley Brook in Caribou.
The following is a description of Warren A. Long written by his daughter Ethel M. (Long) Noyes about 1978.
"My first memories of my father are trudging behind him as he sowed grain or dropped potato seed and on Sundays going along with him to salt the sheep in the sheep pasture where he gave the sheep their weekly ration of salt. I can still hear him calling "Ka-Dah, Ka-Dah" and see the sheep come running and tumbling over each other in their eagerness to eat salt from his hand.
He was a slight wiry man with more vitality and energy than any man I have ever seen. He had thick white curly hair and a long white beard. I never saw him without this white beard as he was quite old when I was born. He was never sick and although he worked from daylight until dark I have often heard him say he never knew what it was like to be tired, therefore he had no patience with the ailing or weary.
He left his home in New Hampshire when he was a young man coming to the little town of Limestone, Maine when it was virtually a wilderness. With his two hands he cleared three farms which are now numbered among the best farms in Aroostook County. I have often heard people say there was no one who could keep up with him. He was one of the first to envision a great future for Aroostook County. He realized he had a particular type of soil suitable for the raising of potatoes and was the first man who ventured to raise 100 acres all in one field. He sold them for 25 cents a barrel but that did not discourage him.
In the years that followed he had many ups and downs and in 1890 [when] he was 50, he lost everything - he had heavily mortgaged, with given determination he worked harder than ever until he was free of debt again.
He was married three times and had three sets of children so that for 40 years he had children in school. We enjoyed sitting around the kitchen table studying with a big bowl of apples in the center while he popped corn for us. He had very little schooling, but educated himself by reading. There was no problem in arithmetic that he could not solve in his head. He used to become very exasperated with us when we could not work them out on paper after he had explained them to us. His temper was quickly and easily aroused and his favorite expression was "Hell and Damnation".
We had a shelf in the kitchen where we kept a comb and a dipper for drinking purposes. He wanted them always in their places and as [they] seldom were, he chained them to the shelf with a heavy chain. It also bothered him terrible because some of us were [always] looking for a pin and were never able to find one. He went down town and bought 27 papers of pins and nailed one on the wall of every room in the house. Naturally this brought forth expressions of curiosity from visitors and embarrassment to no end. With six girls to dress, in his lean years he found it cheaper to buy a whole bolt of cloth.
Whenever he entered a room he would grab the window shade and let them go to the top with a bang. My father never smoked or drank but kept his pockets filled with Canada peppermints and raisins. He was either chewing on one or sucking on the other. He would sit in our parlor and eat raisins and when his mouth was full of seeds he would blow them all over the floor. He was very fond of children and had plenty around partly on account of the raisins. Although he was a hard worker, he ate very little. He loved salt pork, hash, pancakes, gingerbread, sour milk, biscuits and applesauce, pumpkin pie, and molasses doughnuts. Every Sunday night he cooked himself a mess of corn meal mush - 20 minuets stirring continuously. The next day when it was cold, my mother would slice it and fry [in] butter and serve it with molasses. He never wanted any change in his diet.
Carpentry was his hobby and he was always thinking up something new. We were in seventh heaven when we moved [to the new house in Caribou] of course we did not have enough furniture to furnish it so my father installed twin beds. He wanted to have enough [room] for all the company. We had to be a little different, he put odd shaped door knobs on all the doors. He built a beautiful lawn putting a row of concrete blocks up the center, he mixed his own concrete putting dyes in it [resulting in] every block being a different color -needless to say we did not like it a bit. He built a nice garage and spoiled it by painting it red, white and blue. He loved to startle people. Not withstanding all his oddness, he was a good indulgent father, a kind neighbor, a trustworthy man whose word was as good as his bond. He had all the stamina and grit of a spartan.
Doctors were scarce and dentists unheard of so he did most of his own doctoring. Once he operated on his knee with his jack knife removing a piece of bone - it heeled right up. Another time a horse stepped on his foot and an infection set in his toe. He calmly put his foot on a block and chopped the toe off. I have heard him tell of prying an aching tooth out with some kind of a lever that he had among his farm implements. Years later he had all his teeth extracted without [a pain killer]. He was absolute boss in the family and his word was law. There were no secrets kept from him because he had the sharpest ears and keenness eyes - nothing escaped him. He loved sunshine and hated curtains at the windows saying "those damn curtains"."
The following is a letter written by Warren A. Long at the time of his second wife's death:
Limestone, Feb 18, 1883
Dear Mother, Brother & Sister,
It has been a long time since I wrote you, how long I do not know. I have had so many cares so much to do that I have left many things undone that I had ought to have done. I have sad news to write, I am left alone again, my dear wife, my poor little Nellie is gone and I feel so lonely. She was taken sick about the middle of Oct. with the pneumonia which broke down her lungs and ended in the quick consumption. From the time she took her bed until she died the 2 of Feb, she was very sick all the time could not be balstred up in bed more than half upright and that but a few minutes. Patient and cheerful taking an interest and directing the girls about the work till the very last. I wish you could have known her - so kind and thoughtful ever trying to help and assist those around her. She had many friends. I have known her from the time her mother died when she was only five or six years old. Poor little Nellie is possible that I am never to see her dear form again, never hear her play and sing again. O it is too much, it cannot be right to take one so young and good and useful, one that is needed so much and leave those that are not
much good for themselves or anyone else.
She was 19 when we were married three years last August. We have a little girl born last April. One of the neighbors are taking care of her and will till I can make other arrangements. Our school is keeping and a girl is working her board and going with the children so that I am alone through the day and it is very lonely. If Nellie could have lived, what comfort we would have taken with our baby this winter but what a change. I do not know what I will do this summer, if I let the farm the family will be separated and perhaps never live together again and it is so hard to get a good housekeeper, one that you can trust with everything and will take any interest in the work what changes it seems but yesterday that I was left alone before. I am almost discouraged so much to think of and so much to do.
How is Melissa poor girl her lot has been hard. I suppose there is not much hope of her getting well. I must write to her soon.
I want you all to write and don't worry about me for we have plenty to make us comfortable.
W. A. L.
Warren not only was a successful farmer and business man but he also wrote poetry. See the following poem:
THE OLD PIONEER
THE OLD PIONEER WITH HIS BRAWN AND HIS MUSCLE
IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS OFTEN HAD QUITE A TUSSLE:
FOR OFTEN HE MET WITH A GREAT DEAL OF LOSS
BY HAILSTORM OR TEMPEST OR UNTIMELY FROST.
HE AWOKE IN THE MORNING, WAS UP WITH THE LARK
HE WORKED LIKE A TROOPER FROM DAYLIGHT TILL DARK
WITH The AXE AND THE HOE AND THE OLD WOODEN SPUD
HE MINGLED HIS SWEAT WITH THE SMUT AND THE MUD
THE OLD PIONEER'S ALWAYS READY AND WILLING
TO GIVE YOU A LIFT OR TO LEND YOU A SHILLING,
BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THAT WE'LL REAP AS WE SOW
AND HE'LL DO WHAT IS RIGHT TO MAKE THE THING GO.
FOR THE OLD PIONEER, WE'VE THE GREATEST RESPECT
AND HAVE NOT A DOUBT BUT HE'S ALL THE ELECT:
FOR TO DO ANY MISCHIEF NO TIME DID HE TAKE
AND HE OUGHT TO FAREWELL FOR SWEET JUSTICE'S SAKE.
THE OLD PIONEER, OH! LONG MAY HE LIVE
THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD, OLD AROOSTOOK TO GIVE
THESE MEN WHO COULD CONQUER AND BUILD UP A TOWN
WITH LITTLE REWARD AND LOSS OF RENOWN.
THE OLD PIONEER, HIS HAIR'S TURNING WHITE
HE FOUGHT A HARD BATTLE, BUT WON A GOOD FIGHT,
WITH EYE ON THE FUTURE AND HAND ON THE PLOW
THE SUCCESSES HE'S WON BRINGS THE VICTORY NOW.
THE COUNTRY IS GROWING SO GREAT AND SO FAST
THAT THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON BE OF THE PAST.
BUT WORKS THAT ARE LAID ON A SOLID FOUNDATION
WILL HAVE A GOOD BEARING ON COUNTRY AND NATION.
THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON PASS FROM OUR VIEW
THE OLD BE REPLACED BY THE MODERN AND NEW
WHEN THE RIVER'LL BE CROSSED AND CROSSED WITHOUT FEAR
WE'LL ALL SAY FAREWELL TO THE OLD PIONEER.
by W. A. LONG
Click Here for Family History
Wife: Emma (Eastman) (1840 - 23 Aug 1878)
married 1864
Wife: Ellen "Nellie" C. (Chase) (1 Mar 1860 - 2 Feb 1883)
married 1879
Wife: Annie (Collins) (15 Feb 1857 - 17 Sep 1922)
married 1888
Father: Marston M. Long (Feb 1802 - 24 Nov 1874)
married 1828
Mother: Betsy (Loud) (12 Jun 1803 - 6 Apr 1887)
The following was taken from a souvenir issue of the Aroostook Republican printed during 1895:
"Here he [Mr. Long] has made from the wilderness a farm of 200 acres that will compare favorably in beauty and production with any farm in the County. Of this 200 acres, Mr. Long cleared 150 acres himself. His largest crop of potatoes was raised last year. From 45 acres he harvested 3200 barrels - a yield of about 238 bushels per acre. Of other crops he raised 1200 bushels of oats and 75 tons of hay. A few years ago he raised 375 bushels of wheat but does not think wheat as profitable a crop as potatoes.
Aside from his 200 acres of cleared land Mr. Long has about 200 acres of woodland. He has 100 acres of land plowed and ready for next seasons planting and he proposes to plant the whole of this tract with potatoes.
All large farmers in the County now have potato planters and potato diggers as much as they have mowing machines and horse rakes and we found Mr. Long well supplied with all modern farming implements. He built a potato house near his dwelling house last fall and in which he now has stored 1500 barrels of potatoes.
Several years ago Mr Long erected a building in the Village [Limestone] which is now used for a general store, the proprietors being himself, John M. Ward and W. B. Ward.
In 1884 Mr. Long erected the large building at the Village, the lower part of which is occupied by C. W. Trafton as a general store and the upper of which is used as a hall. Mr Long and the Ward brothers who are associated with him in the store contemplate building a starch factory the coming season on Shirley Brook in Caribou.
The following is a description of Warren A. Long written by his daughter Ethel M. (Long) Noyes about 1978.
"My first memories of my father are trudging behind him as he sowed grain or dropped potato seed and on Sundays going along with him to salt the sheep in the sheep pasture where he gave the sheep their weekly ration of salt. I can still hear him calling "Ka-Dah, Ka-Dah" and see the sheep come running and tumbling over each other in their eagerness to eat salt from his hand.
He was a slight wiry man with more vitality and energy than any man I have ever seen. He had thick white curly hair and a long white beard. I never saw him without this white beard as he was quite old when I was born. He was never sick and although he worked from daylight until dark I have often heard him say he never knew what it was like to be tired, therefore he had no patience with the ailing or weary.
He left his home in New Hampshire when he was a young man coming to the little town of Limestone, Maine when it was virtually a wilderness. With his two hands he cleared three farms which are now numbered among the best farms in Aroostook County. I have often heard people say there was no one who could keep up with him. He was one of the first to envision a great future for Aroostook County. He realized he had a particular type of soil suitable for the raising of potatoes and was the first man who ventured to raise 100 acres all in one field. He sold them for 25 cents a barrel but that did not discourage him.
In the years that followed he had many ups and downs and in 1890 [when] he was 50, he lost everything - he had heavily mortgaged, with given determination he worked harder than ever until he was free of debt again.
He was married three times and had three sets of children so that for 40 years he had children in school. We enjoyed sitting around the kitchen table studying with a big bowl of apples in the center while he popped corn for us. He had very little schooling, but educated himself by reading. There was no problem in arithmetic that he could not solve in his head. He used to become very exasperated with us when we could not work them out on paper after he had explained them to us. His temper was quickly and easily aroused and his favorite expression was "Hell and Damnation".
We had a shelf in the kitchen where we kept a comb and a dipper for drinking purposes. He wanted them always in their places and as [they] seldom were, he chained them to the shelf with a heavy chain. It also bothered him terrible because some of us were [always] looking for a pin and were never able to find one. He went down town and bought 27 papers of pins and nailed one on the wall of every room in the house. Naturally this brought forth expressions of curiosity from visitors and embarrassment to no end. With six girls to dress, in his lean years he found it cheaper to buy a whole bolt of cloth.
Whenever he entered a room he would grab the window shade and let them go to the top with a bang. My father never smoked or drank but kept his pockets filled with Canada peppermints and raisins. He was either chewing on one or sucking on the other. He would sit in our parlor and eat raisins and when his mouth was full of seeds he would blow them all over the floor. He was very fond of children and had plenty around partly on account of the raisins. Although he was a hard worker, he ate very little. He loved salt pork, hash, pancakes, gingerbread, sour milk, biscuits and applesauce, pumpkin pie, and molasses doughnuts. Every Sunday night he cooked himself a mess of corn meal mush - 20 minuets stirring continuously. The next day when it was cold, my mother would slice it and fry [in] butter and serve it with molasses. He never wanted any change in his diet.
Carpentry was his hobby and he was always thinking up something new. We were in seventh heaven when we moved [to the new house in Caribou] of course we did not have enough furniture to furnish it so my father installed twin beds. He wanted to have enough [room] for all the company. We had to be a little different, he put odd shaped door knobs on all the doors. He built a beautiful lawn putting a row of concrete blocks up the center, he mixed his own concrete putting dyes in it [resulting in] every block being a different color -needless to say we did not like it a bit. He built a nice garage and spoiled it by painting it red, white and blue. He loved to startle people. Not withstanding all his oddness, he was a good indulgent father, a kind neighbor, a trustworthy man whose word was as good as his bond. He had all the stamina and grit of a spartan.
Doctors were scarce and dentists unheard of so he did most of his own doctoring. Once he operated on his knee with his jack knife removing a piece of bone - it heeled right up. Another time a horse stepped on his foot and an infection set in his toe. He calmly put his foot on a block and chopped the toe off. I have heard him tell of prying an aching tooth out with some kind of a lever that he had among his farm implements. Years later he had all his teeth extracted without [a pain killer]. He was absolute boss in the family and his word was law. There were no secrets kept from him because he had the sharpest ears and keenness eyes - nothing escaped him. He loved sunshine and hated curtains at the windows saying "those damn curtains"."
The following is a letter written by Warren A. Long at the time of his second wife's death:
Limestone, Feb 18, 1883
Dear Mother, Brother & Sister,
It has been a long time since I wrote you, how long I do not know. I have had so many cares so much to do that I have left many things undone that I had ought to have done. I have sad news to write, I am left alone again, my dear wife, my poor little Nellie is gone and I feel so lonely. She was taken sick about the middle of Oct. with the pneumonia which broke down her lungs and ended in the quick consumption. From the time she took her bed until she died the 2 of Feb, she was very sick all the time could not be balstred up in bed more than half upright and that but a few minutes. Patient and cheerful taking an interest and directing the girls about the work till the very last. I wish you could have known her - so kind and thoughtful ever trying to help and assist those around her. She had many friends. I have known her from the time her mother died when she was only five or six years old. Poor little Nellie is possible that I am never to see her dear form again, never hear her play and sing again. O it is too much, it cannot be right to take one so young and good and useful, one that is needed so much and leave those that are not
much good for themselves or anyone else.
She was 19 when we were married three years last August. We have a little girl born last April. One of the neighbors are taking care of her and will till I can make other arrangements. Our school is keeping and a girl is working her board and going with the children so that I am alone through the day and it is very lonely. If Nellie could have lived, what comfort we would have taken with our baby this winter but what a change. I do not know what I will do this summer, if I let the farm the family will be separated and perhaps never live together again and it is so hard to get a good housekeeper, one that you can trust with everything and will take any interest in the work what changes it seems but yesterday that I was left alone before. I am almost discouraged so much to think of and so much to do.
How is Melissa poor girl her lot has been hard. I suppose there is not much hope of her getting well. I must write to her soon.
I want you all to write and don't worry about me for we have plenty to make us comfortable.
W. A. L.
Warren not only was a successful farmer and business man but he also wrote poetry. See the following poem:
THE OLD PIONEER
THE OLD PIONEER WITH HIS BRAWN AND HIS MUSCLE
IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS OFTEN HAD QUITE A TUSSLE:
FOR OFTEN HE MET WITH A GREAT DEAL OF LOSS
BY HAILSTORM OR TEMPEST OR UNTIMELY FROST.
HE AWOKE IN THE MORNING, WAS UP WITH THE LARK
HE WORKED LIKE A TROOPER FROM DAYLIGHT TILL DARK
WITH The AXE AND THE HOE AND THE OLD WOODEN SPUD
HE MINGLED HIS SWEAT WITH THE SMUT AND THE MUD
THE OLD PIONEER'S ALWAYS READY AND WILLING
TO GIVE YOU A LIFT OR TO LEND YOU A SHILLING,
BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THAT WE'LL REAP AS WE SOW
AND HE'LL DO WHAT IS RIGHT TO MAKE THE THING GO.
FOR THE OLD PIONEER, WE'VE THE GREATEST RESPECT
AND HAVE NOT A DOUBT BUT HE'S ALL THE ELECT:
FOR TO DO ANY MISCHIEF NO TIME DID HE TAKE
AND HE OUGHT TO FAREWELL FOR SWEET JUSTICE'S SAKE.
THE OLD PIONEER, OH! LONG MAY HE LIVE
THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD, OLD AROOSTOOK TO GIVE
THESE MEN WHO COULD CONQUER AND BUILD UP A TOWN
WITH LITTLE REWARD AND LOSS OF RENOWN.
THE OLD PIONEER, HIS HAIR'S TURNING WHITE
HE FOUGHT A HARD BATTLE, BUT WON A GOOD FIGHT,
WITH EYE ON THE FUTURE AND HAND ON THE PLOW
THE SUCCESSES HE'S WON BRINGS THE VICTORY NOW.
THE COUNTRY IS GROWING SO GREAT AND SO FAST
THAT THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON BE OF THE PAST.
BUT WORKS THAT ARE LAID ON A SOLID FOUNDATION
WILL HAVE A GOOD BEARING ON COUNTRY AND NATION.
THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON PASS FROM OUR VIEW
THE OLD BE REPLACED BY THE MODERN AND NEW
WHEN THE RIVER'LL BE CROSSED AND CROSSED WITHOUT FEAR
WE'LL ALL SAY FAREWELL TO THE OLD PIONEER.
by W. A. LONG
Click Here for Family History
married 1864
Wife: Ellen "Nellie" C. (Chase) (1 Mar 1860 - 2 Feb 1883)
married 1879
Wife: Annie (Collins) (15 Feb 1857 - 17 Sep 1922)
married 1888
Father: Marston M. Long (Feb 1802 - 24 Nov 1874)
married 1828
Mother: Betsy (Loud) (12 Jun 1803 - 6 Apr 1887)
The following was taken from a souvenir issue of the Aroostook Republican printed during 1895:
"Here he [Mr. Long] has made from the wilderness a farm of 200 acres that will compare favorably in beauty and production with any farm in the County. Of this 200 acres, Mr. Long cleared 150 acres himself. His largest crop of potatoes was raised last year. From 45 acres he harvested 3200 barrels - a yield of about 238 bushels per acre. Of other crops he raised 1200 bushels of oats and 75 tons of hay. A few years ago he raised 375 bushels of wheat but does not think wheat as profitable a crop as potatoes.
Aside from his 200 acres of cleared land Mr. Long has about 200 acres of woodland. He has 100 acres of land plowed and ready for next seasons planting and he proposes to plant the whole of this tract with potatoes.
All large farmers in the County now have potato planters and potato diggers as much as they have mowing machines and horse rakes and we found Mr. Long well supplied with all modern farming implements. He built a potato house near his dwelling house last fall and in which he now has stored 1500 barrels of potatoes.
Several years ago Mr Long erected a building in the Village [Limestone] which is now used for a general store, the proprietors being himself, John M. Ward and W. B. Ward.
In 1884 Mr. Long erected the large building at the Village, the lower part of which is occupied by C. W. Trafton as a general store and the upper of which is used as a hall. Mr Long and the Ward brothers who are associated with him in the store contemplate building a starch factory the coming season on Shirley Brook in Caribou.
The following is a description of Warren A. Long written by his daughter Ethel M. (Long) Noyes about 1978.
"My first memories of my father are trudging behind him as he sowed grain or dropped potato seed and on Sundays going along with him to salt the sheep in the sheep pasture where he gave the sheep their weekly ration of salt. I can still hear him calling "Ka-Dah, Ka-Dah" and see the sheep come running and tumbling over each other in their eagerness to eat salt from his hand.
He was a slight wiry man with more vitality and energy than any man I have ever seen. He had thick white curly hair and a long white beard. I never saw him without this white beard as he was quite old when I was born. He was never sick and although he worked from daylight until dark I have often heard him say he never knew what it was like to be tired, therefore he had no patience with the ailing or weary.
He left his home in New Hampshire when he was a young man coming to the little town of Limestone, Maine when it was virtually a wilderness. With his two hands he cleared three farms which are now numbered among the best farms in Aroostook County. I have often heard people say there was no one who could keep up with him. He was one of the first to envision a great future for Aroostook County. He realized he had a particular type of soil suitable for the raising of potatoes and was the first man who ventured to raise 100 acres all in one field. He sold them for 25 cents a barrel but that did not discourage him.
In the years that followed he had many ups and downs and in 1890 [when] he was 50, he lost everything - he had heavily mortgaged, with given determination he worked harder than ever until he was free of debt again.
He was married three times and had three sets of children so that for 40 years he had children in school. We enjoyed sitting around the kitchen table studying with a big bowl of apples in the center while he popped corn for us. He had very little schooling, but educated himself by reading. There was no problem in arithmetic that he could not solve in his head. He used to become very exasperated with us when we could not work them out on paper after he had explained them to us. His temper was quickly and easily aroused and his favorite expression was "Hell and Damnation".
We had a shelf in the kitchen where we kept a comb and a dipper for drinking purposes. He wanted them always in their places and as [they] seldom were, he chained them to the shelf with a heavy chain. It also bothered him terrible because some of us were [always] looking for a pin and were never able to find one. He went down town and bought 27 papers of pins and nailed one on the wall of every room in the house. Naturally this brought forth expressions of curiosity from visitors and embarrassment to no end. With six girls to dress, in his lean years he found it cheaper to buy a whole bolt of cloth.
Whenever he entered a room he would grab the window shade and let them go to the top with a bang. My father never smoked or drank but kept his pockets filled with Canada peppermints and raisins. He was either chewing on one or sucking on the other. He would sit in our parlor and eat raisins and when his mouth was full of seeds he would blow them all over the floor. He was very fond of children and had plenty around partly on account of the raisins. Although he was a hard worker, he ate very little. He loved salt pork, hash, pancakes, gingerbread, sour milk, biscuits and applesauce, pumpkin pie, and molasses doughnuts. Every Sunday night he cooked himself a mess of corn meal mush - 20 minuets stirring continuously. The next day when it was cold, my mother would slice it and fry [in] butter and serve it with molasses. He never wanted any change in his diet.
Carpentry was his hobby and he was always thinking up something new. We were in seventh heaven when we moved [to the new house in Caribou] of course we did not have enough furniture to furnish it so my father installed twin beds. He wanted to have enough [room] for all the company. We had to be a little different, he put odd shaped door knobs on all the doors. He built a beautiful lawn putting a row of concrete blocks up the center, he mixed his own concrete putting dyes in it [resulting in] every block being a different color -needless to say we did not like it a bit. He built a nice garage and spoiled it by painting it red, white and blue. He loved to startle people. Not withstanding all his oddness, he was a good indulgent father, a kind neighbor, a trustworthy man whose word was as good as his bond. He had all the stamina and grit of a spartan.
Doctors were scarce and dentists unheard of so he did most of his own doctoring. Once he operated on his knee with his jack knife removing a piece of bone - it heeled right up. Another time a horse stepped on his foot and an infection set in his toe. He calmly put his foot on a block and chopped the toe off. I have heard him tell of prying an aching tooth out with some kind of a lever that he had among his farm implements. Years later he had all his teeth extracted without [a pain killer]. He was absolute boss in the family and his word was law. There were no secrets kept from him because he had the sharpest ears and keenness eyes - nothing escaped him. He loved sunshine and hated curtains at the windows saying "those damn curtains"."
The following is a letter written by Warren A. Long at the time of his second wife's death:
Limestone, Feb 18, 1883
Dear Mother, Brother & Sister,
It has been a long time since I wrote you, how long I do not know. I have had so many cares so much to do that I have left many things undone that I had ought to have done. I have sad news to write, I am left alone again, my dear wife, my poor little Nellie is gone and I feel so lonely. She was taken sick about the middle of Oct. with the pneumonia which broke down her lungs and ended in the quick consumption. From the time she took her bed until she died the 2 of Feb, she was very sick all the time could not be balstred up in bed more than half upright and that but a few minutes. Patient and cheerful taking an interest and directing the girls about the work till the very last. I wish you could have known her - so kind and thoughtful ever trying to help and assist those around her. She had many friends. I have known her from the time her mother died when she was only five or six years old. Poor little Nellie is possible that I am never to see her dear form again, never hear her play and sing again. O it is too much, it cannot be right to take one so young and good and useful, one that is needed so much and leave those that are not
much good for themselves or anyone else.
She was 19 when we were married three years last August. We have a little girl born last April. One of the neighbors are taking care of her and will till I can make other arrangements. Our school is keeping and a girl is working her board and going with the children so that I am alone through the day and it is very lonely. If Nellie could have lived, what comfort we would have taken with our baby this winter but what a change. I do not know what I will do this summer, if I let the farm the family will be separated and perhaps never live together again and it is so hard to get a good housekeeper, one that you can trust with everything and will take any interest in the work what changes it seems but yesterday that I was left alone before. I am almost discouraged so much to think of and so much to do.
How is Melissa poor girl her lot has been hard. I suppose there is not much hope of her getting well. I must write to her soon.
I want you all to write and don't worry about me for we have plenty to make us comfortable.
W. A. L.
Warren not only was a successful farmer and business man but he also wrote poetry. See the following poem:
THE OLD PIONEER
THE OLD PIONEER WITH HIS BRAWN AND HIS MUSCLE
IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS OFTEN HAD QUITE A TUSSLE:
FOR OFTEN HE MET WITH A GREAT DEAL OF LOSS
BY HAILSTORM OR TEMPEST OR UNTIMELY FROST.
HE AWOKE IN THE MORNING, WAS UP WITH THE LARK
HE WORKED LIKE A TROOPER FROM DAYLIGHT TILL DARK
WITH The AXE AND THE HOE AND THE OLD WOODEN SPUD
HE MINGLED HIS SWEAT WITH THE SMUT AND THE MUD
THE OLD PIONEER'S ALWAYS READY AND WILLING
TO GIVE YOU A LIFT OR TO LEND YOU A SHILLING,
BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THAT WE'LL REAP AS WE SOW
AND HE'LL DO WHAT IS RIGHT TO MAKE THE THING GO.
FOR THE OLD PIONEER, WE'VE THE GREATEST RESPECT
AND HAVE NOT A DOUBT BUT HE'S ALL THE ELECT:
FOR TO DO ANY MISCHIEF NO TIME DID HE TAKE
AND HE OUGHT TO FAREWELL FOR SWEET JUSTICE'S SAKE.
THE OLD PIONEER, OH! LONG MAY HE LIVE
THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD, OLD AROOSTOOK TO GIVE
THESE MEN WHO COULD CONQUER AND BUILD UP A TOWN
WITH LITTLE REWARD AND LOSS OF RENOWN.
THE OLD PIONEER, HIS HAIR'S TURNING WHITE
HE FOUGHT A HARD BATTLE, BUT WON A GOOD FIGHT,
WITH EYE ON THE FUTURE AND HAND ON THE PLOW
THE SUCCESSES HE'S WON BRINGS THE VICTORY NOW.
THE COUNTRY IS GROWING SO GREAT AND SO FAST
THAT THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON BE OF THE PAST.
BUT WORKS THAT ARE LAID ON A SOLID FOUNDATION
WILL HAVE A GOOD BEARING ON COUNTRY AND NATION.
THE OLD PIONEER WILL SOON PASS FROM OUR VIEW
THE OLD BE REPLACED BY THE MODERN AND NEW
WHEN THE RIVER'LL BE CROSSED AND CROSSED WITHOUT FEAR
WE'LL ALL SAY FAREWELL TO THE OLD PIONEER.
by W. A. LONG
Click Here for Family History
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