John Long Merrell, Son of Mary Long

How did my 5th great grandparents, Jonas Long and Elizabeth Merrell, meet before marrying in 1816 on Staten Island, New York?

I do not know at this point in the research.

Jonas would have known Elizabeth's family through the neighborhood, business, and/or place of worship. Jonas likely lived and/or worked in either Middlesex County, New Jersey and Richmond County, New York. Merrells are plentiful in these counties.

A clue is in the will of Lambert Merrell. He signed his will on November 7, 1826. It was proved November 18, 1826 in Richmond County. He named his wife, Marry, and two sons, John Long and Daniel Levi.

Will of Lambert Merrell, 1826
Richmond County, New York

These children were not of age, so a guardian was appointed. This was common practice of the time and was concerned with the preservation of the estate and not with the actual care or welfare of the children. As such, the mother of these children would not usually serve as the guardian.

Index of guardianships Richmond County, New York
Entry for Merrell, John Long, age 14 and Daniel Levi age 12.

Several men share the name Lambert Merrell in this time and place. This Lambert Merrell was the uncle of Elizabeth Merrell, wife of Jonas Long. We know this because the children's guardian changed in 1834 to Jacob VanPelt. The aunts of the children were listed. They were the grandaunts of Elizabeth Merrell.

Elizabeth Merrell and Jonas Long named their final known son Jacob VanPelt Long. He was born about 1836 in New York. I don't know which Jacob VanPelt inspired this name, as Jacob VanPelt was a popular name in this time and place.

I do not know what became of John Long Merrell or his mother, Marry/Mary.

Stillwell family genealogy by John E Stillwell, 1931.
Seven children listed for Catharine Ann Stillwell and Daniel Levy Merrill.
Daniel's parents are given as Lambert Merrill and Mary Long.

Daniel Levi Merrell married Catharine Ann Stillwell. This union and their children were listed in a Stillwell compiled genealogy. In this work, the birth name of Mary was given as Long.

Is this accurate? I don't know. John Levy Merrill was born in 1862, not 1882. This was a typo.

I have found no other source of Mary's birth name. It is possible that John Long was the name of her father and not a morphed tribute to Jonas Long, husband of Elizabeth Merrell. And it is entirely likely that Mary Long and Jonas Long were related and crossed paths with the Merrell family in the 1810s.

Below is the portion of the family tree with Mary Long and Jonas Long highlighted.

Family tree
Mary Long married Lambert Merrell, probably late 1810s.
Jonas Long married Elizbeth Merrell in 1816.

Jonas Long: War of 1812 Bounty Land for His Widow

In the prior article, I mentioned that Elizabeth Merrill, widow of Jonas Long, filed an equipment claim for $50 in 1860 stemming from Jonas's service in the War of 1812.

In 1855, Elizabeth filed for 160 acres of bounty land based on Jonas's service as authorized under the "Act approved March 3, 1855."

I obtained copies of these papers in hopes of uncovering genealogical information. I used the company Civil War Records to retrieve the records from the National Archives.

Jones Long's service in the War of 1812 was through both New York and New Jersey. In her application, Elizabeth only mentioned three months of service from September 3, 1814 - December 4, 1814 with Captain Abraham Webb of the 2nd Regiment of New Jersey. She wrote that he was "draughted" at Perth Amboy on Sept 3, 1814 for the term of three months.

Declaration of the Widow of a deceased person who has not before had a Land Warrant.

These dates of service are consistent with the muster roll card.

Muster Roll. Captain Abraham Webb's Company,
2 Reg't New Jersey Detached Militia.
Card of Private Jonas Long.
Present in Hoboken [New Jersey] November 8, 1814 - November 24, 1814.

Company Pay Roll. Captain Abraham Webb's Company,
2 Reg't New Jersey Detached Militia.
Card of Private Jones Long.
Paid 24 dollars and 52 cents for service of 3 months and 2 days.

Jonas also served December 18, 1812 - March 2, 1813 and March 1, 1813 - May 22, 1813.

Muster Roll. Captain James Bruce's Company,
1 Regiment United States Artillery Volunteers.
Card of Private Jonas Long.
Present on Bedlow Island [New York] March 1, 1813.
[Now called Liberty Island]

Muster Roll. Captain Charles Lawton's Company,
1 Regiment United States Artillery Volunteers.
Card of Montross Jonas Long.
Present in New York May 22, 1813.

Note that Elizabeth provided Jonas' date of death as the 13th day of August 1835 (five overwrote another number) in Richmond County. I have not uncovered any contemporaneously created record of his death. The other date of death is from Elizabeth's application for Letters of Administration, which she filed in 1860. On this probate document, the year of death was 1837.

The correct date of death of Jonas Long has not been verified with contemporaneous records.

The date of marriage, October 13, 1816, matches the typed transcript I found for the church in Staten Island.

Elizabeth Owen, widow of Jonas Long, was granted 160 acres of land in Missouri for his service in the War of 1812.

Elizabeth did not relocate to Missouri. She assigned or sold the property, as was common practice. Through the Bureau of Land Management you can search these property records.

Online search
Bureau of Land Management
General Land Office Records

Jonas Long: His Estate 23 Years Later

Jonas Long was my my fifth great grandfather. His parents are a mystery.

Family tree of Jonas Long (died 1837) and Elizabeth Merrell (1800-186x)

In 1816 Jonas Long and Elizabeth Merrill, my fifth great grandmother, married in Northfield, Richmond County, New York.

Typed transcript
Marriages Reformed Protestant Dutch Church on Staten Island
Northfield, New York

By the time the 1850 census was recorded, Elizabeth had remarried to William Owen or Owens (1788-1852). William is listed on Find A Grave at the now defunct Merrell Family Cemetery in Bulls Head, Richmond County, New York. Elizabeth herself and Jonas Long are not listed in online transcripts of the missing headstones. I do not know where they were buried.

For years, the only other record easily available for Jonas Long was an index of probate records of Richmond County. In 1860, action was made in Richmond County on the estates of Elizabeth's two husbands. These entries appeared in a typed index at Ancestry. This typed index provided a date of death for Jonas Long as August 13, 1837.

Index to Probate Records for Richmond County, New York.

Jonas Long's children as listed in this index were consistent with other records: Richard, Susan, Letitia, John, Jacob, Catherine, and Abraham.

William Owens' children were from his first marriage to Mary Delinda Whitlock: Albert, Frendl, Ashley, Fanny, Pauline, Arnesia, Sabrina.

I sought the originals. There could be more information in these files. Always seek the underlying record instead of relying on information in an index.

As far as I could find, these files for Richmond County are not scanned online for this time period. I emailed the court, called them, and sent them snail mail. The physical letter produced a response. The procedure is that the files are located, the pages counted, and a total cost calculated at 25 cents per page. I sent in a money order for $1.50 for six pages. The money order cost more than the $1.50 court fee.

Statement by Elizabeth Owens dated February 27, 1860
to become administrator of the estate of her late husband, Jonas Long

Statement by Elizabeth Owens dated February 27, 1860
to become administrator of the estate of her late husband, William Owen(s)

Did the contents of the files provide any additional information? No, I don't think so. I am amazed that the transcriber was able to read the names of the children.

Why did Elizabeth file in 1860? I don't know. We don't know when she died, only that she predeceased her father, Richard Merrell, who died in 1864. Maybe she was sick and advised to put her affairs in order?

Elizabeth's children were named in the estate papers of their grandfather
because Elizabeth had died.
Six of her seven children signed this release on October 4, 1865.

From Richard Merrell's estate papers, we see the names of the children of Elizabeth. (Richard, the oldest, was omitted because they were not able to reach him in Virginia during the Civil War.) These names, save for the missing Richard, match the names in Jonas' sparse estate papers.

The month after Elizabeth filed to become administrator of the estate of Jonas Long, dead over 22 years, she filed a claim for $50 for equipment he used in the War of 1812. I ordered a copy from the New York State Archives. Images are also now available at Ancestry (New York, War of 1812 Certificates and Applications of Claim and Related Records, 1858-1869).

Elizabeth's affidavit seeking reimbursement for equipment
used by Jonas Long in the War of 1812

In the next article, we will look at Elizabeth's application for bounty land based on Jonas Long's service in the War of 1812.