San Diego County
Biographies
ROBERT H. LONG,
rancher near Perris, was born ten miles south of Corydon
(the former capital of the State, and now the capital of Harrison County),
Indiana, July 13, 1841. His father was Thomas Long, and his grandfather, James
Long, was a Baptist minister. Mr. Long was born in the house that was built by
his grandfather. The family were originally from Tennessee. Mr. Long's mother
was Anna (Allison) Long. Her parents were pioneers of Allison prairie, eastern
Illinois, which was named after them. His parents had eleven children, the
subject of this sketch being the youngest. He was educated in the public schools
of his State, and when he was twenty‑
six years of age he removed to Kansas and purchased 160 acres of land in Coffee
County. He remained on it three years and then sold it and removed to Indiana.
While there he was married to Miss Sarah C. Rickard, February 21, 1871. She was
a daughter of Noah and Jane Rickard, and was born May 23, 1851, near her
husband's residence in Harrison County, Indiana. Her father, Noah Rickard, was a
soldier in the great war of the Rebellion. He was a member of the Fifty-third
Regiment, Indiana Infantry, and died at Vicksburg, where he was buried. Her
brother, Fielden B. Rickard, also volunteered in defense of his country. He
served in the Seventeenth Indiana and was wounded, but lived through it,
re-enlisted and served his country honorably until the close of the war. In 1871
Mr. Long returned to Kansas and bought eighty acres of prairie land and made a
farm of it. He remained there until 1880, when he sold it. Here they lost their
daughter, Laura C., by diphtheria, and they went to California to get relief
from their sorrows. They traveled through the northern part of the State and
Oregon. They remained in Lynn County, Oregon, about six weeks, afterward went
back to Sacramento by team and returned by train to Iowa and from there to
Indiana, where they spent the winter and then returned to Kansas, where they
remained four years. In November, 1884, they came to Los Angeles and from there
to Colton and then to Perris, where he took up 157 acres of Government land, and
has made his home here since. It is a nice tract of land, east of the railroad
track and three miles southwest of Perris, on which he raises stock and deals in
all kinds of fruit. The births occurring in their family are as follows: The
child that died, Laura C., was born February 10, 1872; Emma J., in Kansas, June
20, 1874; Ollie, October 2, 1878; Ida May, March 13, 1880; James A., January 27,
1883, and R. H., January 14, 1886, in Perris. While in Kansas Mr. Long was
elected for two terms township trustee. They are very honest, nice people.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 314
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
MAJOR WILLIAM H. BAILHACHE,
of San Diego, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. After leaving school he was trained
in the newspaper business under his father's direction, with whom he became
associated in 1850 in the publication of the Alton (Illinois) Telegraph.
He removed to Springfield in 1855 to take the general management of the
Illinois State Journal, and held that position about eighteen years, except
while absent during the war. He was on the most intimate terms with Abraham
Lincoln from 1856
until he became President, and the State Journal, published in his home
city, was regarded as his mouthpiece. It was during this interval that the State
of Illinois was the scene of the most intense political excitement in its
history. Lincoln and Douglas were contesting for the position of United States
Senator, and engaged in the famous joint debate which gave Mr. Lincoln a
national reputation. In 1861 he was commissioned by the President as United
States Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain. He served through the war, was
brevetted Major, and received the highest testimonials from the
Quartermaster-General, United States Army. The records of the War and Treasury
Departments will reveal his standing as an officer in the army, and also in the
civil service. Removed from Springfield in 1874, and a few years later settled
in New Mexico. Was commissioned by President Arthur in 1881 as Receiver of
Public Moneys at Santa Fe, which position he held four years.
The desire to go West impelled him to proceed to California in 1886, and he has
since been engaged in newspaper work. Resides in San Diego.
His wife, Adaline, is the eldest daughter of General Mason Brayman, of Illinois, whose history is a part of the history of his country. Her father's ancestors were English, and came to the United States at an early date. Her mother's maiden name was Mary Williams, whose ancestry were English and Welsh, but the American branch belonged to Revolutionary stock. Four children resulted from this union: John Mason, Arthur Lee, Adaline and Wilhelmina Mary. The sons are favorably known in the business circles of San Diego.
The Major's father, John Bailhache, was a native of the Island of Jersey. His paternal grandfather was a teacher; his name was also John. His grandmother's maiden name was Mary De La Perrelle, whose near relatives held high rank in the island. The family history is to the effect that two brothers, John and Nicholas, came from Normandy soon after the conquest of England by King William, and the public records of the island give the name Bailhache in the list of the first settlers. John Bailhache, the father of our subject, came to the United States in 1810 to visit relatives in Ohio, and being unable to return, on account of the blockade, he engaged in the newspaper business in Chillicothe, where he edited and published the Scioto Gazette many years. While thus occupied he was elected to represent Ross County in the Legislature, and was also chosen Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Upon the removal of the seat of Government to Columbus, he disposed of the Gazette and established the Ohio State Journal, which he conducted until his removal to Illinois. During his residence in Columbus he was elected State Printer, and also Mayor of the city. He filled a conspicuous place in the early history of Ohio, and exerted an influence second to none in molding a pure and correct public sentiment in the then almost unknown and inaccessible Northwest Territory, at a period when society was in its formative condition. He enjoyed the confidence and friendship of Henry Clay, General William Henry Harrison, and the leading minds of his party in Ohio, and took a very active part in the politics of that State. Few men of his time left a more lasting impression there. He removed to Illinois in 1837, and purchased the Alton Telegraph, which he conducted until a short time before his death, September 3, 1857. He represented Madison County in the Illinois Legislature in 1842–'43.
The subject's mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Rev. Dr. William Heath, of Virginia, whose ancestors were English. Her mother's maiden name was Sarah A. Watson; she was a native Virginian of Revolutionary stock, a relative of the famous Lee family. Judge Bailhache left three sons, the youngest of whom, Arthur Lee, was a Lieutenant in the Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, and perished during the war of the Rebellion. Our subject's remaining brother, Preston H. Bailhache, is the Surgeon-in-chief in charge of the United States Marine Hospital Service on the Pacific coast.
This history of the Bailhache family in the United States would be incomplete without reference to the sons of our subject's uncle, Nicholas, who came to the United States some years later than his father, and settled in Cambridge, Ohio. He left two sons; John Nicholas Bailhache, the eldest, resides on his ranch, which is a portion of the Sotoyome grant, near Healdsburg, California; and Morgan H. Bailhache, who is the Postmaster of Martinez, California. They are both old and popular citizens of California.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 314-316
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler