A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians, Volume 2
By E. Polk Johnson, Lewis Publishing Company
George W Long--To the energetic natures and strong mentality of such men as George W. Long is due the success and ever increasing prosperity of the Republican party in this state and in the hands of this class of citizens there is every assurance that the best interests and welfare of the party will be attended to resulting in a culmination of the highest ambitions and expectations entertained by its adherents. Given to the prosecution of active measures in political affairs possessing the earnest purpose of placing their party beyond the pale of possible diminution of power, the Republican leaders in Kentucky are ever advancing carrying everything before them in their irresistible onward march. Certainly one of the most potent elements in the success of the Republican movement in Kentucky has been exhibited in and personality of George W. Long who, throughout his life, has been a loyal citizen, imbued with patriotism and fearlessness in the defense of his honest convictions. He is now filling the position of United States marshal for the western district of Kentucky with headquarters at Louisville. Other positions of trust have been filled by him with marked capability. Most loyally be has advocated the cause of the party whose principles he believes will best advance the welfare of the nation.
George W. Long was born on a farm in Edmonson county Kentucky in 1853, the son of Edmond Toombs and Sarah Hazelip Long. His paternal grandfather was Isaac James Long, born in North Carolina but who moved to Tennessee in early life. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was with Jackson at New Orleans. He married Miss Susan Toombs, by whom he had nine children, five daughters and four sons, all of whom lived to rear families. The father of our subject, Edmond Toombs Long, was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, January 14, 1818, and died in Edmonson County, Kentucky, March 17 1901. The maternal great grandfather, Robert Hazelip, was of Scotch Irish parentage and was a native of North Carolina, coming to Kentucky in 1810. He served in the Revolutionary War, and he married Miss Millian Webb, also of North Carolina. The grandfather, Merry Hazelip, was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, May 12, 1795, and died in Edmonson County, Kentucky, March 5, 1870. The grandmother, Jane Wesley Hazelip, was born in Halifax County, Virginia, January 15, 1799, of Welsh parentage and died in Edmonson County, February 10, 1865. Sixteen children were born to them, of whom thirteen lived to rear families. George W. Long's mother Sarah was the eldest of these children and was born in Edmonson County, Kentucky, June 17, 1817. She was first married to Andrew Rich, by whom she had one child Sarah Jane Rich, born December 18, 1838, and still living in Edmonson County, having been married first to David Edwards, by whom she had five children, and afterward to W H Skaggs, by whom she had three children. Mr. Rich having died, his widow Sarah Jane Rich married Edmond Toombs Long in 1844. Three children were born to this union, Susan Eletha born January 20, 1846, Elizabeth Ann born May 11, 1849, and the subject of this sketch. Eletha married William Clemmons in 1860, by whom she had six children, and she died December 24, 1875. Elizabeth married GW Hazelip, by whom she had two children, and she died January 29, 1875. Sarah H[azelip] Long, the mother of our subject, died in 1879.
George W. Long was educated in the public schools of his native state and of Illinois, to which latter state he went in 1871 and remained until 1874, working on a farm, attending school, and teaching. He returned to Edmonson County in July, 1874, where he worked a farm and taught school that fall and winter and in the following year. Mr. Long was in mercantile pursuits for eleven years, studied law and was admitted to the bar, and was in the banking business for eight years. He has been prominent in public affairs and is a strong supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He has always been active in party work and his services have been recognized in various ways. He served as State Treasurer of Kentucky from 1896 to 1900, edited the Grayson Eagle from 1894 to 1895, served as chairman of the Republican Committee of Edmonson county for many years, was chairman of the Third Congressional District Convention in 1884, and chairman of the Fourth Congressional District Convention in 1894, and was chairman of the Second Appellate Court District Convention in 1894. He was the Republican nominee for congress in the Fourth district in 1890 and spoke in thirty counties during the campaign of 1895 and canvassed the state in campaigns of 1896, 1897, and 1903. He was chairman of the State Executive Committee in the bitter Taylor Goebel campaign of 1899, winning that memorable fight and serving as chairman of the Finance Committee in the contest which followed that gubernatorial election, during which Goebel was assassinated by unknown parties. Mr. Long served as secretary of the State Executive Committee and was in charge of the Speaker's Bureau in the campaign of 1900 and was chairman of the Finance Committee of the State Executive Committee in the campaign of 1904. He was a delegate from the Fourth Congressional District to the National Convention in 1900 and a delegate at large from Kentucky to the National Convention in 1904. Mr. Long did the principal work in compiling the Republican Campaign Hand Book for 1895, 1897, 1899, and 1907 and materially aided in that work in 1900 and 1903. He was appointed United States marshal for the western district of Kentucky in 1905 by President Roosevelt and re appointed to that office in May 1910 by President Taft.
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