MARY ELIZABETH RAGSDILLE (RAGSDALE) LONG
Mary and Starl Long had four children. Their first child, a son, was born on February 21, 1882, and lived but one day. The second child, also a son, was born on April 25, 1883 near Duffau, Texas, and was named Jeams Edward Long (called "Eddie"). Eddie died of croup at the age of two.
The third child, a daughter named Minnie Lee, was born on May 25, 1885. Minnie married, on September 20, 1905, William Phillip Johnson (February 13, 1882 - June 11, 1969) in Eola (near Bunkie), Louisiana. From their marriage, there were ten children who lived to adulthood. Minnie passed away on December 6, 1957 in Glenmora, Louisiana. Both Minnie and William Johnson are buried in the Glenmora Town Cemetery. (Picture will be added soon.)
Mary Elizabeth Ragsdille and Starl Long had a fourth child, a daughter, Hettie May Long, born on April 18, 1888, near Duffau, Texas. In the Fall of 1887, Starl Davidson Long left the Duffau area with his brother Frank. The two men took a trip to the state of Washington, and went by boat around the tip of South America. Upon arriving in the new territory, they settled and began a new life there. Since Mary was expecting a child, the plan apparently was for Starl to send for Mary and the children after he was established in the new home. Mary never heard from Starl again.
After moving to Washington, Starl began to use the name Sterling Long. His disappearance remained a family mystery until the 1940s when ties were re-established between Mary Elizabeth Long and members of the Long family. Apparently the reason for Starl's lack of communication with Mary was not because he met and married someone else. It was not until twenty years after he arrived in the state of Washington that Starl married Jennie Frier in Tacoma, Washington on December 2, 1908. They had two daughters, Genevieve and Mildred. In the early 1980s, through research by Floyd Johnson (grandson of Mary Elizabeth Long) and with the help of genealogists in the area, contact was made with Mildred Long Atnip. Starl Long is buried in Forest Cemetery at Olympia, Washington. Why Starl Long never wrote to Mary remains unknown and a puzzling fact to this day. Letters received by his nephew and sister reveal that he asked about the welfare of "Mary and the children" on several occasions.
Hettie May Long never saw her father, as she was born in April after his departure. According to family records the Longs lived "in the house on Tom Laney's place, near Duffau Creek." Mary Long remained in the area for five years waiting for news of her husband, which never came. After the death of her grandparents, Thomas Roberson in January of 1889, and Margaret Ann Roberson, on March 20, 1893, Mary was alone with her two small children. Her mother, Elmina Francis Ragsdille, had been widowed in the Civil War (with the death of John Milligan Ragsdale at the Battle of Mansfield, April 8, 1864), had never remarried, and had brought up her two small daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Margaret Addeline, alone. Elmina had moved to Eola, Louisiana, to live with her youngest daughter, Margaret Adeline (August 5, 1864 - February 8, 1950), who had married William Floyd Kelley (1847 - March 4, 1937).
Sometime that year, probably in Spring or Summer, Mary left the area to move to Eola, to be near her only sister, Margaret Addeline "Addie," and her mother, Elmina (who was affectionately called "Little Granny" because of her small statue). Mary drove a wagon with her two little girls, Minnie and Hettie, and settled on the Kelley plantation near her family. Here the two girls grew up and married two brothers, William and John Johnson, of Bunkie, Louisiana. Mary Long had a difficult life due to the abandonment by her husband, Starl. In spite of this environment, she managed, with her strength and fortitude, to provide a good life and upbringing for her daughters.
On August 9, 1905, Hettie May Long married John Edward Johnson (January 17, 1880 - January 10, 1951). Of this union, twelve children were born and survived to adulthood, including one set of twins. ( See picture of John and Hettie Johnson. I am the twelfth child of this family.
Hettie and John started their life in Louisiana and lived there from 1905 until 1926, when they moved with the family to Morton, Mississippi, where they remained the rest of their lives. Hettie passed away on June 3, 1961. Both are buried in the Morton Town Cemetery in the Johnson family plot. Mary Elizabeth Long is also buried in the same family plot, along side her daughter, Hettie May.
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September 2001
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