The family of John, Perry and Patrick Long, of the Westport area, is an American family of colonial New England descent, with verified lineage to the founding families of Nantucket Island (1659), four Mayflower passengers (1620), and a Coffin line documented in medieval Devon. The family has maintained roots in southeastern Massachusetts since the colonial era.
Geography
The family’s roots in southeastern Massachusetts run deep, through Fall River, where Representative John J. Long served nearly a quarter century in the State House.
Deeper Than Geography
But the roots run deeper than geography. Through the Perry and Swift lines, the family connects to the founding of Nantucket Island in 1659, as direct descendants of nearly every original proprietor. Through the Coffin line, the ancestry is documented in medieval Devon (Vivian’s Visitations of Devon); the older family tradition of a Norman-Conquest origin is preserved in the archive Basement. Through the Folger line, to the maternal grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. Four Mayflower passengers are direct ancestors.
The genealogical research was passed down quietly, generation to generation. This archive is simply the latest act of preservation, digitizing what has always been known, so that it endures beyond any one generation.
Two Traditions
The Irish lines on both sides. Long, Sullivan, Daley, Coogan, Wall, Kennedy, Thornton, arrived with nothing during and after the Great Famine and built lives in the mill cities of Massachusetts. They married into the old colonial families. The result is a family that carries both the grit of immigrants who started from zero and the roots of families who have been here since before the nation existed.
Representative John J. Long, born in Fall River, educated at B.M.C. Durfee High School and Boston University, a Korean War veteran, served 24 years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He served Fall River in the House when Bristol Community College was founded (1965), and was among the earliest advocates for the merger that became UMass Dartmouth. His portrait appears on page 220 of the Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts directory, 1961-1962. The correspondence from Kennedy is preserved in the family collection; by family recollection, the friendship with Dukakis, forged over years of serving together in the House, lasted a lifetime.
A Maritime Family
The sea runs through every branch of this family. The Coffins built Nantucket’s whaling fleet. The Folgers surveyed the island and sailed its harbors. Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin commanded warships in the Royal Navy. The founding families of Nantucket turned a depleted farming island into the engine of a global maritime industry that lit the streets of London and Paris. The Quaker values that shaped Nantucket: conscience, thrift, quiet service, carried forward through Lucretia Coffin Mott’s abolition work and into the family’s tradition of public service.
The archive preserves what the family has always known.