Introduction

Biography

John was the son of Za­doc Long and Ju­lia Tem­ple Da­vis. He mar­ried twice, to Ma­ry Wood­ward Glov­er and Ag­nes Long.

He at­tend­ed Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, where he wrote prose and verse for a stu­dent ma­ga­zine, and was chos­en to com­pose an ode for his class’ gra­du­ation. He gra­du­at­ed Phi Be­ta Kap­pa in 1857.

Long spent two years as head­mas­ter of West­ford Aca­de­my in West­ford, Mas­sa­chu­setts. He then at­tend­ed Har­vard Law School and be­came a mem­ber of the Mas­sa­chu­setts bar in 1861. He prac­ticed law, first with­out suc­cess in Buck­field, Maine, then in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Long set­tled in Hing­ham, Mas­sa­chu­setts, in 1869. He be­came ac­tive in po­li­tics in the 1870s, win­ning elect­ion to the state le­gis­la­ture in 1874.

He went on to serve as lieu­te­nant gov­er­nor (1879) and gov­er­nor (1880–82) of the state of Mas­sa­chu­setts, and as a United States con­gress­man (1883–89).

He al­so served as Sec­re­tary of the Na­vy un­der Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Will­iam Mc­Kin­ley (1897–1902). His un­der-sec­re­ta­ry was fu­ture pre­si­dent Theo­dore Roo­se­velt.

Works

Long wrote a his­to­ry of the Span­ish-Am­eri­can War, and made a verse trans­la­tion of Vir­gil’s Æn­eid.