Tuesday, February 10, 2009

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Simon Long

Simon Long came to the United States from Bavaria, Germany, in 1846, associating him­self immediately with the mercantile life of Wilkes-Barre as clerk in the store then con­ducted by his brother, Martin.

A year later he opened a store of his own on the north side of the Public Square. The first enterprise was sufficiently successful to insure his busi­ness future in Wilkes-Barre, and after a few years he relocated, to the west side of the square.

His third move was to the west side of South Main Street, and the fourth and last address, occupied by the firm, at Nos. 10 and 12 South Main Street, on the east side.

Simon Long continued actively in business for more than fifty years, and at the time of his death, December 11, 1901, at the age of seventy-six years, was widely known as the oldest merchant in Wilkes­-Barre. The death of his wife Yetta Coons Long antedated his own nine years, her demise having occurred on February 19, 1892, at the age of sixty-six.

Simon Long was a dominant citizen in the city, and until death took a personal and active interest in all things directed toward the general good of the people; also, at the time of his death, he was the oldest member of Wilkes-Barre Lodge, No. 61, of the Free and Accepted Masons.

Mr. Long and his de­voted wife were the parents of ten children, of whom nine reached maturity: Caroline, the wife of Simon Ulman, of Salisbury, Maryland; Edith, widow of Henry Schwarz of New York; Lena, wife of Isaac Ulman, of Salis­bury, Maryland; Isaac S., a retired mer­chant of Wilkes-Barre; Charles; Hannah, wife of Joseph S. Coons of Joseph S. Coons and Company, de­partment store, of Wilkes-Barre; Rosa, wife of Louis Schloss of Wilkes-­Barre; Millard F; and Cosmar P.

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