Patrick and Elizabeth Long

Inspired by a short article on her family background and a deep passion for history, author Mae Long Pagdin spends thirty-five years haunting pioneer cemeteries, library archives, municipal records offices, and locales in Ireland, Pennsylvania, and Ontario to research her Long family ancestors, beginning with the original emigration from Ireland by Patrick and Elizabeth Long in 1791.

What she uncovers tells a fascinating tale of pioneer life, as the Longs face innumerable challenges in the New World, including raids by the Indigenous peoples and a rebellion against taxation on local whisky production in Western Pennsylvania, where they first settle. But a perilous move to Upper Canada, in quest of the free land that’s being offered, poses even bigger challenges: disputes against their land grant; families on whom they depend settling elsewhere; and the relentless, gruelling work of felling huge trees before crops can be planted, while coping with wildlife intent on attacking their domestic animals and a brutal climate that can kill the ill-prepared.

In an engaging and well documented narrative, author Long Pagdin tells the gripping story of the Longs confronting their challenges with courage and fortitude to establish a foothold in the New World for themselves and all the generations to follow. Naturally, Long family descendants will be fascinated by this story, but anyone who loves history will find themselves equally captivated by this lively tale of pioneer life.