Born in Manheim, Lancaster County, the son of John George and Gertrude (Nageli) Long, John Long (1787 to 1856) was trained as a locksmith, a specialized occupation within the blacksmith trade, and may have been apprenticed to Mathias Long (1752 to 1824), a blacksmith who operated a shop in Manheim. He married Peggy Lindemuth, the daughter of Peter Lindemuth of the town of Mount Joy, about 1811. They lived on the property of the widow of a Manheim blacksmith, Jacob Druckenmiller (1756 to 1806) until 1822, and had nine children, born between 1812 and 1828.

Long first appears on the tax list for Manheim borough as a locksmith in 1831. In addition to making locks, he was putting iron feet on pans, making handles for coffee roasters and putting bails on pots and kettles. In 1939 the locksmith left his wife and children in Manheim and moved to the nearby village of Sporting Hill. He lived with a blacksmith, Emanuel Long, and his family. The Longs were Mennonite and it was in this environment that Long created his exquisitely decorated and finely made wrought iron Betty lamps for his neighbors that are sought after by folk art collectors today.

His lamps date from 1841 to 1855 and were probably part of the Austeier in preparation for marriage; most recipients were in their late teens or early twenties. They are engraved with the names of recipients, including Brenaman, Brubecker, Erisman, Eshbaugh, Hershey, Hirsh, Musser, Niess and Ruhl, common names in the surrounding Mennonite community.

Long’s occupation is recorded as “Locksmith” in the annual tax lists for Rapho Township, except in 1840 when a recorder listed him as a “Log Smith.” He worked in Sporting Hill for the last 17 years of his life. His death is recorded in The Daily Evening Express: “DIED Long. October 14 at Sporting Hill, this county, John Long, sen. Aged 69 years.” He is buried in Saint Paul United Church of Christ Cemetery, Manheim, Penn. His son George became a locksmith in Manheim.

This biography is extracted from an article by Donald M. Herr, John Long and John Boyer: Nineteenth Century Craftsmen in Lancaster County, from the September 6, 2006 issue of Antiques & The Arts Weekly.