Benjamin Lang (Long)
- Occupation
- scholar
- Origin
- Switzerland
- Sources
- Santerre, Foster, Boyer, Franziska #44, Sandell
Ship
- Franziska, Bremen → Galveston, departed 13 May, arrived 4 July 1855 — #44, as
LANG, Benjamin, Switzerland
Positions
- Unionist; petitioner for federal troops at Dallas, Union side — 1865 – 1868 (informal) [cordillot] with Gouffé; the petition cites the violence promised to 'Unionists and freed Blacks'
- District Clerk, superseding E. B. Spillman, Dallas County — 1868-06-02 – 1868-fall (appointed) [sandell IV; brown1892] the 1892 county list names the office; Thévenet followed him
- Mayor, City of Dallas — 1868-09 – 1870 (appointed) [sandell IV; kagay n76; cordillot] Gen. Reynolds's slate under military government; resigned April 1, 1870 to visit Europe, and Henry S. Ervay was appointed (brown1892; Sandell: Ervay pro tem, 4 Apr); back with 27 Swiss on 3 Dec 1870 (Fretz, DMN 1924)
- Mayor, City of Dallas — 1872-11-08 – 1874-04-08 (elected) [sandell IV; kagay n77; cordillot] 348-246 over Hunt, the first election under Reconstruction. RESOLVED: the 1892 list runs his term 'November 1872 to April 1874' and elects W. L. Cabell in 1874; Cordillot's re-elections of 1873 and 1874 do not appear.
- Sheriff, Dallas County — c. 1876 – 1877 [cordillot] shot dead in 1877 'in a settling of scores between cowboys'
- U.S. Commissioner, United States — 1877 (appointed) [sandell V]
From the register of positions.
Biography
Benjamin Long
Name
Canonical: Benjamin Long; registry form Benjamin Lang (Santerre); known as
Ben Long
Also: "LANG, Benjamin" (Franziska manifest); Long, Benjamin (Sandell);
Ben Long (Boyer)
Birth: about 1838, Zurich, Switzerland (Cordillot)
Death: 1877, shot dead as sheriff of Dallas County "in a settling of
scores between cowboys" (Cordillot)
Burial: unknown
Origin: Zurich; the youngest member of Burkli's group. Santerre's list:
"scholar."
Family
Wife: Eugenie Vieschondere (Sandell: de Vleschoudere), daughter of a
Belgian phalansterian, married at the colony
Ship / arrival: Franziska, Bremen to Galveston, 13 May - 4 July 1855
(passenger #44). Cordillot gives the sailing as April 12; arrived at
the colony at the beginning of summer.
Colony role: stayed until the dissolution with his young wife
Post-colony
- Dallas: americanized his name to Ben Long; Sandell adds a ferry
across the Trinity and real estate
- Civil War: a courageous pro-Union stand; with A.J. Gouffe signed a
petition asking that federal troops be stationed at Dallas to prevent
the "insults, indignities and other violence" their "pitiless enemies"
promised "Unionists and freed Blacks"
- September 1868: appointed mayor of Dallas by the military governor
(Gen. Reynolds's slate: Long mayor, the Barbiers marshals, Gouffe
treasurer, Boll alderman)
- 1870: resigned April 1 and went to Switzerland; came back with the
party that arrived at Dallas December 3, 1870 -- twenty-seven people
by Emil Fretz's count, one of them (DMN 23 Nov 1924); Cordillot says
about fifty, Sandell thirty-five in 1871 -- who took a very active part
in the growth of Dallas: the second Swiss wave, East Dallas.
- November 1872: mayor again in the first free election, 348-246;
re-elected 1873 and, per Cordillot, 1874. Sandell has W.L. Cabell
defeating him April 8, 1874 -- conflict; Cordillot may count the 1874
contest as a term.
- Then sheriff; U.S. Commissioner 1877 (Sandell); donated land for the
first fire station (Sandell)
Sources
Cordillot, "Lang (puis Long) Benjamin," Au Texas (2003)
Franziska passenger list, #44 (doc/colonists/ships/franziska/roster.md)
Sandell, colonist directory; ch. II, IV, V
Santerre, White Cliffs of Dallas (1955), colonist list
TIMELINE.md: 1868.09.??, 1870.04.04, 1872.11.05, 1874.04.08
Notes
The colony's youngest Swiss became the city's mayor under military
government and then by election, and brought the second Swiss migration
that built East Dallas. The Unionist petition with Gouffe is the
clearest statement of where the colonists stood in the war -- against
Remond's and Boll's Confederate service, the colonists were not
monolithic.
Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County (1892), pp. 228, 278-280
The county list: District Clerk E. B. Spillman "superseded by Ben
Long" under military rule, 1868 -- the county office Sandell left
unnamed. The city lists: appointed mayor September 1868; "resigned (to
visit Europe) April 1, 1870," Ervay appointed; elected November 1872,
348 to Hunt's 246; term "to April 1874," when Cabell was elected --
so Cordillot's re-elections of 1873 and 1874 do not stand. Signed the
June 1868 memorial first of all the names.
doc/text/books/1800/lewis_memorial_dallas_county_1892/excerpts.md