Milton Long

I don't really have many stories about these great-great grandparents---Milton Long and Catherine Brown Long. One story that I recall was my dad's uncles saying how much he looked like their grandfather Milton. I always thought dad looked like their father, but they insisted he looked more like their grandfather and I can actually see it, now. (Double-click on any of the documents to see more clearly---use the back arrow to come back)

While going through my files looking for something on Milton, I found this from the Pierce Mothershead web site showing what happened to Milton and his siblings when their parents died.The 1850 census confirms that Milton was living with the Pounds family (along with some Mothersheads).
I never throw anything out, so I have this letter from Ginny Guinther from 20 years ago. She urged me to go to Potosi and look at the probate records. But, I never did.
The second page had the bombshell---Samuel Long was the administrator. Look back at the Mothershead-Pierce record---nowhere does it say anything about Samuel Long (other than the 14 year old). For several years I've tried to prove that my ancestor Thomas Long (Milton's dad) was Samuel Long's brother. One of the things that really bothered me was this guardianship record. Shouldn't his brother have had guardianship of some of these children? At first I thought, well maybe Pounds is a relative on the mother's side (which I still don't know).
If I'd gotten off my duff and looked at those probate records, I might have seen that Samuel Long was the administrator of his neices and nephews. But, still the question---why is he the administrator and not the guardian. With the guardianship of Michael Jackson's children being decided, several times I've heard that the children should stay with the people they know and feel comfortable with. Samuel and his family lived just across a river, but that was a pretty formidable barrier in the mid-1800's. The children probably felt more comfortable with their neighbors, friends from church, close family friends.

So, I'll try to get to Potosi and look at that Probate box Ginny wanted me to look at 20 years ago. I do wonder about Elizabeth Long. . .