Mrs. Long and her daughters are members of the Congregational church and the family is prominent socially in the community where they reside. In politics Mr. Long is a republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but does not seek public office. His life has been one of diligence and his labors have been crowned with a substantial measure of success.
J. W. HARBERT.
J. W. Harbert, of Small township, whose residence in Walla Walla county dates from 1859, is one of the earliest pioneers of this section now living. He was born in Fountain county, Indiana, September 25, 1835, a son of Richard J. and Mary (Zumwalt) Harbert, natives respectively of Havre de Grace, Maryland, and Cynthiana, Kentucky. Their marriage, however, was celebrated in Indiana, where they resided until 1844, when they removed with their family to Dubuque, Iowa. Three years later they went to Mount Vernon, a college town in Linn county, Iowa, which remained their place of residence for many years. The father came to Walla Walla in 1878, but after spending over a year in this locality returned to Iowa, where his wife died in 1888. Immediately after her death he again came to Washington and made his home with his son, J. W. Harbert, until his death, which occurred about a year later, in 1889.
J. W. Harbert was reared at home and received his education in the common schools. In 1859 he decided that the west offered the most favorable opportunities for an ambitious young man and accordingly made the long overland trip to Walla Walla county, driving an ox team for another man in exchange for the privilege of having his provisions transported. Following his arrival here he worked for Charles Russell for two years and then devoted eight years to freighting from Wallula and Umatilla Landing to the Idaho mines and to other points in this part of the country. When the railroad was built through, the need for freighting by team ceased and he turned his attention to farming. He worked hard, gave careful attention to the management of his affairs and in time acquired fourteen hundred acres of the finest farm land in the county. He was quick to recognize and take advantage of any unusual opportunity and one of the chief factors in his success has been the close personal supervision which he has given to his work. In 1863, while hauling a load of freight from Wallula to Idaho City, he camped on the night of July 2d on the site of Fort Boise, the officers choosing that site the following morning for a fort. In 1864 he hauled one hundred and seventy-five thousand feet of lumber from the mountains to Boise city and watched the loading and unloading of every board. His natural vigor and strength have been conserved by wholesome outdoor life, and today, at the age of eighty-two years, he superintends all his farm work and is as active as most men twenty-five years his junior. When he arrived in Walla Walla county he had but three dollars and the financial independence which is now his is the direct result of his own labors.
MRS. J. W. HARBERT