John Davis Long was the youngest of the four children of Zadoc Long, a storekeeper in Buckfield, Maine, and his wife Julia Davis Long. On October 27, 1838, Zadoc entered John Davis’s birth in his journal; over the next fifteen years, he recorded his son’s development from an infant to a young man. Zadoc Long was an affectionate and observant father. As a storekeeper, he could spend more time with his young children than most farmers or craftsmen. His journal provides an unusual record, especially from a father’s point of view, of the day-to-day events of a nineteenth-century childhood. John Davis Long fulfilled his father’s hopes for his success as a lawyer and statesman, becoming Governor of Massachusetts in 1880 and Secretary of the Navy in President McKinley’s cabinet.

Excerpts from Zadoc Long’s Diary about his son, John Davis Long

October 27 [1838]. At 3 o’clock this beautiful starlit morning, we were blessed with the birth of our second son, under very comfortable circumstances. We thank God for this, and beseech him to regard us in mercy. We commit ourselves and the children to the care of our Almighty Heavenly Father. The weight of our new comer is 8-1/2 pounds.

October 30 [1838]. Ground froze last night hard enough to bear. Julia Davis [oldest daughter] has brought our little boy, who has no name yet, out of the chamber into the sitting room, and made him a bed upon the sofa. He sleeps in tranquil innocence with his little thumb, no larger than the quill with which I am writing, in his cherub mouth. Julia watches all the while close by his side with the most perfect smile of fondness spread all over her sisterly countenance. God bless them both.

November 2 [1838]. The little boy opening his bright blue eyes. Our four children represent the four seasons.

	August 16, 1825—Julia Davis born in Summer.
	February 14, 1828—Persis Seaver was born in Winter.
	April 26, 1834—Zadoc was born in Spring.
	October 27, 1838—The little one was born in Autumn.

I am trying to select a name for the boy, but find none to suit me quite...


November 20 [1838]. We are thinking of calling our little boy John Davis in memory of our lamented brother of that name. My wife has a cousin of that name, formerly Governor of Massachusetts, now a Senator in Congress.


April 27, 1839. ...John Davis sits at the table with the family when we eat, generally in his grandmother Nelson’s lap, & partakes eagerly & liberally of soft food, & drinks heartily his milk & water. If his mouth is not constantly supplied, he straightens out his puny legs, & throws back his head, yelling & kicking.

November 5 [1839]. Sometimes I amuse John Davis with my violin. He climbs up by holding on to the leg of my pantaloons*, & stands by my knee, steadying himself with one hand while he stretches out the other to get hold of my bow. Sometimes he catches it in the middle of a tune, and makes horrid discord. He is now sitting under a chair, & eating gingerbread with a slobbered nose.

November 7 [1839]. John Davis taken from his mother to be weaned*, he is made very comfortable in his Grandmother Nelson’s room. I have just been to see him. He had crept under the bed, broken the cover of something he found there [a chamber pot*], and was having fine sport with the pieces.

November 8 [1839]. John Davis has been kept 24 hours from his mother without crying or making any trouble. He eats and drinks like a man. He is very playful and contented. He occasionally appears as though he missed something. If he hears the door open, he will turn his head in the direction, and look as if disappointed at not seeing the one he expected. So far he has made the least ado of any child I ever saw weaned.

November 9 [1839]. John Davis has made no fuss at all. This is the third night he has gone to bed and to sleep as quietly as a kitten.

November 11 [1839]. This morning I introduced John Davis to his mother, whom he had not seen for 4 days. He stared at her a moment, then smiled, & turned from her, thoroughly weaned. The scene was interesting, & cost his mother a tear. It was painful to her to see how easily she was forgotten by the child of her love, whom she had so long and so fondly cherished.

December 16 [1839]. John Davis is trotting about the house as briskly as a puppy. He can understand much that is said to him, though he can’t talk much. He came up to me the other day repeatedly, and held up his hand, saying “bur” “bur.” At last I examined, and found the end of one of his fingers burned to a blister. No one knows how it was done; but he had probably picked up a small coal of fire that had snapt* out upon the rug. He understood that it was a burn. When he hears a noise which he does not understand, he holds still with a staring look, and says “har” “har,” for hark. This is all the progress he has made in talking.

Sept. 29 [1840]. Little John Davis comes to my side, &, lifting up his innocent, blue eyes, inquiries, “Where Dada gone? Ha!” Blessed boy! How much we are interested and delighted with him! We dread to have the time pass away with the pleasure we take in his infancy. How short the time seems since our oldest child, like this little one, amused us with her first prattling! And now she is a woman grown. Miss Julia Davis was 15 years old last August.

October 27 [1841]. This is the birthday of our dear little boy, John Davis. He is 3 years old, a healthy, lively, good natured child. All say he is one of the finest, least troublesome children they ever saw. He plays out doors what time his mother will let him, never runs away, but contents himself with his waggon or the kitten. God bless him.

March 25 [1844]. I have had a sleigh ride with Zadoc & John Davis round the “Great Square”…

April 11 [1844]. From my window I see my baby, John Davis, returning from school alone. And now he runs, and now he stops suddenly and looks back, and now throws a stone at the fence and runs again towards home. I hear him on the stairs “Father! Father! I got dismissed. You said I might, and I will help you shell corn*.” He has a box with an iron rod laid lengthwise upon it, which is held in place with an old day book and by seating himself upon it a straddle the iron. He shells fast the ears of corn by holding them with one hand against the sharp edge of the iron, while with the other he turns them first one way, then the other—very sociable all the while. He is more diligent than Zadoc, and loves to work better...

November 19 [1844]. John Davis is fond of new books, and I have bought him two this morning. He is a good reader...

December 12 [1844]. Cold north east storm. John Davis reads, writes, and recites* lessons in Geography to me at home. I prefer this to sending him to school, where he is liable to learn as much evil as good. He is a fine scholar, and possesses a philosophical mind.

January 16, 1845. Snow storm. John Davis is constant in attending school. This morning I advised him to stay at home on account of the cold storm, but fearing that I should compel him to stay, he stole away while I was at breakfast. I see him from the window, running as fast as his short legs will go up the hill and through the snow.

April 26 [1845]. John Davis has been to the dentist alone, and had six teeth out. He manifested uncommon courage and fortitude. I tell him he will relate this circumstance to his children.

November 30 [1845]. I, John Davis Long, youngest of Zadoc Long, seven years old last October am writing in my Father’s Journal. I have a beautiful kitten which I love very much, and she loves me. As soon as my chamber door is open in the morning, she comes in and hops on my bed and purrs near my head till she wakes me. Then she goes to Father’s bed, and Zadoc’s, and to the girls’ bed, and then she skips down stairs after her breakfast. Her colour is light gray. JOHN DAVIS LONG

Oct. 27 [1846]. Our dear John Davis’s birthday. God bless him.

Dec. 26 [1846]. Blustering. The snow flies & it is very bad traveling. John Davis stays at home from school with me, & attends to reading, history & to penmanship. He is a clearheaded boy, & has a philosophical understanding. I please myself with the hope that he will be a distinguished scholar & a useful man...

January 2, 1848. Buckfield, Me. Written by John D. Long
Sunday, January 2, 1848—Warm and cloudy and foggy. The ground is bare and not a particle of snow or ice to be seen. I have been writing a letter to my cousin Nelson D. White. I am a going to write in Father’s Journal till he gets me a new one as much as I want to.

The following poem wirtten by John Davis, in his own hand.

	Time passes swiftly o’er my head,
	I soon shall be a man.
	The brightest scenes of earth will fade,
	And life is but a span.
	JOHN D. LONG

October 14 [1850]. John Davis begins attending school at Hebron Academy. Carried him there with my horse and wagon. He came to the resolution, of his own accord, to go, and with unwavering decision cheerfully packed up this morning. I have left him there, more than sad at parting with him.

Nov. 30, 1851 —My wife has not yet returned form Winchendon. The last fortnight I have been very unwell. John Davis is a faithful & kind nurse. He has a little couch made up for him on the floor by my bed, & takes care of me nights when I need attention. It is sometimes hard waking him, but he always gets up and waits upon me cheerfully.


July 21 [1853]. Very fine weather. John Davis returns from Cambridge with his certificate of admission to Harvard. He had to undergo a very critical and severe examination that lasted 2 days. He had the disadvantage of not having been drilled in such schools and under such teachers as know how to prepare students for the peculiar requirement at Harvard, and of being the youngest boy applying for admission.

July 15, 1854. Buckfield, Me. I rode to Mechanic Falls in the morning, and met John Davis. He left Cambridge last evening, and came to Portland in the Steam Boat. He closed his freshman year, yesterday, and has entered the sophomore year in high standing in his class. In Latin he stood third, in Mathematics at the highest mark, 160, in History at the highest mark, 160; in Greek his standing is not ascertained. We are glad to see him home, and in so good reputation as a student. A year ago it was thought, on account of his extreme youth and deficient fitting [education], that he could not sustain himself at Harvard, even if he could enter at all. Now in the best class, as the President himself assures me, which they have had for many years, he ranks among the highest.

I have my children all at home again. It is pleasant to meet them all together, with their pleasant countenances. They are no more little and dependent, as they formerly were, upon my constant care; they are relying more upon themselves, and I am approaching to dependence upon them. So goes the changing world.


*chamber pot - a bedroom vessel for urination and defecation, used to avoid trips outside during the night
*pantaloons - long pants, trousers worn by boys and men
*peculiar - unique
*recites - to say aloud, usually from memory
*shell corn - remove the kernels from the cob
*snapt - snapped
*weaned - no longer takes his mother’s milk. It was common practice for mother and child to be separated during this time.

Journal of Zadoc Long, ed. Peirce Long (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printer, Ltd., 1943), 144-145, 147-149, 151, 157-160, 162-163, 165, 167, 169, 170-171. Selected entries. Edited by Old Sturbridge Village.