John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, sits with his family in front of his ancestral home in Buckfield, September 1899.

From left are Agnes (Peirce) Long, daughters Helen and Margaret, John D. Long; seated on ground (holding a box camera) is his son, Peirce Long.

John Davis Long (1838-1915), the son of Zadoc and Julia (Davis) Long, attended Hebron Academy at age 9, and entered Harvard College at age 14, graduating from Harvard in 1857, and from Harvard Law School in 1860.

He practiced law in Buckfield and served as principal at Westford Academy before relocating to Boston in 1869.

He served in the Massachusetts State Legislature and was Lieutenant Governor in 1878 and Governor from 1879-1883.

Long served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1883-1889, before retiring to his private law practice in Hingham, Mass. He was appointed Secretary of the Navy from 1897-1902 before retiring a second time to write books about the Navy, the Spanish American War, and several volumes of poetry.

He continued to be active in social causes, promoting Woman Suffrage, Temperance, and the abolition of the death penalty. He died in Hingham, Mass., on August 28, 1915.