The Langston Line for Celia Cohan Fenolietto

Submitted by:

Celia Cohan Fenolietto

February 2007 (Revised June 21, 2010)

Sources: Verda Stynchcombe Cohan’s records, James K. Polk Langston III’s research in the 1970’s, Barbara J. Allen at www.couchgenweb.com/arkansas/izard/Langston_2.html, http://xpda.com/family/fam00052.htm., and various web sites for corroboration.

- Henry Langston b: June 18, 1603 in Wales or England, d: 1681 Worcester County, England

m: Elizabeth Worrell

[Note: There is apparently records of another Henry Langston born in the 1500’s whose wife was Ann Darston, and they had a son Anthony in Worcester Co., England. Facts about the two Henry’s have been intermingled in web site accounts so that it is difficult to separate the information on the two. Perhaps one was the father or grandfather of this Henry. Anthony Langston, son of Henry and “esq. of Littleton”, obtained two land grants along the York River in VA in 1653, one in New Kent – perhaps he is brother or father to this Henry.]

- John (I) Langston b: ? d: ca.1694 in Nansemond Co., VA

m: Katherine Mountford d: 1699

- John (II) Langston b: 1660s in New Kent Co., VA d: after 1747 in Nansemond Co., VA

m: Ann Vann?

- John (III) Langston b: 1710 Nansemond Co., VA d: ca.1790 in Greenville, S.C.

m: Ann Agnes Maugham (or Mangham) b: 1712 (or 1717) Isle of Wight or Surry, VA

d: 1738 or 1741 in VA or 1794 in Greenville, S.C.

m 2: Elizabeth Persons? d: in Greenville, SC rather than Ann?

- John (IV) Langston b: ca 1735 in Bertie, NC ? d: before 1782

- Asa Langston b: 1774 in SC d:?

m: Rhoda Hill b: 1776 in SC d: 1820-22

m 2: maybe Sarah Clementine Dodd of Union, SC

- Jesse Langston b: 1798 in Union, SC d: 1879 in GA

m: Martha Davis

-William Greene Langston b. 1817 in GA (Greene Co.?) d: Apr 29, 1868 in Oconee Co., GA

m: Frances “Fannie” Matilda Polk on July 9, 1839, b: 1825 d: 1899 in Oconee Co., GA

- Sarah “Sallie” Stella Langston Stynchcombe b: Aug 22, 1866 in GA d: Mar 10, 1929 in GA

m: Drewey David Stynchcombe on Oct 21, 1888 b: May 29, 1865 in Greene Co.,GA

d: Feb 10, 1953 in Atlanta, GA.

- Verda Mai Stynchcombe Cohan b: Mar 29, 1894 in Bishop, GA d: Jul 6, 1971 in Cherryville, NC

m: Foster Eleazer Cohen (later Cohan) in Atlanta, GA b: Jun 8, 1887 in Madison, GA d: May 6, 1967 in Decatur, GA (VA hospital) resident of Atlanta.

- Foster Barnett Cohan b: Dec 29, 1924 in Atlanta, GA d: Jun 16, 1987 in Lynchburg, VA

m: Patricia Ann Freeman in Charlotte, Sep 1, 1957 b: Apr 8, 1934 in FL

The Langstons may have come from Wales. Henry Langston, born in Worcester County, England or possibly London, was issued a membership in the London Grocers at age 25. When London’s great fire of 1666 destroyed his grocery, he and wife Elizabeth left London permanently to live on their Sedgeborough estate in Worcester County. Henry may have traveled to the Colonies with his brother William in search of new items for his business and returned home. There was an Anthony Langston also born in Worcester Co. who obtained two land grants of 1000 acres along the York River, VA in 1653 with one being in New Kent County --- this may have been another brother or cousin of Henry’s or even his father.

John (I) Langston received a grant of land from the General Court for 1600 acres in New Kent County, VA. There he became a colonel in Nathaniel Bacon’s militia and was involved in “Bacon’s Rebellion.” A colonial document records that “John Langston was pardoned by act of Assembly, January 1680, but was barred from ever holding public office.” One source says he was exiled because he refused to prosecute Nathaniel Bacon. (The given name Langston was used for over a hundred years in the Bacon family.) He left that area and moved to 350 acres on Sarum (Sarem) Creek in Nansemond County, VA and called it “Sarum Plantation”. (This area was also called Chowan County, NC because of a disputed boundary, so there can be confusion in records.) John applied for a land grant but died before it was issued, so it went to his wife Katherine in 1694. She died 4-5 years later in 1699. She left at least three sons: John (II), Leonard, and Mountford.

John (II) was the eldest and heir to the Sarum Plantation. In 1726 he was also granted 480 acres in Chowan Co. NC, which he sold in 1744. In 1739 he sold 100 acres of the original Sarum land to his nephew William Langston. The last mention of John (II) was in the Vestry book of Upper Parish, Nansemond Co. in a notice that his lands had been processioned. He had at least six sons documented as John (III), William, Thomas, Jacob, Isaac, and Michael.

John (III) (1710-1790) was probably born at Sarum Plantation since his father inherited it in about 1699-1700. The first two of fifteen children were born in VA (Absolom & James), and the rest were born in Edgecomb Co., NC and perhaps some in SC. A 1743 document shows the population of the Langston Plantation in NC to be 6 whites and 2 negroes. They later moved farther south to S.C. The D.A.R. Patriot Index shows that John (III) and sons James and Solomon contributed to the Revolutionary War under Col. William Eaton and Capt. Daniel Harris of the South Carolina Militia. (Solomon gave land for a church in Laurens, SC that was named Langston Church in his honor.) John (III) wrote a will in 1782 naming all of his children except for Absolom and John (IV) who must have been dead by this time, though he did name his grandsons Asa and William (sons of John IV).

Little is known about John (IV) (~1735-bfr 1782), fourth child of John (III). Since he is not mentioned in his father’s will of 1782, we assume he is deceased by then. He may have died in the Revolutionary War, but he is not in the Patriot Index. He left two sons, Asa and William, mentioned in John (III)’s will.

Asa Langston’s (1774-?) first seven of eleven children were born in Union, Pendelton, and Laurens, SC up to 1809. Then beginning in 1811 the next four children were born in Elbert, GA. Asa’s brother William had gone to Oconee Co., GA, so perhaps that spurred his move.

All that we know of Jesse Langston (1798-1879) is that he was Asa’s second child, first son born in 1798 in Union, SC. He would have been about 12 to 13 when his family moved to GA. We know nothing about his wife Martha Davis or any of their children other than William Greene Langston, born in 1817.

William Greene Langston (1817-1868) married into the famous Polk family (Fannie’s father Ezekiel was a cousin to President James K. Polk), spawning generations of James K. Polk Langstons and Polk often used as a middle name. In April 1861 their residence was listed as Greene County when their first 3 of sixteen children enlisted in the Civil War (or “War of Northern Aggression”). Alexander L. Langston was killed as the 1st color bearer at the Battle of Gettysburg with Co. B, 3^rd Regiment, Georgia Infantry, and the tattered flag he carried can be seen in a glass case in the State Capitol Building in Atlanta with a plaque bearing his name (at least it was in 1968 when I saw it; don’t know if the Politically Correct Police have had it removed). Reuben was wounded at the Battle of Malvern Hill, VA on July 1, 1862, and then fatally wounded in the head at Spottsylvania, PA in 1864. Levi (called “L.C.”) died in the trenches of Petersburg July 7, 1864. With Sherman moving south and few young men left at home, the 47 year old William enlisted in Co. B, 1^st Regiment of the Georgia Militia Reserves on April 1, 1864. He was discharged on February 1865 due to illness. His wife claims in an affidavit for a war widow’s pension that he was never again well until his death 3 years later in 1868.

Their fourteenth and fifteenth children were identical twin girls named Sarah “Sallie” Stella and Mary “Mamie” Idelle of which there are still quite a few photos. Mamie Langston married Howard Vaughn and moved to Oklahoma.

Verda Stynchcombe (1894-1971), like her mother Sallie Langston, was also an identical twin to a sister named Vera. Unlike her mother who had 10 children, Verda had only one child. An avid reader and lifelong learner, she attended a certificate program at the University of GA and became a teacher, both in public school and of Sunday school for many years. Her father had been a high school teacher and principal. She became the first Boy Scout den mother in the state of Georgia when her son Foster was a scout. She enjoyed hosting the debutante girls of Atlanta when her niece was a debutante and her son dated one. Her husband was the credit manager of Pittsburgh Plate Glass in Atlanta, son of a bank president and grandson of a former mayor of Madison, GA. After a fall in her downtown Atlanta apartment, her son moved her into his family’s home in Charlotte, NC. She spent the last months of her life in a nursing home in Cherryville, NC (outside of Charlotte) for the medical care needed.

Foster Barnett Cohan (1924-1987) was named after his father Foster and grandmother Eliza Foster of the famous Fosters of Fostoria, OH, and also for his grandfather Samuel Barnett Cohen, a bank president in Madison, GA. He was an only child, studious, artistic, and athletic. Very handsome and charming, he had his first tuxedo at 14 years old for the Atlanta ballroom dances and later for dating the debutantes. He won a trophy for the most points collected during his high school years for athletics (cross country runner), clubs, and school offices held. After high school he enlisted in the Army Air Corps (precursor to the Air Force) of World War II, where he flew 32 missions over Japan as the navigator in a B-29 Super Fortress from Tinian Island. He obtained the rank of Captain by the end of the war in 1945. He returned home to get an economics degree in only 3 years from Emory University in Atlanta. It wasn’t all work, though, for he was member of Chi Phi fraternity. Over his career he was a furniture buyer, furniture store manager, Southeastern district manager, advertising executive and part-time college professor of marketing and advertising. He was also an avid reader, avid golfer (lived on a golf course and had his own golf cart), dabbled in oil painting, member of the Kiwanis Club, volunteer for the Special Olympics, and on the board of directors for the Humane Society in Lynchburg, VA. Still vigorous and athletic into his 60’s, he succumbed to cancer at only 62 years of age.