Sarah Slater's Second Husband

[Susan Higginbotham]

This is the marriage certificate and return of marriage for Sarah Antoinette "Nettie" Slater and her second husband, Jacob M. Long, whose full name I believe has not been known up until now. The couple were married on December 5, 1867, a little over a year after Sarah was divorced from Rowan Slater. Her sister, Josephine, with whom Sarah would spend her last years, was one of the witnesses.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Jacob Long was a member of Pennsylvania Governor Johnson's staff (from which he somehow acquired the nickname of "Colonel" Long). Later, he laid the water works for Pottsville, PA, and before the war moved to New York City, where he served for many years as the superintendent of the Harlem Gas Light Company. Long was also a city alderman associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. A widower with a number of children, he was twice the age of his new bride (indeed, some of his own children were close to Sarah's age, which may have made for an awkward situation).

As far as I know, the marriage was childless. It may not have lasted, though I can't be certain of that; Sarah is not listed with Jacob in the 1870 and 1880 censuses, and his death certificate shows him as a widower. Jacob died of apoplexy at his Harlem home on April 16, 1889, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, where his first wife is also buried.