Biographical Sketch of George W. Longan

Born: Charitan, Missouri, December 31, 1819.
Died: 1891.
FEW of our readers, outside of Missouri, are familiar with the name of this excellent brother. His labors have been confined chiefly to his native State, and even there, seldom, if ever, operating beyond the southern portion. Although he has contributed some able articles to our periodicals, these have generally appeared without his proper signature, and, consequently, have done little or nothing toward introducing his name to the people. He is esteemed, however, by those who know him, as one of the ablest and most useful men among the Disciples in the State where he resides.

GEORGE W. LONGAN was born in the town of Charleston, Missouri, December 31, 1819. Missouri was then a Territory, and as he has always resided there, he is quite familiar with the history of that young, but rapidly-growing State.

His parents removed from Virginia to Kentucky, and thence to Missouri. They were poor, and went to Missouri soon after their marriage, in order to identify their fortunes with that promising country. The father was a member of the first Legislature of the State after its admission into the Union. Reared in a frontier country, where there were no colleges, and few good schools of any grade, the son had little or no opportunities to obtain a first-class education. But, by diligent application to study, he acquired a fair knowledge of English, and also made considerable progress in Latin; so that he is now a respectable scholar, notwithstanding the difficulties under which he has had to labor. He is emphatically a self-made man, and has all the vigor, zeal, and independence that usually characterize that class of men.

His parents were Baptists, but, after a careful examination of the Word of God, he embraced the views of the Disciples, and was baptized by the well-known evangelist, ALLEN WRIGHT, in 1844. In forming his religious convictions, he was much indebted to the writings of ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, and especially the translation of the New Testament, which he published with prefaces, annotations, etc. Referring to his religious position, Brother LONGAN says: "When I became a Disciple, I stood alone among my relations; not one of them, so far as known to me, occupying the same ground." His only uncle on his father's side was a pioneer preacher among the Baptists, of great natural ability and large influence.

He commenced preaching about two years after his immersion, but for a number of years was very much circumscribed in his labors, having to toil on a farm or in the school-room to support his family, preaching only Saturdays and Sundays, and that almost entirely at his own expense. In speaking of those discouraging times, he says: "The brethren were very few in the section where I then lived. I remember when brother WILLIAM WILLIAMS, who still lives, was the only advocate of the ancient order of things in the bounds of my acquaintance--perhaps in several counties."

More recently he has devoted himself almost exclusively to the preaching of the Gospel, and although he has never been noted as a successful recruiter, his labors have not been in vain in the Lord. He has done much toward giving permanent success to the cause in Southern Missouri, and is justly regarded as one of the ablest preachers in the State. His present field of labor is Sedalia, Dresden, and Warrensburg.

As a speaker, he addresses the judgment rather than the passions; is more of a logician than a rhetorician or elocutionist; is devoted to the primitive Gospel, and has no faith in innovations or improvements in religion. As a close, logical reasoner, with either the pen or tongue, he has few superiors in the ranks of the Disciples, though his natural modesty, as well as the unfavorable circumstances by which he has been surrounded, have kept him from becoming very generally known.