Person Record

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1 of 1977 William R. Longstreet

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Metadata

Name

Longstreet, William R.

Genealogy ID

83340

Born

19 MAY 1858

Birthplace

Wayne County PA

Deceased

13 MAY 1935

Deceased where

Mansfield, Tioga PA

Cemetery

Oakwood Cemetery

Education

Pompton Academy
Gardner's Business College
Mansfield State Normal School 1883
Grove City College

Occupation

Principal of the Model School
Tioga County Superintendent of Schools
Principal of the Mansfield-Richmond High School 1912-1929

Titles & honors

F. & A. M. Friendship Lodge No. 247
Pennsylvania National Guard
Founded the Normal Guard
Advocate of School Consolidation

Father

William Redford Longsteet

Mother

Anna Crone

Spouse

Lucy L. Ransom

Children

Olive Longstreet
S. Price Longstreet
Mary Louise Longstreet
William Ransom Longstreet

Reference

Obit PDC

Notes

Mansfield Advertiser, PA, 19 October 1927, p.1
Prof. Longstreet Principal of Mansfield High Fifteen Years
William R. Longstreet was a native of Wayne county, PA, and was born on a from near Lake Arid, which is now a popular summer resort. Soon after returning from the Civil War, his father moved the family to Pompton, PA, where he engaged in the business of lumbering. Young Longstreet attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered the Pompton Academy. This same year his father died, leaving a widow and six children, three boys and three girls. William was the oldest and the support of the family fell to his lot, to a certain extent. Before he reached the age of sixteen he had taught a term of school, and he tells the writer that the proudest moment of his life was when he presented his mother the wages he received for teaching that term, in a nice roll of bills. After this Mr. Longstreet alternated teaching and attending the Academy until eighteen years old, when he graduated. That fall he entered Gardner’s Business College in Scranton, PA, as a student and teacher. After graduating from this institution he continued as a teacher two years, the last year he was acting principal. Leaving the profession of teaching he was in business for over a year in Honesdale, PA. He registered as a student in law with the firm of Waller & Bentley, at Honesdale, and continued the study of law for one year, and for a number of years intended to return to this office and finish his law course, and get admitted to the Bar of Wayne County. He was a member of the National Guard of Pennsylvania three years, being a charter member of Company E, 13th Regiment, with headquarters at Scranton, PA. In the fall of 1882, Mr. Longstreet entered the Mansfield State Normal School, now the Teachers College, graduating the following June, when he was elected to the position of principal of the Training School, which position he held for fourteen years. In addition, for several years during this time he had charge of the discipline of the boys’ dormitory. He also organized a military company, known at the Normal Guards. This company consisted of the regular number of men [63] and were properly uniformed and equipped with guns and other accouterments, and had a drum corps of six drummers and two fifers. This company consisted of splendidly drilled young men and often gave public exhibition drills in the park, to the delight of many onlookers many of whom still remember these drills. A number of Mansfield people remember W.W. Allen and Austin E. Barnhart as lieutenants; Charles M. Elliott, of Wellsboro; Fordyce A. Clark, Col. B. Mart Bailey, U.S. Army, New York; Robert Cunningham, Johnson City; George Passmore, Detroit, Mich., and others who were members of the drum corps. Lyman D. Goodspeed, of this place, was also a member of this company. On December 16, 1898, Prof. Longstreet was appointed county superintendent of schools of this county, by Dr. Nathan C. Schaffer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, to fill the place of Prof. H.E. Raesley, resigned. He was afterwards elected four terms to this office. In the year 1912, Mansfield Boro and Richmond Township became a joint school district and Prof. Longstreet was elected principal of the schools, and established in Mansfield a High School of the first class. Later the school was re-organized into a Junior and Senior High School, with Prof. Longstreet as principal of the Senior High School. On July 25, 1888, Prof. Longstreet married Miss Lucy S. Ransom, then a teacher in the Wellsboro schools. To this union four children were born, viz: Samuel Price, on the directing engineers in the Pennsylvania State Highway Department, with headquarters at Lancaster; Mary Louise, teacher in Passaic, NY; William Ransom, a teacher in Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio; Olive, now Mrs. Horace M. Newell, of Champaign, Illinois. For a number of years Prof. Longstreet did work at summer sessions of different colleges. In 1902 the degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by Grove City College, without his solicitation. During his term as county superintendent, Prof. Longstreet was one of the pioneers in the State in establishing consolidation and centralization of schools. He believed the advantages of the higher graded schools should be extended to the children of the rural distracts. He seldom gave an address to the public that he did not advocate better schools and better roads, realizing that the success of the former depended to quite an extent upon the latter. During his administration Charleston High School was built and Tioga county was put on the map as having one of the first Rural High Schools in the State, and at the close of the administration several other districts had taken steps toward consolidation

William R. Longstreet
First Principal
County Superintendent of Schools
19 MAR 1858 - 13 MAY 1935
Oakwood Cemetery, Mansfield

Wellsboro Agitator, May 15, 1935
W.R. Longstreet died Monday [SRGP 83340]
Former County Supt. of Schools had Long and Useful Career
LONGSTREET - Prof. William R. Longstreet, well known throughout the Northern Tier as an educator died early Monday, May 13, at his home in Mansfield, aged 76 years. He was a graduate of the Mansfield Normal, and served 14 years as principal of its training school. In 1898 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools to fill an unexpired term and served four terms, becoming principal of the Mansfield-Richmond High school in 1912. He retired in 1929. As county School Superintendent he was active in school centralization and consolidation, a step he initiated on the belief that children in rural communities were entitled to advantages on a par with those offered in larger schools.
He was born near Lake Arid, PA, March 19, 1859 and with his family removed to Pompton, PA, when his father returned from service in the civil war. He attended Pompton schools and the Pompton Academy, teaching a term before he was 16 to aid in supporting a family that had been left fatherless. Graduating from the Academy he took a business course in Scranton and taught there two years, serving one year as principal. He spent a year in business in Honesdale, and read law for a year, removing to Mansfield in 1882. As principal of the Normal Training School he organized a military unit known as the Normal Guards. He married Miss Lucy L. Ransome, a Wellsboro teacher, July 25, 1888. She survives with two sons, Prince of Harrisburg, and William of Athens, Ohio; two daughters, Louise, a teacher in Passaic, NJ, and Mrs. Olive Newell of Springfield, Ill.; a sister, Mrs. L.W. Peck of Scranton, and three grandchildren. He was a member of Friendship Lodge, F.&A.M., and the Mansfield Presbyterian church. - Wellsboro Agitator, May 15, 1935

William R. Longstreet, widowed = 83340
Death Cert. #51817; Cause - Cerebral hemorrhage
b. 19 March 1859, Lake Ariel, Wayne county, PA; d. 13 May 1935, Mansfield
Occupation - High School Principal, retired
Parents - Wm. Redford Longstreet, PA + Ann Crone, Pike County, PA
Informant - Miss Louise Longstreet, 209 Broadway, Passaic, NJ
Burial - Oakwood, 16 May 1935