John Mercer Langston

1829 - 1897

• Born	14 Dec 1829	Louisa County, Virginia   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Died	15 Nov 1897	District of Columbia   [3, 4]
  Buried	District of Columbia
  Person ID	I115	Nashville
  Last Modified	24 Feb 2008

  
  

  Father	Ralph Quarles,   b. 1764, Spotsylvania County, Virginia ,   d. 1834, Louisa County, Virginia
  Mother	Lucy Jane Langston,   b. 1780,   d. Oct 1834, Louisa County, Virginia
  Family ID	F47	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Caroline "Carrie" M. Wall,   b. 1833, North Carolina ,   d. 16 Mar 1915, District of Columbia   [5, 6]
  Married	25 Oct 1854	Ohio   [7]
  Notes	Was counsel-general in Haiti from 1875-1883. [3]
  Children	> 1. Arthur D. Langston,   b. 03 Aug 1855, Ohio ,   d. 07 Apr 1908, St. Louis, Missouri > 2. Ralph E. Langston,   b. abt. 1857, Ohio > 3. Nettie DeElla Langston,   b. 17 Jun 1860, Ohio ,   d. 27 Sep 1938, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee > 4. Frank Mercer "Lamb" Langston,   b. abt. 1864, Ohio   5. Chinque Langston, Ohio
  Last Modified	14 May 2012
  Family ID	F39	Group Sheet

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		John Mercer Langston picture from Wikipedia Commons
  		John Mercer Langston Picture from http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/OYTT-images/JMLangston.html
  		John Mercer Langston Highway Marker Marker erected in 1955. It is located in Louisa, Virginia at the intersection of West Main Street (U.S. 33) and Courthouse Square. Inscription -- John Mercer Langston was born 5.5 miles N.W. of here on 14 Dec. 1829, son of plantation owner Ralph Quarles and his former slave Lucy Langston. A graduate of Oberlin College (1849), in 1855 Langston became township clerk of Brownheim, Ohio - the first African American popularly elected to office. During the Civil War, he recruited regiments for the Union army. Afterward, he was founder and first dean of the Law Department of Howard University, served as minister resident in Haiti and charge d'affaires in Santo Domingo, and was first president of what is now Virginia State University. In 1888 he became the first black congressman elected from Virginia. He died on 15 Nov. 1897 in Washington, D.C.

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		Freedmen's Bank Records: John M. Langston Place of birth: Louisa County, Virginia Residence: Oberlin, Ohio
  		1860 OH Census: John M & Carrie Langston Enumeration Date: 18 Jun 1860 Page: 48 Location: Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio #347 1. John M. Langston - age 30, lawyer, real estate $12,000, personal estate $5,000 2. Caroline M. - age 25 3. Arthur - age 5 4. Ralph - age 3 5. Chin? - female, age 2 + 3 non-relatives Link to full image.
  		1870 OH Census: John M. & Caroline Langston Enumeration Date: 24 Nov 1860 Page: 70 Location: Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio #493 1. Langston, John M - age 40, lawywer, real estate $40,000 2. Caroline M. - age 36 3. Arthur - age 14 4. Ralph - age 13 5. Nettie - age 10 6. Frank - age 6 7. Langston, Jennie -age 18, black, 8. Percival, Jane - age 23, day servant Link to full image.
  		Educated Negro Family From the New York Times 23 Jun 1903
  		Langton to Dinner Source: "Dinner to John M. Langston." Critic-Record [District of Columbia] Retreived 1 Aug. 1885. GenealogyBank. 9 Mar. 2009 http://www.genealogybank.com.

  
  

  Headstones

  Headstone: John Mercer & Caroline M. Langston

  
  

• Notes

  [8] [9]

  
  

• Sources

  [S41] Negro in American history : men and women eminent in the evolution of the American of African descent, John Wesley Cromwell, (American Negro Academy, 1914), http://books.google.com/books?id=IY5GAAAAMAAJ., 155. [S134] King-Calnek, Judith E. "John Mercer Langston and the Shaping of African American Education in the Nineteenth Century." Education as Freedom. Lanham, 2009. 27-45, 31. [S61] John Mercer Langston Biographical Sketch, (Oberlin University), http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/OYTT-images/JM.. [S62] Deaths of the Day: John Mercer Langston, (New York Times, 16 Nov 1897), http://tinyurl.com/3bpphm.. [S1] Profiles of African-Americans in Tennessee, Annual Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, (http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digital/digitizing.html). [S34] Aristocrats of Color: the Black Elite, 1880-1920, Gatewood, William B., (University of Arkansas Press, 2000), 120. [S41] Negro in American history : men and women eminent in the evolution of the American of African descent, John Wesley Cromwell, (American Negro Academy, 1914), http://books.google.com/books?id=IY5GAAAAMAAJ., 159. [S40] History of Howard Law School, (Howard University Law School), http://www.law.howard.edu/19., 21 Feb 2008. [S41] Negro in American history : men and women eminent in the evolution of the American of African descent, John Wesley Cromwell, (American Negro Academy, 1914), http://books.google.com/books?id=IY5GAAAAMAAJ., 156.