Abner Longley's second and third sons were named Servetus (born 1825) and Septimius (born 1827). They were born while the family was living in Miami, Ohio. The boys spent most of their youth in Lebanon, Indiana, before settling in Cincinnati by the mid-1840s when their dad was doing cabinetmaking there.
Abner had a cabinet showroom on Richmond street between John and Fulton streets in 1842 and 1843. His shop was then moved to the southeast corner of 6th & Smith. This was the same address as the W. B. F. Hedemberg Boarding House, where he probably lived.
Abner had a cabinet showroom on Richmond street between John and Fulton streets in 1842 and 1843. His shop was then moved to the southeast corner of 6th & Smith. This was the same address as the W. B. F. Hedemberg Boarding House, where he probably lived.
Servetus was admitted to the Woodward Free Grammar School on August 26, 1844 and studied for two years. The school was an effort to educate the city's poor. The Woodward High School opened October 1831 in a two story brick building on Franklin Street in the Bond Hill community of Cincinnati, and was the first high school west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Woodward's College Department opened January 1836, in the same building as the high school, and alumni of the school earned degrees at graduation. The school continued to grow, and by 1841, a third story was added, and plans were undertaken to construct bigger facilities, which were completed in 1855. It was located on the corner of Woodward Street and Sycamore Street, and was one of the first buildings in America to use terracotta as exterior decoration.
Woodward's College Department opened January 1836, in the same building as the high school, and alumni of the school earned degrees at graduation. The school continued to grow, and by 1841, a third story was added, and plans were undertaken to construct bigger facilities, which were completed in 1855. It was located on the corner of Woodward Street and Sycamore Street, and was one of the first buildings in America to use terracotta as exterior decoration.
There is no record that Septimius attended Woodward but he did learn the trade of a bricklayer. This is probably how he met his future wife, Joanna Hey, whose father was also a bricklayer.
Septimius married Joanna in 1850 and then left his bricklaying profession the next year to join his brothers Elias and Servetus in the printing business. The brothers had started publishing the “Phonetic Speller”. (See Elias's story) This publication was followed in 1853 with the “Youth’s Friend”.
In October 1853 Servetus wrote an article in the Western Gem and Musician newspaper. (This paper was located at their address. Was it a Longley paper?) It was a critique about the song "Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee River") which was a minstrel song written by fellow Cincinnatian Stephen Foster in 1851. Longley was concerned about the subjects and word choice. Foster’s use of “black dialect” was one problem. Longley asserts a simple answer: change the words to standard English. The “problem” with the subject can be solved as well: change the subject to something more sentimental.
In general, over time these words, and location, used by Foster like "mudder", "ebber”, “darkeys”, "ribber", or "plantation" were eventually substituted with others and not heard of again. He also complained about Stephen's earlier song “Old Uncle Ned”.
In 1855 William Turner Coggeshall (Shown on the left) sells his Cincinnati paper, “The Little Forester”, to the Longley brothers. It will become part of their “Youth’s Friend” paper. Coggeshall entered the Cincinnati newspaper world by becoming the assistant editor of the year-old Daily Columbian, a news and business paper with a circulation of 5,000 in 1854. In August of 1854 Coggeshall became involved in a more literary enterprise, the publishing of the “Genius of the West”, a Cincinnati magazine that consciously promoted local literature. During the Civil War, he became a friend of Abraham Lincoln and was on the dais with him for the Gettysburg Address. He also was a Union spy and part time bodyguard for Lincoln.
Between 1856 and 1860 Elias, Cyrenius, Servetus, Septimius and Alcander are publishing the “Type of the Times” based on Elias’s shorthand study. It featured writing and spelling reform done in phonemic orthography. A phonemic orthography is an orthography (a system for writing a language) in which the graphemes (written symbols) correspond to the phonemes (significant spoken sounds) of the language.
In 1856 Servetus came up with his first invention. It was a labor saving device for rolling barrels or moving hogsheads. It did not become commercial.
Also in 1856 Longley & Brother began publishing “The Odd Fellows' Casket & Review” for the next three years.
In 1858 Servetus, age 33, married Annie Lofthouse, age 17, and moved her widowed mother into their home.
Two years later the brothers have all gone their separate ways. Alcander was doing printing at 167 Walnut, across the street from Septimius, who stayed at 168 1/2. Strangely the 1860 Census lists Septimius as a "Music Teacher" and not a printer. Cyrenius was now doing printing at 42 Stone street and Elias had become a proof reader for Nicholas Longworth. Servetus left Cincinnati and had moved his residence to Foster’s Landing northeast of town. Septimius moved there the next year.
With the outbreak of the Civil War a new money making opportunity arose... making flags for the Union Army. Servetus and Septimius now opened the Longley Flag Manufacturing business at 164 Vine. By 1862 they got a contract from the government to make 120 Infantry and artillery colors. In 1863 the brothers moved their business to 143 Walnut. They also landed another government contract for 235 more regimental colors.
In July that year Septimius was on a train near Cincinnati that was stopped and robbed by the Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders on their 24 day raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. A few days earlier his brother Elias, a reporter, was travelling with the 168th Ohio National Guard and was captured by the raiders. They held him as a spy because of his shorthand written notes they thought was a "secret cypher". He escaped that night and returned to Cincinnati to tell his story to the newspapers.
In 1864 the Longleys signed their final government contract for military flags worth $16,000 ($320,000 today) They were to produce 600 cavalry standards, 200 regimental colors, 30 garrison flags and 30 storm flags. During the war, they had to have made over $500,000 in today's money.
When the Longleys left 164 Vine a Mr. J. R. Hawley moved in. In 1861 Hawley was a Phoenix Sewing Machine Salesman in Cincinnati. Between 1862 and 1864 he became a Book Seller, Publisher and Envelope Manufacturer. He then became connected with Benjamin W. Hitchcock a publisher in New York City. To capitalize on the war Hitchcock, in 1862, had created a new playing card deck. He called them "Union Cards" and produced them under the name of the American Card Company at 14 Chambers Street. Hitchcock also changed the suits to Stars, Eagles, Flags and Shields. The deck was a huge hit. Hawley handled his card sales in Cincinnati.
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In February 1864 Servetus patented his third idea...a playing card design.
Like the Union deck his design did not use the usual suits. Servetus used Cannons, Swords, Anchors and Bugles, His deck is commonly known as the "Continental" since it is Revolutionary War themed. (These cards will be discussed in more detail in the Cincinnati Card Company page)
The Longley's Cincinnati Card Company was located in their present address at 143 Walnut. Also at that location was a business operated by Joseph Gates and William Gamble. They became the sole agents for the Longley card company and also sold the cards in Memphis, Tennessee.
Their Ad in the 1864 & 1865 Cincinnati City Directory
Their Ad in Memphis in October 1864
In September 1864 a playing card business was listed for sale in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. The company stated it has 10 machines and an experienced foreman and hands. It stated it makes $500 to $1,000 per week ($9,000 to $18,000 today) Only a P. O. box was listed. Was this the Longley’s playing card business? There wasn't any other known playing card business in Cincinnati at that time. The business was also never listed in the Cincinnati City Directory.
(Based on the Union Playing Card price of 50 cents per deck, then this playing card company was probably producing around 3,000 decks per week)
By 1866 the Longleys have moved to 248 Walnut. The city directory now listed Servetus and Septimius as playing card manufacturers. This address change was reflected on some of their Great Mogul brand of Cincinnati Playing Cards. The location was formerly the Charles Hofer Wholesale Wine & Liquor business.
During the time of the Cincinnati Card Company Servetus and Septimius both lived near Foster's Crossing about a 25 mile train ride from their business.
In 1867 Septimius purchased an old mill from Seth B. Greeley (Shown by the white arrow) in Foster's Crossing supposedly to be for the purpose of manufacturing playing cards but it wasn't.
The L M & C & X Railroad Took The Longleys Back And Forth Between
Cincinnati and Foster's Crossing
Cincinnati and Foster's Crossing
By 1868 the brothers were at 216 Main. Unfortunately the sales must not have been going well. On December 31st they declared bankruptcy. The next year Septimius headed west and joined his father in Paola, Kansas. He then began working in Leavenworth, Kansas, at the publishers Ramsey, Millett & Hudson as a printer with his half-brother Abner Jr..
But, Servetus didn't give up on his playing card business and moved to 6th and Main. He held on until February 1873 when a new opportunity arose.
But, Servetus didn't give up on his playing card business and moved to 6th and Main. He held on until February 1873 when a new opportunity arose.
Large Size?
On February 26, 1873 the Paper Fabrique Playing Card Company was incorporated. Servetus had found others to help create this new company. They were.....
E. F. Fuller was the Cincinnati General Agent of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St Louis Rail Road and would be the new company President.
Ellison Hanna was the Vice President of De Bus Tub & Cooperage. They were manufacturers of Lager Beer, Wine Casks and Whiskey Still Tubs. He will be the new Secretary and Superintendent. His father Henry is also an incorporator but had no specific job title.
John B. Clement was a local coal company clerk. His father was William H. Clement, the president of the Little Miami Railroad. He later became a partner in a store in Cincinnati, with William Powell, called Powell & Clement Co. He will be the Treasurer and Manager of the company.
William Hey Longley, Septimius's 22 year old son, returned from Kansas and came to work for his uncle Servetus at the new company. Family history says he was working there when he met his future wife Isabelle Smoot. The 1873 Cincinnati City Directory listed Miss Smoot as a card maker at Paper Fabrique. They will marry in 1877.
Isabelle Smoot and William H Longley in the 1870s
In April the company President E. F. Fuller sold land to Paper Fabrique for $12,000 ($300,000). It was a mile from the train depot called Montgomery Station and just a few miles south of Foster's Crossing. It had a factory building with 2 additions of about 20,000 sq. ft. with an engine room and office attached.
The property also had a stone boarding house with 16 rooms for accommodating 50 employees, 2 double tenement houses with 6 rooms each and 1 tenement house with 3 rooms. It included a stable, wash house, wagon shed, coal house and corn crib. Plus, it was situated on 16 acres of rich bottom land.
Foster's Crossing (Yellow) and Montgomery Station aka Remington (Purple)
By May 1873 Paper Fabrique had their own private tax revenue stamp approved by the Department of Internal Revenue. It started being used in June and will be used until the federal playing card tax ends in October 1880. Almost 4,000,000 stamps were issued.
The next year Servetus sold his part of Paper Fabrique to E. F. Fuller and Ellison Hanna. Family history says Servetus had quarrelled with them and quit and went back to Cincinnati to start a new business.
Servetus also sold what appears to be his portion of the company land in Remington back to Paper Fabrique for $4,000 ($100,000 today). He probably used this money to start his new business. By 1875 he is back in Cincinnati as Longley and Company, a trunk and stock paper business at 135 Sycamore street. There were 19 trunk makers in Cincinnati and he was the only one in town making the paper to line them.
135 Sycamore was Servetus's new business address, but his factory was in Foster's Crossing where he had purchased the old flour mill in 1867.
Septimius was still in Kansas and had recently remarried after losing his wife. He then returned to Cincinnati to help his brother Servetus. After a year he left Servetus and went to work as a printer at the Cincinnati Times where his brother Elias worked.
William H. had left Paper Fabrique also, and returned to Kansas City to work in the grain commission business. But that business soon failed due to the bad national economy and he returned to Cincinnati to work with his uncle Servetus at his trunk paper business. He was probably running the office in Cincinnati. In 1876 William H. headed to Chicago to start work at the hog packing company Davies, Atkinson and Company. After getting situated he returned and married Isabelle and took her back to Chicago with him. He then got into the publishing business with the George H. Taylor company.
On the night of Monday, August 6, 1877 Servetus's paper factory in Foster's Crossing burned down. He suffered $15,000 in damages, but was only insured for $4,500. The cause was not found. He sustained a loss of $300,000 in today's money.
By March 1879 Servetus was now publishing a Sunday paper called the "Amusement Journal" with his cousin John S. Grieves back in Cincinnati at 7th and Vine. Grieves had been briefly in the newspaper business with Servetus's brother Abner in Zionsville, Indiana.
Septimius was still in Kansas and had recently remarried after losing his wife. He then returned to Cincinnati to help his brother Servetus. After a year he left Servetus and went to work as a printer at the Cincinnati Times where his brother Elias worked.
William H. had left Paper Fabrique also, and returned to Kansas City to work in the grain commission business. But that business soon failed due to the bad national economy and he returned to Cincinnati to work with his uncle Servetus at his trunk paper business. He was probably running the office in Cincinnati. In 1876 William H. headed to Chicago to start work at the hog packing company Davies, Atkinson and Company. After getting situated he returned and married Isabelle and took her back to Chicago with him. He then got into the publishing business with the George H. Taylor company.
On the night of Monday, August 6, 1877 Servetus's paper factory in Foster's Crossing burned down. He suffered $15,000 in damages, but was only insured for $4,500. The cause was not found. He sustained a loss of $300,000 in today's money.
By March 1879 Servetus was now publishing a Sunday paper called the "Amusement Journal" with his cousin John S. Grieves back in Cincinnati at 7th and Vine. Grieves had been briefly in the newspaper business with Servetus's brother Abner in Zionsville, Indiana.
When Servetus left Paper Fabrique Charles F. Southgate had joined the company as Assistant Superintendent. Southgate’s parents had died when he was very young. His father was a wealthy merchant and his grandfather Richard was a well respected attorney and Kentucky legislator. Richard had built Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky, with the rumored help of British prisoners from the War of 1812 who were being held at the nearby Newport Barracks. The 210 year home still stands there.
After Charles Southgate's parents died, he had gone to live with the John B. Clement's family. The same John B. Clement, who became the Treasurer of Paper Fabrique. In 1870 Charles's personal estate was valued at $125,000 ($2.7 million) and he was a 21 year old college grad with no present occupation.
Soon Charles was running a hotel in New York near his brother Richard's hotel in Saratoga Springs. He would also come to own 20% of the well-known Congress Hall Hotel which belonged to his brother's Father-in-law. His brother. Richard Southgate would become a famous hotel chain owner. Shortly after Charles left and went back to Ohio. There he and John B. Clement and Paper Fabrique President E. F. Fuller would become partners in the Straitsville (OH) Coal and Iron Mining Company.
In March 1879 things at Paper Fabrique changed. The company was re-incorporated by John B. Clement, Henry Hanna & Ellison Hanna. Longley and Fuller are not involved. Fuller had been promoted to Division Freight Agent of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Rail Road and has moved to Morrow, Ohio. The playing card company also announced a stock reduction from $40,000 to $25,000 ($1.2 million to $750,000 today) The company then sells the land in Remington to John B. Clement for $1. Clement turned around and advertises the property for sale to make a profit.
When the new 1880 Cincinnati City Directory was published in June that year the playing card company was not listed. Clement was gone and Hanna was only listed as living in town with no occupation listed. The 1880 Federal Census confirms that the 67 year old Henry Hanna was now retired. Only Charles F. Southgate was listed. But he has no address, just the title of Assistant Superintendant of Paper Fabrique. He will never be listed in Cincinnati again until 1898 as a bookkeeper and was living in Morrow. I have failed to find any trace of him before that. A reference in his brother's obituary in 1915 stated that Charles worked with him at his Chicago hotel for many years.
The 1880 local newspaper also posted taxes for local companies due that July and Paper Fabrique's property had been valued at $1,496 for taxes. No address was given. If the Paper Fabrique land in Remington was sold off by John B. Clement then where was the factory?
The 1880 local newspaper also posted taxes for local companies due that July and Paper Fabrique's property had been valued at $1,496 for taxes. No address was given. If the Paper Fabrique land in Remington was sold off by John B. Clement then where was the factory?
The Only Business Listed At Paper Fabrique's Address of 122 Main In 1880
Where was the company making cards during this time? Their tax stamps were still being used until October 1880 when the playing card tax ended. Was someone else producing them or were they just selling off inventory?
Now to add to this mystery is a Longley family story. The story says that Servetus sold the company to A. O. Russell and Robert J. Morgan. You know, the ones that started the United States Playing Card Company. This story was repeated again in a newspaper interview with Servetus's son Herbert Electra in 1940. Herbert would have been a teenager at the time of the sale.
Coincidentally, it is the same time Russell and Morgan decided to start making playing cards. Did they have anything to do with keeping up production?
Now to add to this mystery is a Longley family story. The story says that Servetus sold the company to A. O. Russell and Robert J. Morgan. You know, the ones that started the United States Playing Card Company. This story was repeated again in a newspaper interview with Servetus's son Herbert Electra in 1940. Herbert would have been a teenager at the time of the sale.
Coincidentally, it is the same time Russell and Morgan decided to start making playing cards. Did they have anything to do with keeping up production?
Paper Fabrique appears to still be making cards because they had a big customer in St. Louis. Their sole agent there was Samuel Cupples and he was becoming known for Paper Fabrique's new brand of Eagle playing cards for the next three years. Was he part of this change?
In the American Encyclopedia of Playing Cards it was assumed that Samuel Cupples and the Longleys knew each other previously in Cincinnati. Research now shows that Samuel and his best friend Asa Wallace came to Cincinnati from Pittsburgh as teenagers in the late 1840s. He had grown up in the grocery business. The two friends went to work for the A. O. Tylor Wooden Ware company. The odds are that the Longleys and Cupples never met during that time.
In the American Encyclopedia of Playing Cards it was assumed that Samuel Cupples and the Longleys knew each other previously in Cincinnati. Research now shows that Samuel and his best friend Asa Wallace came to Cincinnati from Pittsburgh as teenagers in the late 1840s. He had grown up in the grocery business. The two friends went to work for the A. O. Tylor Wooden Ware company. The odds are that the Longleys and Cupples never met during that time.
In 1850 Tylor sent Cupples to New Orleans to sell his wares. But, on the riverboat on the way some passengers told him St. Louis would be a better place. Samuel diverted there and sold his supply of wooden ware almost immediately.
Cupples then moved to St. Louis in 1851 with his friend and established his own wooden ware business under the name of Samuel Cupples and Company. His friend Asa would be his head salesman. In 1858, Cupples partnered with Thomas Marston and the business became Cupples & Marston. The business was very successful, but the partnership was dissolved in 1870. Cupples gained new partners in H. G. and Robert S. Brookings. and A. A. Wallace and the business became known as Samuel Cupples & Company again.
In 1881 and 1882 St. Louis newspapers refer a lot to Cupples' Eagle Playing Cards. Some people are complaining that he is adding to the vice in St. Louis with his popular Eagle playing cards. By 1882 Samuel was also the Vice President of the Police Board. But a newspaper article contends that almost all the gambling in town was being done with the cards he sold.
Did Cupples have a hand in keeping the Eagle brand going? This article appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 15, 1882......
In March 1880 Servetus had bought out printer S. T. Garrison at 172 Elm and started a new printing business. Joining him were his sons Servetus L. and William Servetus. In July Servetus renewed the $1,500 mortgage on his new business.
That same week of Servetus's renewal it had been exceptionally hot and dry. On Thursday around 3 p.m. a huge cloud of smoke rolled up from the “Bottoms.” area of town. In less than five minutes, the entire Marqua toy company was engulfed in flames. The blaze quickly spread to the six-story Cabinet Maker’s Union Building, then to Meader’s Large Furniture Manufacturing Company and the adjoining Henry Closterman’s Chair & Furniture Factory. Next, the William Resor and Co. Foundry caught fire. Buildings on Second Street were also in flames. Several residential buildings and at least two saloons also burned as the fire headed for downtown.
It was believed the fire was accidentally started by an employee in the Marqua company’s shavings box. The blaze was of such a magnitude that it required the whole Cincinnati Fire Department as well as the Covington, Kentucky, Fire Department. Many feared it would engulf the whole city. It took until 8 p.m. to gain control of the devastating inferno. If the flames had reached the city center, it would have been a defining moment for Cincinnati. It missed the Longleys and Russell and Morgan's businesses by six blocks.
Septimius soon left his Cincinnati newspaper job and joined his brother and nephews in their printing business. They will soon relocate to 138 Betts. In 1882 Septimius moved to Chicago to join his son. Servetus's son William S. as well goes with him to Chicago briefly, but returns and rejoins his father and brother Herbert in the printing business.
Septimius soon left his Cincinnati newspaper job and joined his brother and nephews in their printing business. They will soon relocate to 138 Betts. In 1882 Septimius moved to Chicago to join his son. Servetus's son William S. as well goes with him to Chicago briefly, but returns and rejoins his father and brother Herbert in the printing business.
William H. Longley had trained in the family business and then gone to work for the Cleveland Paper Company after 1870. The company had been started in 1860 by N. W. Taylor, who was the son of George H. Taylor. When William moved to Chicago by 1882 he ended up working as an officer for the George H. Taylor company. Then in 1883 William H. and partner Alfred C. Clark bought the Charles E. Southard Printing Company and changed the name to Clark & Longley Printing. By 1884 George H. Taylor had run up a debt of $140,000 ($4 million) running the Cleveland Paper Company while his father was in Europe for health reasons. The George H. Taylor Company was going bankrupt for $200,000 ($5.5 million). William had left just in time.
Servetus didn't give up on his idea of having a playing card company. This time he found some people in Middletown, Ohio, that shared his dream. In 1883 he headed there and moved into a house at 51 Park street.
By 1882 the railroad had reached little Middletown and it was rapidly expanding. By 1886 it would officially become a city. Plus, it was home to 9 paper mills.
According to the Longley family history, and supported by the facts, there were two Middletown businessmen that had approached Servetus with the card company idea. Those men were Charles E. McKennan and David Jacoby. They had a hardware store in town and Jacoby was also part owner of the Jacoby and Denny Lumber Company, which was across the street from the proposed factory location. (This company is still in business in Middletown.) The businessmen wanted Servetus to run their new factory. So, in 1884 the Card Fabrique Playing Card Company began in Middletown.
"Middletown News" article in the February 29, 1884 Cincinnati Enquirer
Servetus's House (Yellow Arrow) and the Factory at Canal & Basin
Card Fabrique Factory on an 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
By the next year the factory was in production. The yearly Ohio Factory Inspection reported they had 5 Male, 22 Female and 3 Minor employees. Also William H. was advertising in Chicago that he was their agent.
In March 1885 they had an agent in Missouri named John L. Stanage. John was born and raised in Cincinnati and had been a Singer Sewing Machine salesman that moved to St. Louis about 1873 to be a company representative there. By 1885 he had left that business and was about to get into life insurance. Card Fabrique sold Stanage 144,000 decks for $15,541 ($480,000)
On April 11th they made another deal with Stanage for an additional 129,600 decks for $11,458.83 ($350,000) John had promised to pay for this shipment with money and land his wife was getting from an inheritance. This debt would be the downfall of Card Fabrique.
In March 1885 they had an agent in Missouri named John L. Stanage. John was born and raised in Cincinnati and had been a Singer Sewing Machine salesman that moved to St. Louis about 1873 to be a company representative there. By 1885 he had left that business and was about to get into life insurance. Card Fabrique sold Stanage 144,000 decks for $15,541 ($480,000)
On April 11th they made another deal with Stanage for an additional 129,600 decks for $11,458.83 ($350,000) John had promised to pay for this shipment with money and land his wife was getting from an inheritance. This debt would be the downfall of Card Fabrique.
In 1885 Card Fabrique opened a store in Cincinnati in direct competition with the new Cincinnati United States Playing Card Company. They chose a prime location in downtown in the arcade of the recently built Hotel Emery on Vine Street between 4th and 5th streets.
The Emery Arcade was a two story, 40 foot high glass-roofed passage that offered a sheltered passage through the entire block from Vine to Race Street. It was attached to the Hotel and contained shops and restaurants, with gaslights hanging from the ridge beam providing a pleasant urban space through all hours of the night.
The Card Fabriqure store was located in shop #24
In 1887 the card company finally had to sue the Stanages in November for non-payment from the deal in April 1885. They lost because they filed in Cincinnati and the Stanages were residents of Missouri. So then they tried to sue his wife in Missouri. The court will rule in 1893 that his wife was not responsible for his debt even though the company had accepted Stanage's word that his wife was his surety. They should have filed a lien on her separate estate.
In 1887 the company then made a move to stay in business and announced new directors. They were:
F. J. Barnard would become the new company President.
Barnard was the superintendent of schools in Middletown. He graduated from Kenyon Grammar School in Gambier, Ohio, at the age of fourteen, then entered Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, at sixteen. He graduated in 1874. After his return to Ohio he began teaching in country schools in Medina County. He would become superintendent of schools in Brooklyn Village, Cuyahoga County, for two years. At Celina, Ohio, he acted as superintendent the next two years and then Superintendent of schools in Middletown in 1885. He was married to Anna L. Fish.
Charles H. Bundy would become the new Secretary.
Bundy was an Attorney and owner of the Middletown Telephone Exchange. He went to school at intervals during his minority. At twenty-one he had saved enough money to be able to go to school for two years and obtain a certificate authorizing him to teach. He taught for two years in the Jersey settlement, near Carlisle. With the money he saved up, he went to Montgomery County, where he studied law, being admitted to practice in 1878. On June 1st he moved to Middletown, where he opened an office. Bundy was the originator of the telephone exchange the area. He opened an exchange in Middletown, and next began exchanges at Lebanon and Franklin. He owned all those in Warren County and a part of Butler County. He also had a millinery store on 3rd street.
Henry Aubley became the company Treasurer
Henry was a teacher at Middletown High School. He would become the Superintendant of the East School in Middletown by 1891
Ben R. Fish will be the Plant Manager
Ben was the brother-in-law of F. J. Barnard the new company President.
Charles E McKennan would stay and be the new Vice President.
F. J. Barnard would become the new company President.
Barnard was the superintendent of schools in Middletown. He graduated from Kenyon Grammar School in Gambier, Ohio, at the age of fourteen, then entered Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, at sixteen. He graduated in 1874. After his return to Ohio he began teaching in country schools in Medina County. He would become superintendent of schools in Brooklyn Village, Cuyahoga County, for two years. At Celina, Ohio, he acted as superintendent the next two years and then Superintendent of schools in Middletown in 1885. He was married to Anna L. Fish.
Charles H. Bundy would become the new Secretary.
Bundy was an Attorney and owner of the Middletown Telephone Exchange. He went to school at intervals during his minority. At twenty-one he had saved enough money to be able to go to school for two years and obtain a certificate authorizing him to teach. He taught for two years in the Jersey settlement, near Carlisle. With the money he saved up, he went to Montgomery County, where he studied law, being admitted to practice in 1878. On June 1st he moved to Middletown, where he opened an office. Bundy was the originator of the telephone exchange the area. He opened an exchange in Middletown, and next began exchanges at Lebanon and Franklin. He owned all those in Warren County and a part of Butler County. He also had a millinery store on 3rd street.
Henry Aubley became the company Treasurer
Henry was a teacher at Middletown High School. He would become the Superintendant of the East School in Middletown by 1891
Ben R. Fish will be the Plant Manager
Ben was the brother-in-law of F. J. Barnard the new company President.
Charles E McKennan would stay and be the new Vice President.
Why was Ben R. Fish the plant manager and not Servetus? Servetus had been but then had severely injured his arm in an accident at the factory. The Longley family history says he quit about this time.
December 20, 1887
William H. was still representing the company in Chicago and they now picked up a representative in New York City. That person was John Petrie Jr., the former partner of Victor E. Mauger.
This personnel change only allowed the company to exist for a short time. In 1889 the factory closed. The location is now a parking lot in Middletown.
The Factory Location 2023.
The street names have changed.
The street names have changed.
Servetus's passion for a successful card company must have rubbed off on Charles E. McKennan because he formed a new company right away. This company was the Globe Playing Card Company and it moved into the old Middletown Buggy factory on the south side of town. Paper Fabrique Factory (Black Arrow) Globe Playing Card (Red Arrow) |
1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
Besides McKennan the Globe incorporators were;
Charles M. Harding
In 1880 Charles had been just a worker in a paper mill in Excello just 2 miles south of Middletown but now he is the President of Excello Paper Mills. He will later represent Ohio at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago.
Sabin Robbins
He was long connected with Chatfield & Woods a pioneering paper house in Cincinnati. For fourteen years he was their most efficient and successful representative in the South. Robbins will start the Sabin Robbins Paper Company in 1889 and move it to Cincinnati in 1892. The company had a business of enameled and cardboard seconds as well as dealing extensively in all kinds of cardboards.
Charles M. Harding
In 1880 Charles had been just a worker in a paper mill in Excello just 2 miles south of Middletown but now he is the President of Excello Paper Mills. He will later represent Ohio at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago.
Sabin Robbins
He was long connected with Chatfield & Woods a pioneering paper house in Cincinnati. For fourteen years he was their most efficient and successful representative in the South. Robbins will start the Sabin Robbins Paper Company in 1889 and move it to Cincinnati in 1892. The company had a business of enameled and cardboard seconds as well as dealing extensively in all kinds of cardboards.
J. P. Ancker
He had worked with Robbins, and would become the Secretary of Sabin Robbins Paper Company.
Reuben Holden Crane
Reuben held a foremost position in Cincinnati's business circles. He had excellent educational opportunities offered him in life had graduated from the Chickering Scientific and Classical Institute of Cincinnati with the class of 1877. He was the founder and owner of The Crane Paper Box Company, one of the largest producing industries of Cincinnati.
James M. Johnston
Part owner of the J & J M Johnston Lumber Dealers Company of Cincinnati. He would become the Superintendant of the Middletown Paper Company.
Stephen P. Crane
He was Middletown real estate man and no relation to R. H. Crane. Stephen would also soon be involved in a lawsuit against former Paper Fabrique President F. J. Barnard.
Servetus would help operate the factory for the first year. He then returned to Cincinnati and started a rolling paper business at 173 Mound street. His sons, William S. and Herbert, had stayed in Cincinnati all this time doing printing at 180 Elm street nearby.
Septimius's son William H. came in from Chicago to help Globe Playing Cards for about a year. In Chicago his Clark & Longley Printing Company had gone into receivership. William H.'s partner, Alfred C Clark, would start another publishing company in Chicago, but it would fail by 1898. William H. also started representing Globe in Chicago while trying to decide what to do next. John Petrie Jr. stayed with the new company and represented them in New York City.
1890 brought a lot of changes for the Longleys. In April William H, moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He had been invited by the Kalamazoo Paper Company to start a playing card company there, according to William’s son’s family history notes. William would become the plant Superintendent. He then hired his cousin (Servetus L Longley) and his wife to be a foreman and a forewoman at the plant. His father Septimius left Chicago and moved to Los Angeles, where his brothers Elias and Albert were now living.
Before Septimius left Chicago he helped his son with his new venture in Kalamazoo. In the January 1, 1891 issue of the "American Stationer" this appeared;
"Wm. H. and S. H. Longley, of this city (Chicago), have organized a stock company to be called the American Playing Card Company, having a factory at Kalamazoo, Mich. The building is 57' x 120' and four stories, all of which will be used in the various processes of turning out the "squeezers."
At this same time the American Playing Card also started a factory in Indianapolis, Indiana. This plant has been lost to history for some reason. No history of American Playing Card mentions this factory. The location smacks of a lot of interesting connections. I mention this story on my National Card Company website. It will soon have its own story.
In July 1890 Servetus again tried starting a playing card company. This time it would be in Basic City, Virginia, and be called "Paper Fabrique" again. The incorporators were Servetus, his sons Herbert E. and William S. and a Dr. Stephen Harnsberger. We will come back to them shortly.
In Middletown things were turning bad. In June 1891, Robert N. Schenck, superintendent of the Globe factory, lost a finger in a machine at the plant. Then Charles M. McKennan was arrested for obtaining goods by saying he was connected to J. M. Johnston and C. F. Gunckel for manufacturing playing cards. Gunckel is president of the Merchant's Bank of Middletown and had dealings with the company. This statement should be true. Was the company already breaking up?
By February 1892 the Merchant’s Bank of Middletown won a suit against Globe for $10,000 (about $325,000) brought by Gunckle and the former Card Fabrique Secretary Charles Bundy. Globe also owed Ault & Wiborg $1,444 ($45,000). They were manufacturers of printing ink in Cincinnati.
In early 1893 Charles E McKennan died suddenly and in March Globe went out of business. In April the factory was auctioned off.
By February 1892 the Merchant’s Bank of Middletown won a suit against Globe for $10,000 (about $325,000) brought by Gunckle and the former Card Fabrique Secretary Charles Bundy. Globe also owed Ault & Wiborg $1,444 ($45,000). They were manufacturers of printing ink in Cincinnati.
In early 1893 Charles E McKennan died suddenly and in March Globe went out of business. In April the factory was auctioned off.
McKennan left his mark by putting his name on the bottom card box flap
Who got the leftover inventory? Part of it went to William H. in Kalamazoo. In an issue of "Clear the Decks", the Official Newsletter of 52 PLUS JOKER, 1997, Volume 11, page 67 a photocopy of a letter appears. It states;
American Playing Card Company
W. H. Longley Manager
1893 April 15
“DEAR SIRS
Having recently purchased of the Globe Playing Card Company the right to use all of their numbers, brands, and trade marks, we start with the issue of the well known brand of ‘4-11-44’. We enclose herein samples of same, and desire that you will give them careful examination..…”
In May 1896 officers of the United States Playing Card Company (John Omwake, Samuel Murray and John Frey) visited Middletown and toured the old Globe Playing Card factory. Is this where USPC thought about expanding or moving to? After they pass on the purchase the Sorg Tobacco company from across the street bought the building.
American Playing Card Company
W. H. Longley Manager
1893 April 15
“DEAR SIRS
Having recently purchased of the Globe Playing Card Company the right to use all of their numbers, brands, and trade marks, we start with the issue of the well known brand of ‘4-11-44’. We enclose herein samples of same, and desire that you will give them careful examination..…”
In May 1896 officers of the United States Playing Card Company (John Omwake, Samuel Murray and John Frey) visited Middletown and toured the old Globe Playing Card factory. Is this where USPC thought about expanding or moving to? After they pass on the purchase the Sorg Tobacco company from across the street bought the building.
The old Globe Playing Card factory after Sorg Tobacco took over
The Empty Lot in 2023 Where Globe's Factory Was
In 1890 the new Paper Fabrique Playing Card Company was incorporated in Basic City, Virginia. This was an incorporated town located in Augusta County, Virginia, that had just been formed. It was named after a process for steel manufacture. This process was to be implemented in Basic City, and gave rise to land speculation. There was a boomtown rally of manufacturing and commercial development in Basic City between 1890 and 1893 as two railroads crossed here at a point called The Iron Cross formed by the Norfolk and Western and the Chesapeake and Ohio. The city was once bigger than the surrounding city of Waynesboro. As the national economy experienced a depression between 1893 and 1896, sources of investment money disappeared and many new industries in Basic City experienced bankruptcy and closed. The town's real estate bubble burst and many businesses started between 1890 and 1893 did not survive. In 1924, Basic City consolidated with the adjacent town of Waynesboro, which had been formed in 1798. The new name for the town was called Waynesboro-Basic. It was later renamed "Waynesboro."
Paper Fabrique Factory Location
From the "History of Southwest Virginia" (1892)
"THE PAPER FABRIQUE COMPANY One of the most substantial industrial enterprises here, main building 160 x 60 feet, besides numerous annexes. The costly machinery is revolving like a flash, printing more playing cards than can be trumped up in all the republic besides and card board and enamel paper some substantial enough it looks to box the compass."
The Basic City Mining, Manufacturing and Land Company donated the factory land and gave the new playing card company $10,000 ($325,000) after the machinery was installed and $6,000 for the building (Which ended up being $8,000) All which was to be paid back ($600,000). The company expected to hire 55 people.
"THE PAPER FABRIQUE COMPANY One of the most substantial industrial enterprises here, main building 160 x 60 feet, besides numerous annexes. The costly machinery is revolving like a flash, printing more playing cards than can be trumped up in all the republic besides and card board and enamel paper some substantial enough it looks to box the compass."
The Basic City Mining, Manufacturing and Land Company donated the factory land and gave the new playing card company $10,000 ($325,000) after the machinery was installed and $6,000 for the building (Which ended up being $8,000) All which was to be paid back ($600,000). The company expected to hire 55 people.
Paper Fabrique in Basic City
On July 7, 1890 Servetus made a deal with the Whitlock Machine Company of Birmingham, Connecticutt, for machinery for the new factory. Production would begin on February 26, 1891. Eventually they would purchase $20,000 ($600,000) of equipment for the factory.
The company was off to a good start according to this statement in "A History of Waynesboro, Virginia to 1900" that appears on page 144;
They already had contracts with Hancock Brothers's Old Port chewing tobacco of Richmond, VA, (10,000 decks) and a Roanoke, VA, brewer (20,000 decks)."
This brewing company could only be the newly opened, and only brewing company in Roanoke, the Virginia Brewing Company.
They already had contracts with Hancock Brothers's Old Port chewing tobacco of Richmond, VA, (10,000 decks) and a Roanoke, VA, brewer (20,000 decks)."
This brewing company could only be the newly opened, and only brewing company in Roanoke, the Virginia Brewing Company.
Roanoke's Only Brewing Company
But things went bad fast and they could not repay their investors. On October 9, 1891 the factory was closed by the County Sheriff. On November 3, 1891 The Shepherdstown (West Virginia) Register reported that the failing business was secretly removing equipment by train, but it was intercepted by the Sheriff in Roanoke and returned to Basic City. They already had a $13,000 debt with several companies (Over $425,000 today)
On October 29, 1891 the Basic City Mining, Manufacturing and Land Company, and others, started a suit against Paper Fabrique. The file contains over 500 pages. The case dragged out until 1903 when Servetus died. Named in the suit were Servetus, his sons Servetus L,, William S., Herbert E. and Mrs A. H. Longley listed as owners. Mrs A. H. Longley was the widow of Abner H. Jr. that was Servetus’s half brother that died in 1880 in Michigan.
If you care to read the file it is here on the Virginia Chancery Records Index page;
If you care to read the file it is here on the Virginia Chancery Records Index page;
The one name missing from the lawsuit was Dr. Stephen Harnsberger an original incorporator. He was a popular longtime physician in the Basic City area. He had recently moved his family to Florence, Alabama, and had survived typhoid fever. He returned to Basic City to get in on the booming economy. He also had taken over the Warren County, Virginia, Front Royal and Riverton Gazette newspapers and was on the Board of Directors of the new Basic City Match Company. He would later serve as President of the Virginia Medical Society. There are no clues on when he cut ties with the Longleys before the company's failure.
By 1893 Servetus and his sons were back in Cincinnati working and living together. Servetus advertised his business as a "Playing Card Manufacturer". He had no card business. Was he just selling leftover Paper Fabrique stock or actually printing it in his little shop? With hopes of staying in the playing card business he even looked to St. Louis for another start.
October 7, 1894 The St. Louis Globe-Democrat Newspaper
By 1895 Servetus settled in at his last business location at 5th and Plum. He was now the Longley Printing Company and his son Herbert was the Manager. In 1900 Servetus became involved with John D. Razall, another Cincinnati printer, that wanted to start a playing card company. This story is already covered in depth in my story about the New Chicago Playing Card Company.
In 1903 Servetus died in his home in Cincinnati. He is buried near his father in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Septimius, after doing printing in Los Angeles for 12 years, passed away in an accident in his home in 1904. He was returning from the bathroom late at night in the dark and took a wrong turn and fell down the maid's stairway.
He is interred in the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, just north of Pasadena. His brother Elias is also buried here.
William H. Longley spent most of the rest of his life at American Playing Card in Kalamazoo as the Secretary Manager. A Longley family history note by his son said that his father always felt unappreciated by the company. William suffered a brain hemorrhage in July 1915 and never recovered. He was retired by then and his occupation was now a fruit farmer.
William H. is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Servetus's son, William S. became a lawyer in Cincinnati after graduating from the Y. M. C. A. Night Law School there. After passing the Bar he went to work representing the Methodist Book Concern for almost 50 years. The United Methodist Publishing House is the oldest and largest general agency of The United Methodist Church. William passed away at his home in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati at age 78.
Servetus's other son Herbert E. started his own printing shop in 1904 called Longley and Lampe in Cincinnati after the failure of the New Chicago Playing Card Company. By 1910 that closed and he went to work for the Samuel Cupples's company. For the next 25 years he represented him from Cincinnati until moving to Palm Beach, Florida, in 1925. By 1940 he had left Cupples and dabbled in Florida real estate. He passed away in 1952 while a resident of the Advent Christian Home in Suwanee, Florida.
Brothers Herbert Electra and William Servetus Longley are both buried in the Longley family plot in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Now to answer one lingering question playing card collectors have that was discussed in The Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards; How many other playing card companies did the Longleys have in New York and Chicago?
This answer, and with what you have read above, should end the discussion.
In 1939 Septimius’s grandson Col. Francis Fielding Longley and Servetus’s son Herbert E. were exchanging letters with then USPC Treasurer Col. Charles H. Coffin (Shown on the left). They told him that the family did not have any playing card companies in New York or Chicago.
Did they leave their mark on other playing card companies? Yes, they did. This will be explained in the "Remaining Questions" section.