John LANGDON was born circa 1511 of Braunton, Devon, England (near Barnstaple) and died in 1559. John had at least one son as follows:

1. John LANGDON born 1537 of Braunton


The said John LANGDON was married circa 1567 to Tamsin (born circa 1537 of Braunton). John was buried 20 July 1585 Braunton. John LANGDON and Tamsin had 8 children as follows:

1. Phillip LANGDON born c. 1563 Braunton; died young.

2. Phillip LANGDON born 1568, baptised 24 June 1568 Braunton. Buried 11 July 1621 Braunton.

3. Edward LANGDON born 1570, baptised 3 February 1570 Braunton.

4. George LANGDON born 1574, baptised 21 April 1574 Braunton.

5. Richard LANGDON born 1577, baptised 29 January 1577 Braunton.

6. John LANGDON born 1580, baptised 26 September 1580 Braunton, died 9 May 1656. Buried 10 May 1656 Braunton.

7. Johan LANGDON (female) born 1583, baptised 17 January 1583 Braunton.

8. Thomasyn LANGDON (female) born 1585, baptised 28 November 1585 Georgeham, Devon. Buried 30 April 1606 Braunton.


The said Phillip LANGDON (number 2 above - born 1568) was married c. 1604 to Susan (born c. 1568; buried 19 August 1651 Braunton). Phillip LANGDON was buried 11 July 1621 Braunton. Phillip and Susan had 6 children as follows:

1. Edward LANGDON born 1605 baptised 23 January 1605 Braunton.

2. Robert LANGDON born 1607 baptised 28 July 1607 Braunton.

3. John LANGDON born 1608 baptised 11 February 1608 Braunton.

4. Mary LANGDON born 1610 baptised 16 September 1610 Braunton.

5. Thomasin LANGDON (female) born 1612 baptised 20 December 1612 Braunton. Died young. Buried 30 March 1615 Braunton.

6. Phillip LANGDON born 23 November 1615 Braunton, baptised 23 November 1615 Braunton.


The said John LANGDON (number 3 - born 1608) was married to Johan (born circa 1608, of Braunton). John LANGDON and Johan had children as follows:

1. Anne LANGDON born 1632, baptised 30 December 1632 Braunton.

2. Marie LANGDON born 1635 baptised 20 December 1635 Braunton. Died 1637 Braunton. Buried 9 March 1637 Braunton.

3. Marie LANGDON born 1638, baptised 8 July 1638 Braunton.

4. Susanna LANGDON born 1641, baptised 4 April 1641 Braunton.

5. Edward LANGDON born 1643, baptised 5 November 1643 Braunton. Died 1704.

6. Philip LANGDON born 1646, baptised 19 July 1646 Braunton. Died 11 December 1697 Boston, Suffolk, Mass.
From Philip descends one other major branch of the LANGDON family of America.

7. John LANGDON born 1649, baptised 3 April 1649 Braunton. Died 6 December 1732 Boston. Buried Boston. From John descends our branch.


The said John LANGDON (number 7 - born 1649) was married to Elizabeth [unknown surname] (born 1664, Boston). John LANGDON and Elizabeth had 11 children as follows:

1. Elizabeth LANGDON born 1686 Boston. Died after 1732.

2. Josiah LANGDON born 28 January 1687 Boston. Died 5 November 1742. Buried Boston.

3. Ephraim LANGDON  born 25 January 1689 Boston. Died before 1728.

4. Mary LANGDON born 15 November 1691 Boston. Died 1736.

5. Joanna LANGDON born 22 October 1693 Boston. Died 10 April 1772 and buried at Boston.

6. Nathaniel LANGDON born 14 September 1695 Boston. Died 27 December 1757 and buried at Boston.

7. Margaret LANGDON born 23 October 1697 Boston.

8. Edward LANGDON born 1698 baptised 23 October 1698 Boston. Died 25 May 1766 and buried at Boston.

9. John LANGDON born 17 October 1698 Boston. Died circa 1722.

10. Michael LANGDON born 26 August 1701 Boston.

11. Margaret LANGDON born 10 August 1703 Boston.


The said Nathaniel LANGDON (number 6 above - born 14 September 1695) was married to Abigail HARRIS on 23 November 1738. Nathaniel and Abigail had 12 children as follows:

1. Nathaniel LANGDON born 2 March 1741 Boston. Died c. 1819.

2. Abigail LANGDON born 9 August 1743 Boston.

3. Elizabeth LANGDON born 17 December 1744 Boston.

4. Josiah LANGDON born 3 March 1746 Boston. Died 24 February 1779 Sudbury, Middlesex, Mass.

5. John LANGDON born 28 July 1747 Boston.Bookseller; captain in the revolutionary army; customs house officer; died August 1793 Boston.

6. Mary (Nabby) LANGDON born 11 July 1748 Boston. Died 30 January 1799.

7. Elizabeth LANGDON born 8 October 1749 Boston. Died c. 1779.

8. William LANGDON born 28 September 1750 Boston. Died May 1820. Chester, Pennsylvania. Buried 1821 Cecil, Maryland.

9. Samuel LANGDON born 6 October 1752 Boston.

10. Ephraim LANGDON  born 29 October 1754 Boston. Died - shipwrecked.

11. Joanna LANGDON born 28 March 1755 Boston.

12. Priscilla LANGDON born 28 July 1756 Boston.


The said John LANGDON (number 5 above - born 28 July 1747) was married to Mary WALLEY on 2 June 1771 by Revd Simeon HOWARD. (Mary was known as "Polly WALLEY". She was the daughter of Thomas WALLEY - a Boston tea and spice merchant of Dock Square - by his first wife Mary KNEELAND who was the daughter of the printer Samuel KNEELAND) on 2 June 1771.

Before the Revolution, John was a bookseller in Cornhill in Boston, "opposite the Post Office". In those days, booksellers also functioned as publishers - they would spot an opportunity for a book and would arrange for it to be printed locally so they could sell it.

Among John LANGDON's pre-Revolutionary editions (c. 1771-1774, copies surviving in the Library of Congress, Washington DC) is an edition he published of Benjamin RUSH's polemic against slavery: An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping, and an important and timely version of a much earlier work, arguing that the British people had legitmately overthrown King James II in 1689 in their "Glorious Revolution": The Judgment of whole kingdoms and nations, concerning the rights, power and prerogative of kings, and the rights, privileges and properties of the people.

The Judgment of whole kingdoms and nations etc. is said by scholars to be one of the earliest books printed at Isaiah THOMAS's independently owned shop, which opened in Boston in 1770; and among the earliest American printings of the English Bill of Rights. John LANGDON's - or alternatively the 1773 Philadelphia printing - is the first American edition. "Important text for revolutionary America." says Jenkins.

In this "Natural Rights" dissertation, originally printed in London in 1709, the author insists, "It remains free and entire to the People at their first Erection of, and Submission to Government, to prescribe and refine ... unto what Rules and standards the Magistrate shall be restrained, in order to his defending and promoting the Benefit of the Society of which he is created the civil and political Head. And every one being equally Master of his own Property and Liberty, antecedently to their Agreement with one another," Rulers "can lay claim to no more Authority over the Liberty and over the Property of that Body Politick, than what the Community conferr'd upon them."

Later John LANGDON served in the revolutionary army with the rank of Captain. (His father-in-law Thomas WALLEY was, after all, chairman of the delegates to the revolutionary "Committee of Correspondence".) John was firstly in the Massachusetts Militia 1775-76 and after this he was Captain of [Henry] Jackson’s Continental Regiment (16th Massachusetts) from Saturday 1 February 1777 until he resigned his commission on Friday 23 October 1778, when he received an honourable discharge from Major-General William HEATH. He became a customs officer in later life, but he died August 1793 at Boston, aged 45.

John and Mary had children as follows:

1. John Walley LANGDON born 8 March 1772 Boston, baptised 18 March 1772. Died by 1860/61.

2. Mary LANGDON born 10? July 1773 Boston, baptised 18 July 1773. Died 5 June 1855.

3. Elizabeth LANGDON born or christened 3 July 1774 Boston. Married William LOVETT 22 December 1795, had issue: Charles Walley LOVETT (10 December 1801 to 5 November 1873) who married 18 November 1836 at Bristol RI to Josephine Marie (Dode) DEWOLF (4 September 1812 to 30 October 1901). Trust fund then established which was split between Josephine's children.

4. Abigail Harris LANGDON born 1776/1777 Boston. Married Giles LODGE on 3 January 1800 in Boston. Had issue. LODGE family detail to follow - in brief:
Abigail Harris LANGDON and Giles LODGE had issue including:
John Ellerton LODGE who married Anna Sophia CABOT, and had issue including:
Henry Cabot LODGE 1850-1924 statesman (had issue etc.)


5. Sarah LANGDON baptised 12 April 1778 Boston (she married Henry ATCHIESON[?]).

6. Anna (or Anne) Hurd LANGDON born 1781 (or, some sources claim, 1772?) baptised 2 September 1781 Boston. Anna died 2 December 1860 in New York City. She married 26 June 1817 in Boston to a merchant, John BELLOWS (he b. 12 January 1768 Lunenburg, MA, and he was previously married on 5 January 1800 to a Betsey EAMES). Anna Hurd LANGDON and John BELLOWS had issue as follows. [See: Thomas Bellows Peck of Walpole, NH. The Bellows Genealogy or John Bellows the Boy Emigrant of 1635 and his Descendants. Keene, NH: Sentinel Printing Co., 1898. p.145 ff.]
(i) Mary Anne Louisa BELLOWS b. 22 May 1818; d. 3 June 1831.
(ii) Francis William Greenwood BELLOWS b. 25 December 1819 Boston; d. 24 May 1880 New York.
(iii) Harriet Augusta BELLOWS b. 15 April 1822 Boston; d. 24 September 1897 Yonkers, NY.
(iv) Percival Langdon BELLOWS b. 16 May 1825 Boston, d. 14 August 1853 Walpole, Cheshire, NH.
(v) George Gates BELLOWS b. 14 October 1827 Boston.

7. Thomas Walley LANGDON *see footnote* born (or baptised) 5 October 1783 Boston. Died 17 December 1860 or 1861. He married the widow Jane Weaver Ross GREENWOOD on 31 August 1833, and died 17 December 1860 (or 1861?) in New York. He left no children.

8. Catharine Amelia LANGDON born (or baptised) 25 December 1785 Boston.

Catherine Amelia LANGDON [and not Charlotte Augusta LANGDON, as earlier version of this site stated: error on IGI] married a Samuel W. COOK (born c. 1797) in 1814:
"Langdon, Catherine Amelia m. Samuel Cook, merchant, in Boston".
original source CC 16 July 1814, from Index of Marriages in the Massachusetts Centennial & Columbian Centennial (1784-1849), Vol. 5, K-M (typescript; 1941; alphabetical order, no page numbers). [My thanks to Shirley Langdon Wilcox for pointing out this more reliable source.]
Samuel COOK and Catharine Amelia LANGDON had a daughter:
(i) This daughter - Charlotte Augusta Langdon COOK - was born 5 October 1819 Boston and (at the age of 47 in 1866) she married Harvard College Librarian Charles SIBLEY. After his death in 1885 (they had no children), she gave their house to the city of Cambridge for use as a hospital and moved to Groton not far from Boston where she then generously funded Groton Public Library with $12,000 and a parcel of land, "I do not wish any thanks. It is my pleasure to give and I am thankful to have the means to indulge my pleasure." She died in 1902.

9. Susan LANGDON born c. 1787 Boston.

10. Charlotte Augusta LANGDON born 1788, baptised 13 December 1801 at the age of 13, Boston. Did not die 1814 as some sources mistakenly state; she was still alive in 1818-19 as shown below:

The Names of Persons owning the Covenant, on making a publick Profession of their Faith, in the West Church in Boston, from June 17, 1747.
Partial Records of the West Church, Boston, MA, 1737-1853. Source: The NEHGR XCIV Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct 1940:
On "8 March 1772: John Langdon" (this is our John LANGDON bookseller above: he is clearly giving thanks for the safe delivery of his eldest son on that very day);
and on "6 September 1818 Miss Charlotte Augusta Langdon, daughter of Mr Jno L. deceased."

The said John Walley LANGDON (number 1 above - born 8 March 1772) was a merchant in the Smyrna (Turkish Levant) trade. He was married to Rebecca CORDIS.
"Langdon, John Wally. At Charlestown, on Tuesday evening last, Mr. J.W.L., merchant, to the amiable Miss Rebecca Cordis, daughter of Joseph Cordis, Esq., of this town. (Saturday 30 Aug. 1794.) This means the marriage took place on Tuesday 26 August 1794.
Source

( note: the 1800 Boston directory has a "Thomas CORDIS ~ house - Common Street" possible relation?) on 26 August 1794 at Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass. John Walley LANGDON certainly acted as Austrian consular official in Boston (1848-1853; see Trade Directories). He had died by 1860/61, possibly in Smyrna in 1860; or maybe even some time after 1853 when he stops appearing in the Boston Directories.

Rebecca CORDIS lived c. 1775-1821. The source for this is a transcript of part of the Columbian Centinel [sic] that I have seen in the Library of Congress: Rebecca C. LANGDON (Mrs) wife of John W. LANGDON, died in Boston aged 46. (Source: CC 15 December 1821.)

John Walley LANGDON and Rebecca CORDIS had 7 (or possibly 8) children as follows:

1. Rebecca Cordis LANGDON born 23 April 1795 baptised 25 April 1795 Charlestown.

2. John Walley LANGDON born 1796 (perhaps on 17 April 1796) baptised 24 April 1796 Charlestown.

3. Mary Frances LANGDON born 1797 baptised 3 December 1797 Charlestown.

4. Joseph LANGDON born (according to his memorial inscription) 31 August 1799, baptised 15 September 1799 Charlestown.

5. Charles Frederick LANGDON born 28 December 1801 Charlestown (or Wakefield, Mass.) baptised Wakefield, Middlesex, Mass. Where his father given as John W. LANGDON in "Vital records of Wakefield, Mass, to the year 1850".

6. Mary Haswell LANGDON born 23 July 1804; baptised 12 April 1807 Charlestown.

7. Charlotte Elizabeth LANGDON born 1808; baptised 28 August 1808 Charlestown.

8. Octavus Augusta LANGDON born 1813; baptised 14 November 1813 Charlestown.

John Walley LANGDON is apparently listed in the Register of Passport Applications, 1810-1817 (LDS Film # 1463566):
21 Aug 1811 John allay [sic Walley?] LANGDON;
Certificate: Jon GARDENER, Notary Public, Boston

Various contemporary directories of Boston show John Walley LANGDON and Octavus A. LANGDON listed as follows, for instance:

1845 Directory of Boston
Langdon John W. (Austrian Consulate) & Co. (W.B. Spooner), merchants, 41 India; h 24 Hancock
Langdon Octavus A. 41 India; h. 24 Hancock

1850 Directory of Boston
Langdon John W. merchant and Austrian Consul, 47 India, house 35 Chambers

The said Joseph LANGDON (born 1799) also became a merchant in the Smyrna trade (but moved to Smyrna [modern Izmir] Turkey, to do so). He was married to Louisa [or Louise] Christine GOUT (she being the daughter of James Louis [also Lewis] GOUT - a merchant resident at one time on Malta, and active in the Smyrna trade). Joseph LANGDON died on 3 November 1870, although the year has broken off his tombstone at the Anglican cemetery of All Saints church, Buca, Izmir (formerly "Boudjah", "Budjah" or "Boujah").
Many thanks to Janine CORCORAN (another Joseph LANGDON descendant) for showing me that Joseph's tombstone and much of the Buca graveyard has now been carefully restored (2006).

Joseph LANGDON and Louisa’s children were as follows:

1. Helen Louise Gertrude LANGDON was born 23 November 1838, died 19 November 1862. Unmarried.

2. Ida Josephine LANGDON, born 25 April 1837, she married Thomas Bowen REES (senior) in Smyrna, Turkey 30 April 1856. She died at Paris, 22 June 1895.
She was the great-grandmother of, amongst others: (1) Nicol John Hunter RUSSEL (Nick RUSSEL) author of Poets by Appointment (Blandford Press, 1981); and (2) Thomas Bowen REES (Tom REES), author of a fascinating history Merchant Adventurers in the Levant (Talbot Publishing, 2003).

3. John William LANGDON born Turkey 11 May 1843, died 27 March 1844.

4. Ernest Augustus LANGDON born Turkey 31 March 1846.

5. James Davee LANGDON born 1851 in Smyrna, Turkey (this is probably the same person as that given as a reported inscription in a family Bible offered for sale in 2002: "front blank page has the genealogy of James Down [sic] Langdon, born 1851 in Smyrna, Turkey. Family history is continued in a later hand down to 1961.")

James Davee LANGDON was a merchant based in Buca and went on to marry Ida Blanche nee FERCKEN. They had the following children baptised at the Church of All Saints in Buca:
1890 Ida Louise Sophie LANGDON to James Davee LANGDON of Boudjah (Merchant) & Ida Blanche
1891 (born 31 July 1891) William Russell LANGDON to James Davee LANGDON of Boudjah (Merchant) & Ida Blanche
1896 James Cordis Fercken LANGDON to James Davee LANGDON of Boudjah (Merchant) & Ida Blanche (nee Fercken)

William Russell LANGDON became a respected US diplomat and ambassador. He died in 1963 see here.






From: Ebenezer Mack Treman, The History of the Treman, Tremaine, Truman Family in America (Ithaca Democrat, c. 1901). 2 vols. Vol. 2, p.1681.
"Capt. John Langdon (Nathaniel 2, John 1), b 28 July 1747, m 2 June 1771 Mary Walley. Bookseller. Capt. of a volunteer Company in the Rev. War & served in RI. He afterwards held a position in the Boston Custom house. He d August 1793, Boston, MA.
Children: 1. John Walley, bp 8 March 1772; m 26 August 1794 Rebecca Cordis of Charlestown & had issue. Merchant in the Smyrna trade. ... 7. Thomas Walley, bp 5 October 1783; m 31 August 1833, wid. Jane Weaver Ross (only daughter of Dr. John Greenwood of NY). Merchant in the Smyrna trade in Boston, MA."



*note* From: New England Register, Vol. 15 pp. 185-6; (published either 1860 or 1861)
"Thomas Walley Langdon, NY, 17 Dec, ae 77; b Boston; merchant; only brother John; father Capt John Langdon of Boston, b 1748, m Mary, only daughter of Thomas Walley & Mary Kneeland. Capt. Langdon d Boston, August 1793, ae 45 leaving 7 daughters & 2 sons, of which children T W Langdon was the last survivor. The latter married 31 August 1833, widow Jane Weaver Ross, only daughter of Dr. John Greenwood of NY."
"The family name is continued solely through his nephew Joseph Langdon, merchant at Smyrna."

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1