Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE
Compiled under the editorial supervision of
George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.
[Please see Index page for full citation.]
[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]
[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]
LANG
Charles Edward Lang, son of Charles Lang, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was born in Portsmouth; married Judith Butler.
Children:
Thomas M. and Charles Edward (q.v.).
(II) Charles Edward (2), son of Charles Edward (1) and Judith (Butler) Lang, was born in Portsmouth, N. H., Dec. 25, 1816, and died in Boscawen in 1900. He attended the public schools of Portsmouth, removed to Georgetown, Mass. where he learned the business of manufacturing shoes, and engaged in the occupation 1832-38, and subsequently worked in a shoe manufacutory in Derry, N. H. as shoe cutter, 1838-39, when he removed to Boscawen, N. H., where he ended his working life and lived in retirement until he had attained the ripe old age of eighty-four years.
He was originally a Whig, and when that political party disrupted in 1856, he joined the Republican party. He was a long time member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Congregational church.
He was married in 1834 to Rebecca H. Lake, who was born in Chelmsford, Middlesex county, Mass., March 15, 1815, died in Boscawan, N. H., 1888.
Children, all b. in Georgetown, Mass.:
1. Thomas M., who is a member of the firm of Jackman & Lang, insurance agents, Concord, N. H.
2. Abigail B., wife of Aaron Green, of Boscawan, N. H.
3. Charles Alvah (q.v.)
(III) Charles Alvah, son of Charles Edward (2) and Rebecca H. (Lake) Lang, was born in Georgetown, Mass. July 6, 1838, and while yet an infant was taken by his parents to Nashua, N. H., and thence to Boscawan, N. H., where he received his school training and learned the business of making shoes, working at pegging when only eight years old and advancing through all the grades, becoming a master of the entire trade when fifteen years old. He was a journeyman shoemaker up to his twenty-second year.
The civil war broke out and he enlisted as a volunteer in the Second New Hampshire Regiment at Concord, N. H. in May, 1861, and was sent with the regiment to the front in June, 1861, and was in the battle of Bull Run, Virginia. His regiment having enlisted among the early three months' men, state duty, he was discharged at the end of his term of enlistment and re-enlisted for three years, but was discharged soon after on account of disability. He returned home again, taking up the business of shoemaking, working in a factory at Derry, N. H., two or three years, and going hence to a shoe factory in Marlborough, Mass., where he engaged in the manufacture of shoe heels, and he remained there 1865-67. He worked in a factory in Boscawen, 1867-69, and in Lynn, Mass. 1869-79, he carried on a large shop where he employed one hundred and twenty hands.
He removed to Denver, Colorado, in 1879, and there engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe trade for ten years, and in connection with his business purchased land and engaged in market gardening and also traveled on the road, introducing his trade in the far west.
About 1890 he returned east and located in Harrison, Maine, but did not engage in active business. He became a Republican political worker in Maine, and served as secretary of the Republican town committee, and also held the offices of notary public and justice of the peace. In 1899 he was recommended to President McKinley as a suitable man to fill the post of postmaster at Harrison, Maine, his sponsor at Washington being Hon. Thomas B. Reed, representative in the U. S. congress, and speaker of the house. The president promptly made the appointment and Mr. Lang has proved by his continuous administration of the business of the office the faith Speaker Reed had in his ability and fitness for the office. On the occasion of the destruction of the building in which the post office at Harrison was located, burned in May, 1907, the most valuable portion of the contents of the office were safely stored in the fireproof safes, and it was a short matter for Postmaster Lang to secure quarters in the Bailey building and continue the business entirely without delay and with small loss or inconvenience to the public.
He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows while residing in New Hampshire in 1868. He also affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, receiving his first instructions in the work of the order from the Mt. Carmal Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Lynn, Mass. His service in the war of the rebellion admitted him as junior vice-commander of General Adre Post, No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic, of Lynn, Mass.
Mr. Lang married, in 1859, Clara, daughter of Gideon Huntress, of Boscawen, N. H.
Children:
1. Harry W., born in Boscawen, N. H. Feb. 1861, and now a resident of Denver, Colorado.
2. Lizzie, born in Boscawen, N. H., 1863, married Frank Fellows, and is now living in Helena, Montana.
The mother of these children died in Boscawen, N. H., 1868, and Mr. Lang married (second) Dec. 10, 1870, Juliet, daughter of Elliott and Frances Jane (Tuttle) Libby, of Gorham, Maine.
Child:
3. Charles Elliot Libby, born in Lynn, Mass., Jan. 10, 1882, educated in the public schools of Harrison, Maine, at North Bridgeton Academy, and at the Univ. of Maine, where he graduated electrical engineer in 1906.