When he was twenty-one years old, my great great grandfather James Harvey Langford, Jr. met a woman named Rose Ellen Jackson. They courted for two years. A family history record states:
When they decided to get married, James Harvey went to Rose’s father, James Jackson, Jr., to ask for her hand in marriage. He consented, with the stipulation that James Harvey marry the oldest daughter, Mary Lydia, at the same time. So with Rose’s consent, he married both sisters on 27 March 1884, in the St. George Temple.
On 18 December 1888, for being a polygamist, he was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $300. Here’s a picture of him with some of his buddies. He is the second one from the left.
Detail: notice that with their prisoner uniform they received matching hats.
1annegb on Aug 10, 2006 at 10:07 am:
Love those stripes. Boy would those guys stick out at a party.
I found recently that one of my ancesters was in the ill fated handcart company, can’t remember right off which one. I thought that was cool.
2Justin on Aug 10, 2006 at 10:19 am:
Do you display this photo in your home? Where did you get it?
From what I’ve read, he would have been among the small percentage of prisoners who were in their 20s. Judges also seemed to sentence younger men to the maximum term more often than the older ones.
3Daniel B. on Aug 10, 2006 at 10:42 am:
I don’t display it in my home. It’s a picture we have in the family. It came to my attention because my mom sent it out as an attachment to an email. I should ask her how we came to have this picture.
Honestly, this morning I was thinking it would be fun to have that picture framed and on the wall someplace.
4Daniel B. on Aug 10, 2006 at 10:42 am:
Sounds like an interesting family story, Annegb. You should track that down and blog it.
5Laurie Langford Gelfand on Aug 18, 2006 at 3:12 pm:
I am also a descendent of James Harvey Langford. He was my great grandfather. I come from the Mary Lydia side–they had a son named Anthony Walter Langford, Sr., who was my dad’s dad. I am researching this side of my family and would love to find more info. Please let me know where I might find more details about the family. I particularly want to know how many children James Harvey had between the two women, where they lived, etc..
6Daniel B. on Aug 18, 2006 at 4:18 pm:
Glad you came by Laurie. I will pass your email along to my mother who can provide you with better information (and more information) than I could on the subject.