The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-16
A CORNER IN ANCESTORS
By FRANCES COwLEs. THE LANGD ON FAMILY

Copyright, 1916, by Mcclure Newspa per Syndicate.)
 About eight generations before the Langdons settled in the United States they changed their name from Lizard to Langdon, the Cornish name of their estate in the parish of Jacobston. The earliest settler here recorded of this name was John, a sailmaker, who
 was among the first settlers of Salem,
 where he married Sarah Vermaes. But little is known of his descendants, so excepting that he was the first Langdon known to have reached these shores, he is not very important George Langdon who was born in the north of England or the south of Scotland came over in 1640, and settled at Wetherfield, Conn. Later he removed to Northampton. He | married the widow of Edward Hayes, and had son, John, who was a deacon and deputy to the general court. His | descendants intermarried with the Root, ! the Cowles, the Hooker and the Gilbert l families, and some of them fought in 1 the Revolutionary war.
 Then there were three other early settlers who came from EngIand-the l brothers, John, Philip and Edward ! Langdon. They were all mariners. Ed | ward is soon lost track of, excepting
 that it is known he settled his prop erty on John.
 | But the best known family of Lang- dons in this country are descended from Tobias, who was born in England, and
 who died at Portsmouth N. H., in 1864
 He married Elizabeth, daughter Of
 Henry Sherburne, who was descended
 on her own part from a family as il- lustrous as her husbands. For she
 traced her lineage back to Richard
 Sherburne of Stonyhurst. who in 1544
 was called upon with other members
 of the gentry and nobility to furnish
 a certain contingent of fighting men for an expedition against Scotland. For
 his conduct in this undertaking Rich ard Sherburne was knighted He mar ried Maud, the daughter of Sir Richard l Bold, a knight in the time of Henry ! VIII
 Tobias then founded his branch of the family in America, and one of his I sons bore his name. This second To- 1 bias was born in 1860, and was made a justice of the peace in 1899. When Queen Annes war came along, he
 fought actively for the defense of the ! colonies. Tobias and his wife, Mary Hubbard, had son named John, and
 by him a grandson named Woodbury, who was member of Congress. Be- fore the revolution broke out he was well-to-do. and at the time of the war 1 found it necessary to go to England | to protect some of his interests there. l When he returned to this country in l 1777 he was detained at New York as a prisoner charge, but before very long was released. After the war he was
 made justice of the superior court in
 New Hampshire, and was appointed by President Washington as one of the | three commissioners to settle the revo- lutionary accounts between the United States and the several individual states
 The arms of the Langdons are blaz- 1 oned Argent, a chevron between three I bears heads erased sable. The crest is; On mount vert lynx of the last, | gorged with two bars or. The motto is: Ma force est den haut," or My Strength Comes From On High.'
 ' The bear, whose head has such Q
 prominent place on the Langdon arms,