The History of Love County Oklahoma
By the Love County Heritage Committee (1983)
Chairman, LaDaria Riggs

John Langston and Susan Adams (F147)
By: Betty Parker Grommesh

LANGSTON, JOHN AND SUSAN ADAMS

John and Susan came with many of their married children to Love County in 1885. They had apparently turned their farm at Sheridan, Ark., to Wiley their older one and headed west to Indian Territory. They settled in Thackerville and the other children started marrying off; Henry to a Bridges, Mary to Robert Chambers, John Jr. to Florence Dalton, Jim to Mollie McCuen and Rosella to Robert. Floyd. We do not know who Wiley married but Leeander never married and the two younger girls apparently died early as nothing is known of them among mothers family. John Sr's other son my grandfather, William David (WD), Mary, Jim, John Jr., and Rosie all stayed in the Thackerville area, and Henry made his home in Fort Gibson. Although John Sr. farmed and ran a grocery store my grandfather chose to only run the store. My grandmother Elizabeth Orman was from Grapevine, Ark., and their children were; Louisa who married Tom Alien, Tom Jr. who married Lou Holland, Alice who married Charles Kee, Emma married Ralph Ashley, Susie married Thomas Brooks and Mary married Jess Joy.

When the Langstons arrived in Love County they opened a grocery store in Thackerville, closing it out later and opening another in Cheek. John and the married children not engaged in farming or ranching were in the grocery business. It was William's son Tom who fought a duel over boundary rights and left a widow with six children and another born five months after his father's death. There were three stores in the family at one time and mother says that it was probably John Sr., and two of his sons, probably WD and John Jr. Luke Langston was in the grocery business until recently but has moved to Gainesville possibly to retire.

The Langstons are known for their longevity; John Sr. was 81, his wife Susan 87, Wm David 89, Elizabeth 75, and a grandson Robert who lived in Fort Gibson was 96 when a car hit him and killed him. John Sr's parents James Langston and Delilah Webb. His (John Sr.) brothers and sisters were; James Copeland, Wm, Henry or Acy, Matthew, Sarah, and Mary. John Sr. was born in Tuscaloosa County, Ala. and raised in Mississippi. Susan's people we do not know, but we have crossed descendants of her sister Am-eritta Adams who married a Wiley Bearden.

Many Langstons graves dot the cemeteries in Love County and we suppose you will find them Langstons among many of your associates there. The Langstons are English by descent, coming to the colonies and settling in the tidewater section of Virginia. They later spilled over the lines into present day North and South Carolina. Langstons shared a seat with the Washington's in the house of Burgesse, the ruling power of the early Virginia locality. History has it that the Langstons came from Normandy with William the Conqueror in 1100 A.D. They are Protestant by faith and during the lifetime saw that their children were educated to cope with the problems and such as might arise. There isn't any profession that you probably won't find them in and probably no state where they do not reside.

John Sr. died July 6, 1910 and is buried here in the county. Susan died May 2, 1920 and is also buried in the county. We trust that those they left behind will be admirable people of their communities and ever revered by their children.

by Betty Parker Grommesh