George H. Long is a business man of Kansas City, Kansas, where he has been located for the past eight years. As an undertaker he has built up a large clientage on the basis of thorough and competent service, and has given to that profession the best of his energies and his conscientious study for a number of years.
Mr. Long is a native of Ohio, born September 30, 1875, at Ripley in Brown County. He was the oldest of the five children of James A. and Jemima (Fluharty) Long. Both parents were natives of Ohio. James A. Long had a brother, John, two years older. They were left motherless when children, and their father, George Long, soon afterward determined to seek a home in Kansas. He came out to the state by ox team and wagon and married here and soon after getting his home established he went back to Ohio to get his children. On returning to Kansas he found that his second wife had died during his absence, and he himself fell a victim to cholera about 1854. His children, James and John, went back to Ohio and were reared there by separate families. John was in the regular army, was injured during service in the West against the Indians, and his subsequent record became lost to the family. James A. Long was a lumberman in Ohio, and for fifteen years served as deputy marshal of Ripley, Ohio. He was a democrat and a man held in the highest esteem throughout his community. He was a Methodist and an active supporter of church and school.
Mr. George H. Long grew up in Brown County, Ohio, attended the common schools at Ripley, also had high school training, and began his career as clerk in a hardware store while still a student in high school. He remained with that store for ten years, and laid the foundation of his substantial business education while there. This early training has proved invaluable to him in his later years.
On September 18, 1899, Mr. Long married Miss Bessie Grim. Her father was a successful undertaker at Ripley, Ohio. Mr. Long soon afterward became associated in business with his father-in-law, and in 1906 they removed their establishment to Hamilton, Ohio, where they continued in business for two years. In 1908 Mr. Long came to Kansas City, Kansas, for the purpose of starting a business of his own. While looking for a suitable location he worked in various places and subsequently bought an interest in the W. B. Raymond Company. He was with that firm one year, and in 1910 he set up in business for himself on Tenth Street, near his present location.
Mr. Long has succeeded in the undertaking business because he gives every courtesy to his patrons, regardless of their station in life or of their means and circumstances. His business has had a steady growth, and he is now considered one of the leading men in his line in the city.
Mr. and Mrs. Long are the parents of two children, Louis and Martha. Politically Mr. Long is largely independent, though inclined to support the democratic party. He has never filled any official position. He gives his support to those movements which are most closely identified with the public welfare of his community, is exceedingly progressive, and in 1911 he advanced the idea of a city manager plan for the government of Kansas City, Kansas, a method which has been tested successfully in other large cities and eliminates much of the politics and inefficiency from local government. Mr. and Mrs. Long are active in the work of the Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.