11/21/06

Contents

Birth of Philip Long? acoording to Mgr Lang

Key Events of 1776

Interesting Additional Information

1742 - Birth of Philip Long? According to Mgr. Lang.

Mgr. Ernest Lang shared what he knew of oral history in his book about Philip Long. In that book, Philip was believed, throughout oral history from generations to generations according to Mgr. Lang, to be eighteen when he did an act of bravery by being “reputed to have escaped to the British with an American Mail” (source: Deane and Kavannagh, 1832). Even Mgr. Lang is hesitant about Philip Long’s origins since he says that some believed him to be Scottish, others from Philadelphia. He claims that the only certain thing about Philip Long was that he was Protestant (an obvious conclusion based on his Scottish ancestry and later validated by the marriage in 1792 in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Quebec City). But Protestant is not Presbyterian which would almost certainly have confirmed Long’s Scottish ancestry.

In fact, Mgr. Lang infirms this rather than deduces this conclusion so we left wondering where his Scottish ancestry came from. Mgr. Lang’s description of the famous act of bravery is done with a great affection and flair, and even today, you cannot resist his energy and enthusiasm for the subject. Mgr. Lang simply affirms, based on oral history from generation to generation, three very important pieces of information:

First, that Philip Long was eigtheen years old when the act of bravery was committed. There is no evidence whatsoever to contradict this information and so we must accept oral history in this particular at face value.

Second, that the act of bravery took place in 1775. This date is much more problematic since it is deduced rather than originating from oral history per se.

Third, that Philip was assuredly already a member of the armed forces in 1775 when the conflict began. Unfortunately, there is no further evidence or information by Mgr. Lang in his writings that would support these affirmations, and none that this author and others have found to invalidate or confirm this oral history. As Gilles Long as said, we should tread carefully when we wish to challenge oral history. However, this oral history may be suspect for a number of reasons which are reviewed elsewhere.

Of particular concern is that Mgr. Lang deduces Philip’s birth year by connecting the date of the beginning of the conflict with his being eigtheen and substactring it to arrive at 1757. The circularity here is a challenge and is one that only further evidence will enlighten. In our view, it is much more likely that the year 1775 became an accepted year for the act of bravery not based on strong oral history but rather based on the fact that a 1816 letter signed by Philip Long and known to researchers since the early 1930’s, includes the following quote:

“It his well known by a great many Respectable people how much I have Done and Suffered Since the year 1775 for my King and Country which reduced me to the Situation I am in at present which is to Long to Detail in any Letter, but I hope your Excellency will think only of me as a men of 26 or 30 years acquaintance, of my Conduct will report of me, as to Mail remaining in my house is false which I can prove it never Remained one Day if that it is my Orders and my Duty to take profsesion of and cary it forward Either up or Down which I Surely have Done.”

Here are the words used by Mgr. Lang: “Toujours selon la tradition orale, Philip avait dix huit ans lors de son fameux exploit de jeunesse. Or conformément à une allusion, à ce fait memorable de sa vie, allusion faite par lui-même dans une de ses letters, cet exploit aurait eu lieu en l’année 1775. D’après ce renseignement, il serait né en l’année 1757”.

Philip did not in fact make the link between 1775 and his exploit—the year 1775 instead refers to his having been loyal to the King from that momentous period onward—a proof of his loyalism but not of the date of his exploit. Today, we don’t believe there is any oral history that supports the year 1775 as the year of his exploit. This letter represents no proof that the act of bravery was committed in 1775 or that Philip was already in the armed forces in 1775. But it would provide an explanation for connecting the two pieces of information. Given the embellishment of oral history that even Mgr. Lang suggested may have been present throughout the description of the story of the act of bravery, this development cannot be ruled prima facie. Today, we cannot disprove the 1757 year of birth for Philip Long but faced with documentary evidence that he may have been born instead in 1742, we must take the latter as stronger than oral history.

Key Events of 1776

Declaration of Independence of the American colonies on July 4, 1776.

Please refer to the following chronology of the year 1776.

http://www.royalprovincial.com/history/chronology/chrono76.shtml

Interesting Additional Information