The Longacre lineage in America can be traced back to Peter Andersson, who immigrated to New Sweden in 1693 (Doc. A) Andersson’s family line would eventually break up into several different families, including the Longeneckers, Longakers and Longacres (Doc. HA). New Sweden at the time encompassed small regions of present-day Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and dominated the Delaware River. Andersson was a military man, who originally served under the Swedish Commander Peter Ridder, but soon found himself employed to the colony’s governor, Johan Printz. After the Dutch captured New Sweden, Andersson and his wife, Gunilla, were forced to escape to Kingsessing, Pennsylvania. There, he acquired a quarter stake in Kingsessing before his death in 1678. This land was subsequently sold by his son, Anders Petersson, who moved to Siamensing upon receiving a large land grant from the Upland Court. Shortly after, Anders adopted the surname Longacre, either to symbolize his large tracts of land, or to mimic the name of his brother-in-law, Robert Longshore. Anders and his wife, Magdalena, were deeply involved in American Christianity, helping to set the stage for their descendants. They were members of the parish of Wicaco, the first settlement of New Sweden, located in present-day Philadelphia. Anders also helped to build the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, which still stands today in South Philadelphia.  Anders’ son, Andrew, had ten children, some of whom moved as far away as Virginia (Doc. SA). However, most of the Longacre family continued to stay in the Siamensing area, which would eventually be incorporated into the city of Philadelphia.

As a child, Andrew Longacre was educated in the city of Philadelphia, yet before he could finish his schooling, he became ill, possibly with rheumatic fever.   This prevented him from furthering his education (Doc. Y). As a young child, the Longacres lived in the Spring Garden Ward of Philadelphia, with two servants, Julia Gifford and Eliza Dallam (Doc. B). Longacre was raised in a Methodist household and at the age of twelve became a member of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. When Longacre joined the Church, he started off by teaching Sunday School. This then changed when one Sabbath day he told his students: “God has called me to preach and I must obey”. With that, Andrew Longacre stopped teaching at the Union Methodist Episcopal Church and took up his ministry (Doc. DA). When Andrew was eighteen years old, his mother Eliza Stiles passed away in May of 1850 before she could see her son’s ministerial career take off .  The next year, Longacre began his first years as a minister, shadowing Thomas J. Thompson, a family friend and former pastor of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church. During his apprenticeship under Thompson, he gained insight of the responsibilities as a minister. This experience was extremely helpful and valued by Longacre because there were no Methodist theological schools in the area during the 1800s, and thus limited ways for a minister to get started. After one year of following Thompson around, Longacre joined the ministry at Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Longacre was then appointed to the Chestnut Hill chapter in the Reading District .  After serving in that church, Longacre moved to Waynesburg, Pottsville, and Scott Church in Wilmington, Delaware (Doc. NA). Andrew Longacre, throughout this time travelled to many other cities for different pastoral appointments such as Baltimore (Doc Y). From the years 1857-1860, Andrew Longacre was bounded again by his health, which prevented him from preaching (Doc. D). During this time of rest, Longacre felted dejected and stagnant, as he struggled with his trust in God’s plan for him and blamed himself and his health. Longacre felt isolated from those who saw good in him while he saw himself as desolate and cold (Doc. E). This seemingly perpetual phase of darkness ended, when he continued his ministry again in the spring of 1860 as assistant preacher to Dr. John McClintock in Paris.

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Andrew Longacre’s three year hiatus from preaching came to an end in the April of 1860. In March of 1860, John McClintock, Methodist minister, wrote to Andrew Longacre, offering a him job in Paris to assist him at The American Chapel in exchange for his room and board. However, McClintock could not afford to give him a salary (Doc. H). Because of the distance of Paris and the massive change in his life that would take place if he accepted, Longacre did not immediately agree to McClintock’s offer. After musing on the idea however, Longacre considered it an opportunity from God to spread Christianity and a chance to move forward with his life (Doc. E). He then agreed to it.   Longacre received approval from his family members and a circle of ministers in Philadelphia. As preparation, he attempted to learn French (Doc. I). Finally, in May of 1860,   at the age 28, Andrew moved away from home to work at the American Chapel in Paris. The American Chapel, located in the Rue de Berri building during the time,  opened its door for more than Methodists. It was a non-denominational Christian Church that accepted people from all social classes and political views (Doc. F). For a short while, Andrew assisted George L. Prentiss who manned the Church before the McClintocks arrived in June. Although Reverend McClintock treated him with hospitality, Longacre still at times felt homesick, and often wrote letters to his family, especially to his brother James Madison Longacre,  a fire insurance agent at the firm Longacre & Ewing,  whom he was very close with. By assisting McClintock, Andrew described the man as like a brother and a spirited man who, even though was in bad health, always looked on the bright side and saw the good in everyone, and had a wealthy and knowledgeable mind (Doc. F). In Paris, Andrew shifted from his negative, dejected views of his life and gained a sense of enlightenment and trust in God (Doc. J). Longacre gained a different experience from his longer sermons at small, Methodist Churches in Philadelphia, however, he often missed his solely Methodist community (Doc. L). Still, Longacre’s poor health persisted while in Paris. Although he had his good and bad days, his poor health took the form of diarrhea and rheumatism. Because he wasn’t getting paid, Longacre supported himself by taking up loans, ministering at weddings and baptisms, as well as selling his paintings. He was also involved in selling portable cameras while in Paris, which were designed by McClintock’s secretary (Doc. M). Inheriting the knack for the arts from his father, Andrew created portraits, landscapes, and miniatures (Doc. MA) using watercolors (Doc. QA).

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A year into his stay, the Civil War began at home. Although Longacre spent prominent years of the Civil War abroad,    in the small American religious hub in Paris, he still felt its pressures. As a Unionist himself, Longacre avidly and anxiously sought out news of the war from letters between himself and family members, and fervently prayed for a quick resolution to the divide. He was also opposed to the institution of slavery and described the potentially pro-South British government as being “more fond of monarchy & of cotton than of human freedom.” He strongly believed in social equality, under the principle that all men are God’s children and therefore deserve equal treatment (Doc. Q). McClintock often spoke and wrote about the war in support of the Union as well.   McClintock also fought to persuade the French and English governments not to support the Confederacy, and Longacre often covered for him while he was away in London (Doc. N). During this time, many American southerners in Paris stopped attending the Sunday sermons. At the same time, he felt pitied by foreigners, who although were polite, disregarded the war for they did not see America as a country (Doc. F).

During his time in Paris, Longacre frequently found himself lacking financial solvency, as McClintock couldn’t afford to pay Longacre for his work. He too was in dire financial straits, and so could only offer Longacre food and boarding. Andrew, by his own admission, was rather poor at effective money management, and often splurged on foreign trinkets to send home. This was one of the many reasons he lamented Jim’s absence from his life, as he acknowledged Jim as the much more clear headed brother (Doc. K). Despite this, Andrew still lived quite a good life abroad; he brushed shoulders with many European elites while in Paris, who served to be interesting companions as well as great financial assets. Some of these aristocrats would later invite Longacre to travel around Europe with them; he journeyed from the highest peaks of the Emerald Isle to the heart of the Ottoman Empire on someone else’s dime (Doc. G).

While not ministering, Longacre explored the city of Paris as well as visited other countries in Europe. Because he lacked the funds and hated traveling alone, most of his trips came from the invitations of other people. In 1860, he was invited by Francis Lycett to visit London and stayed with them for 10 days (Doc. G). In 1861, he visited Italy and Ireland, before accompanying Alex Van Rensselaer on a tour of Eastern Europe. From September 1861 to late April 1862, Andrew, with Van Rensselaer, traveled through France, Spain, Mediterranean Egypt, the Middle East, and the Ottoman Empire, visiting cathedrals and historical sites, before heading back to Paris. While in Cairo, he visited the Alabaster Mosque, toured the Great Pyramid of Giza and sailed up the Nile River (Doc. O). After his Egyptian excursion, Andrew arrived in Jerusalem, where he explored a number of holy sites in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters and also preached at a local church. He then found himself lodging in a convent on the shore of the Dead Sea as his group made the trek to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), another of the holiest cities in Christendom. While in Constantinople, he caught a glimpse of the newly crowned Ottoman sultan, Abdülaziz. He then visited a number of churches, cemeteries and bazaars, as well as a memorial to the Crimean War, before meditating on the significance of the city’s existence (Doc. P). Afterwards, he returned to Europe, visiting Venice, Dresden and Berlin before finally coming back to Paris. In Venice, Andrew met Elisabeth, Empress of the (soon to be) Austro-Hungarian Empire.   He then travelled to Germany, where he and Van Rensselaer visited a number of art galleries and paid their respects at the mausoleum of King Frederick Wilhelm III, who was also the great-nephew of Frederick the Great, and his first wife, Louisa. Upon his return to Paris, he expressed his desire to get back to preaching to the common folk to his brother.   All throughout his travels, he sent letters detailing his sights to his father, his sister Eliza, and his brother James, whom he refers to as Jim.   Through these letters, Andrew proves to be very close with his family. In April 1862, he sent a letter from England to McClintock, informing him of his return. Although McClintock wanted Longacre to take a full-time position at the Chapel, Andrew was itching to work and go back home after his long vacation (Doc. P). McClintock’s charge of the American Chapel also ended that year,   and he too came back to the east coast of the U.S on a later date and connected with Longacre (Doc. R).

After his time abroad, Longacre returned to Pennsylvania in 1862. After his return, Longacre was not stationary at a specific church or city, but rather drifted from place to place, preaching at different churches and living in numerous cities on the east coast primarily. He worked in Hestonville church in 1862, before transferring to Trinity Church in Philadelphia in 1863, where he ministered until 1865. Four years after his return, he left once again to spread the gospel, this time in Baltimore. He joined the Charles Street Society in 1866, and preached there until 1868 (Doc. DA). Longacre was very much admired as a preacher. In Baltimore, he preached before large congregations, such as the ones that took place during the First and Second Great Awakenings. He was especially well known for preaching at Methodist Circuit Camp-Meetings. These events were popularized by the First and Second Great Awakenings, where parishes would meet at campgrounds for an extended period of praying, singing and preaching. Longacre was always a crowd favorite at these camp meetings (Doc. T). Longacre was not only known for as a good preacher, but he was also generally well liked by the public (Doc. X). In Baltimore, Longacre, then 39, moved for the fourth time in less than a decade, this time to New York’s Central Church, in the heart of Manhattan in 1869. While preaching there, Longacre lived in the ninth ward of New York City. Unlike his experience in Paris, Longacre was no longer struggling financially (Doc V). Contrarily, he was pretty well off and his estate in while living in New York City was worth $10,000 in 1870 (Doc. S). While Andrew was in New York, his father, James, died of unknown causes on New Years Day, 1869 at the age of 74. The following year in 1870, Andrew Longacre married Lydia Anne Eastwick, who was 19 years younger than him (Doc. IA) and from a wealthy family of Eastwicks (Doc. MA). Lydia’s father, Andrew McCalla Eastwick was a millionaire engineer accredited with the invention of the steam shovel.   That same year, Andrew and Lydia had their first child, Lydia Eastwick Longacre, named after her mother. Then one year later, their second child and first son, Henry Baker Longacre was born on November 18, 1871.

Despite all of these milestones in his personal life, Longacre maintained his ministerial duties and continued to preach. He held a great many sermons in New York City churches, focusing on three main ideas. One common theme in many of Longacre’s sermons was to encourage Christians to be more like Christ and to follow his example (Doc. U). He was also renowned for his ability to raise money for Christian missionaries, and he devoted much of his time to preaching about church collections (Doc. CA). His third focus while preaching was the unification of all branches of Christianity through their faith in God (Doc. GA). In 1872, Longacre transferred to Trinity Church in Newburgh, New York (Doc. DA). That year, his third child, Sara S. Longacre Bennett was born.   During the 1870s, a prominent social issue was the temperance movement. Longacre commented on the ban of alcohol and despite being a minster, he was against the general temperance movement. Longacre believed that there were larger crimes in the world than to prohibit the use of alcohol (Doc. W).  The Longacres moved from New York City back to Philadelphia in 1875, where he preached at Greene Street Church (Doc. DA). In 1876, Andrew Longacre had expected another son: Frederick Van Duzer Longacre.   Now a family of six, Longacre decided to slow down his career and focus on his family. While back in Philadelphia, his children had an education (Doc. AA). At this point in his life, Andrew was in a much better financial situation than previously. He and his wife subsequently travelled to Paris in June of 1878 for the World Fair, which also happened to be Longacre’s second time attending a World Fair in Paris (Doc. Z). However, Longacre’s health flared up again and was in bad condition, though the reason for it was unknown (Doc. Z). Andrew worked at Greene Street for two years, then Tabernacle for another two, and then two more at Trinity in Philadelphia, a place that holds familiarity to him as one of his old pastor jobs in his youth (Doc. DA). Not long after living in Philadelphia, Longacre was transferred back to to Baltimore where their daughter Breta Longacre was born on August 31, 1887 and Barton Longacre whose birthdate is unknown. By 1888, Longacre transfers again. He previously served at Mount Vernon Church in Baltimore and made an annual income of $10,000, a large amount since his church was the largest in their denomination (Doc. BA). He moves again to New York to fill a position at Trinity Church in Newburgh (Doc. DA).

In New York once more, Longacre lived with his entire family of six in ward 19 in the borough of Manhattan during his late 60s (Doc. IA). Soon after the end of his pastorate at Trinity Church in 1891 (Doc. DA), he becomes the presiding elder of the New York District, New York Conference at Methodist Episcopal Church for three years, reaching the height of his career (Doc. FA). In April of 1896, Andrew Longacre then becomes the pastor at Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (Doc. FA), and stays there until his impaired health prevented him from working (Doc. MA). He retired officially in 1901 (Doc. LA), after nine faithful years preaching on Madison Avenue, as well as fifty three years as a minister (Doc. NA). Before he left, he was given $5,000, worth about $141,142 today, by his congregation as a parting gift (Doc. LA). Some time between 1896-1905, Longacre moved to 102 East 57th St in Ward 8, Manhattan (Doc. JA), where he spent his retirement.

Shortly before Andrew Longacre passed away, he drew up his last will and testament in 1895. In that will, he names his wife, Lydia Anne Longacre, his brother, James Madison Longacre, and his brother in law, John F. Keen his trustees. Furthermore, he gave these people the power and right to sell a part or the whole of his property for investment, division or distribution. However, John F. Keen passed away before Longacre, so he named Lemuel Skidm to replace Keen’s positions and gave him the same power that Keen would have assumed before his passing. He names his trustees as the people to receive his property and estate, as well as the people to receive the rents income. However, if his wife chose to remarry after he was deceased, he states that Lydia Longacre should only receive one half of the rents income and the other half shall be given to his daughter, also Lydia Longacre, who would go on to become a celebrated artist (Doc. RA). Furthermore, he states that his property shall divided between his children and not split per capita (Doc. EA).

Andrew Longacre died on February 18th, 1906 in his New York City residence (Doc. OA). It was three weeks after, his sister Sarah L. Keen passed away in Philadelphia as well (Doc. MA). Andrew’s death was not a sudden one, for the severity of his malady kept him bedridden for 11 days before death finally took him. His wife and children were all by his bedside during his last moments (Doc. LA). The official cause of death was endocarditis, a form of heart disease, likely related to the illness that had plagued him his entire life (Doc. KA) As per his request, the funeral arranged by his undertaker, Joseph J. Earley (Doc OA) was held four days later in the last church he had worked at, the Madison Avenue Methodist Church, and was officiated by some of his closest associates, Bishops E. Andrews and Cyrus Foss (Doc. LA). His loss was greatly mourned by both the congregation and the greater Methodist movement. One newspaper even went as so far as to describe him as the “one of the most widely known and best beloved ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church” (Doc. MA). After the funeral, his body was transported back to Philadelphia and buried in the Woodlands Cemetery on his family’s plot on February 22, 1906 (Doc. PA).