216 UNION COUNTY PAST AND PRESENT
Mr. Kern, a staunch Democrat, served Sturgis as its mayor
‘ from 1917 to 1921, and again from 1925 until his death in
‘ 1929. He was a member of the town council between these
X two terms. He was a_ Mason, pa Knight Templar, a Shriner.
and a charter member of the Kiwanis Club of Sturgis, serving
as its first president. He also served a term as lieutenant
. governor of the Kentucky-Tennessee Kiwanis district.
Mr. Kern married Leota Hall Bradley of Owensboro in 189.5
and of this union ten children were born.
LEROY WILLIAM LONG (1832-1900), lawyer, soldier. and
farmer, was born on the South Fork of Falling River, Camp-
bell County, Virginia. His grandmother on his father’s side
was the daughter of Col. Burgess Ball and his grandfather on
his mother’s side was Captain William Rosser, both of Revolu-
tionary War note.
Arnstead Long, the father of Leroy William, moved to
White Sulphur Spring in Union County in 1838. The father
and his two brothers living nearby employed a teacher from
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to tutor their children. In 1843,
three years after the death of his first wife, Arnstead Long
and his family returned to Virginia. Leroy William attended
the Lynchburg high school and completed college in Richmond.
In 1854 he returned to Caseyville, where his brother, Dr.
Burgess M. Long, lived. He lived here for a short time reading
law and teaching private school. He was "the bright young
man" of the community, since he is remembered for also post-
ing "books for the merchants of the town" and "making the
returns for the postmaster of the place." He moved to Morgan-
field in November, 1855, and entered the law office of Judge
Ben P. Cissell. After taking his law examination under Judge
Collin D. Bradley, Long opened a law office in Morganfield.
and soon entered into partnership with Judge Cissell. In 1858
he was elected county attorney and three years later (1861,
he resigned his office and joined Lee’s army, then in West
Virginia.
When General Lee was sent south, Long was assigned to
duty on General Stevenson’s staff, with the rank of major.
His Kentucky friends petitioned the Confederate War De-
partment to send Major Long into Kentucky to raise a regiment.
He returned to Union County but through the treachery of
persons he trusted, he was captured by the Federal forces.