My Langins – 2015 Reunion
January 12, 2016
I grew up being VERY lucky in the grand
parent department. From the time I was born until their various
deaths I knew and spent a lot of time with all four of my
grandparents. I only came to really understand how unusual that is
in the past few years.
My grandpa Langin, Linwood Earl, was
born[1897-1963] in Riverdale, MI and lived there intermittently
after his mother's[Margaret Leona Miner] divorce from his father and
between his mother's various marriages. The Langins were an enormous
black hole to me though until I met Lois Langin through a genealogy
web sight several years ago.
Then three years ago I started the
process of moving from Seattle to San Diego. All along I'd been
learning more about the Langins, my grandfather's estranged family,
and came upon records of my grandfather's uncle... Jarvis Langin[1877
- 1968]. Jarvis lived in Duluth, Minnesota working as a janitor at
the I.O.O.F. Hall for many years until his late 70's. Then he
retired and moved to San Diego to be near his daughter. I found and
later visited his marker in the I.O.O.F. section at San Diego's Mt.
Hope Cemetery. Later I moved into an apartment near San Diego's Point
Loma neighborhood... it turns out I live just blocks from Jarvis'
house. My “Jarvis” connection gets even deeper...
I knew very little about my great
grandfather Charles Edwin Langin. He and my great grandmother
divorced when my grandfather was a toddler and it's very likely they
never saw each other again. According to my mother her dad slammed
the door on any Langin who came knocking during her childhood. I knew
he'd died in Louisville, KY... but that's about it.
Then last summer as I was making plans
to come to the Langin reunion in Riverdale Sonja Langin Rumminger,
knowing that my great grandfather had died in Louisville, KY, asked
me if my great grandfather, Charles Edwin Langin[1875 - 1953], had
ever owned a candy business in Louisville, KY. She said there were
relatives who remembered getting packages of candy from a relation
living in Louisville who ran a candy store. Upon searching the
Louisville city directories there it was! Starting sometime in the
mid-1930's... Langin's Candies!
The candy shop and Charles Edwin's
occupation continued to be listed as “confectioner” until his
death in the early '50's. Here comes the Jarvis connection...
 |
| 2015 picture of Charles Edwin Langin's 1939 residence. |
At the 2015 Langin Riverdale Reunion I
met Patrick Langin and his sons. Patrick related the story to me that
some time in the late 1940's Jarvis made a train trip from Duluth to
visit his brother, Charles Edwin, in Louisville, KY. Jarvis stopped
in Fort Wayne to visit his son and grandson Patrick Langin, who was
about 10 years old at the time. Patrick continued the trip on the
train with his grandfather, Jarvis, and they visited Jarvis' brother
Charles, my great grandfather, in Louisville.
 |
| 2015 Downtown Louisville location of Langin's Candies. |
Patrick has memories of staying at his
uncle's house and seeing a television for the first time. As well as
visiting Charles Edwin's downtown candy store and watching the
taffy-pulling machine in action.
Upon further research I was able to
locate three houses still standing in Louisville where my great
grandfather had lived and at least two locations where his candy
store had been. He had apparently never owned a house and seemed to
move pretty regularly. I decided to extend my reunion trip for a
detour to Louisville and connect with more long-lost cousins on my
dad's side who live in Louisville and look at the houses and candy
store locations. It was a TERRIFIC trip!!
