H. M. DeLong, dealer in agricultural implements in Richfield springs, and a prominent and 
substantial citizen of the place, was born about one mile from the village.  Besides 
his agricultural implement business he owns and manages a farm, and is one of the 
most active obliging and genial citizens of the town.  On the paternal side he is of 
French extraction.  Isaac and Rebecca DeLong, grandparents of H. M. DeLong, were born 
reared and married in Columbia County, NY and about the year 1796 located on a farm 
in Herkimer County.   They lived to the ages of eighty-four and ninety-two 
respectively, having experienced and passed through all the various hardships and 
privations of pioneer life.  They were the parents of eleven children, Allen, the 
father of our subject, being the eldest of the eleven. 

Allen DeLong was born on the farm, and bought one adjoining the old homestead, upon which 
he lived until his death.  He was twice married; first to Melinda Soule, by whom he 
had one child, Delavan, now deceased.  His second wife Rebecca Wilbur, was born and 
reared in the town of Warren. She bore her husband two children: H. M. and Wayland 
Allen; the latter died when about three years old.  H. M. DeLong was educated first 
in the district school, in the meantime working on the farm until he was eighteen 
years old.  He then attended a select school three winters, securing a fair literary 
and a good business education.  Engaged in farming until 1875, he met with success in 
that vocation.  In 1875 he engaged in the agricultural implement business in 
Richfield Springs, stil owning and managing the farm.  By means of well-directed 
energy and the use of honorable methods, his business has assumed large proportions, 
and bids fair to increase to a still greater extent in the near future.   At the age 
of twenty-six he was united in marriage to Harriet Boyden, adopted daughter of Abram 
Ward.  He and his wife have two children; Ara S., wife of Eugene C. Swift; and Ward 
Everett, nineteen years of age, and at home.

Mr. DeLong was a Democrat from his youth, and continued to affiliate with the Democratic 
party until the exposure of the Tweed ring, since which time he has been a 
Republican.  In religion he and his wife and daughter are members of the Presbyterian 
Church.  Mr. DeLong has for some years been a trustee of the church, and is at the 
present time a member and clerk of the session and of the church.  Mr. DeLong's 
maternal grandparents were Gidion and Millie Wilbur, the former of whom died at the 
age of ninety-seven, and the latter at eighty-four.  They were the parents of fifteen 
children, thirteen of whom grew to mature years.  Mr. DeLong takes great interest in 
educational progress, and at the present time is President of the Board of Education 
at Richfield Springs.  He is one of the most public spirited of men, always aiding to 
the extent of his ability in whatever tends to promote the public good.