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Connor
Keiser stands in the old barn, built as part of the James and Sophia
Clemens homestead.
Photo Credit: Jerry Kenney
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Carrying on the
Longtown Heritage
Garst Museum’s Speakers Series returns on Sunday, February 25 at 2:00
P.M. The guest speaker will be Darke County native Connor Keiser.
Connor is the great-great-great-great-great grandson of James Clemens,
a freed slave from Rockingham County, Virginia. Clemens, along with his
wife Sophia Sellers and their five children, settled in the Longtown
area of Darke County and began farming in 1818. The Longtown settlement
was established nearly 200 years ago. The settlement grew into a
thriving mixed-race community and an important stop on the Underground
Railroad.
Connor will reflect on his research into Longtown’s history, and his
experiences growing up in a multigenerational mixed-race family. He and
other descendants of the pioneering settlers are working to bring
Longtown back to life for others to experience.
All Garst lectures are free and open to the public. However, regular
admission will apply to tour the museum which includes the outstanding
National Annie Oakley Center, Crossroads of Destiny, Lowell Thomas, and
Longtown exhibits. Funding for this program was made possible, in part,
by the Harry D. Stephens Memorial, Inc. Foundation.
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Longtown's
restoration is underway. Photo Credit: Jerry Kenney
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