The stories we hear while growing up may be the source for our curiosity to do family research. But as a child we did not write those stories down and the memory of them is as accurate as other memories from our childhood. Maybe you have told your children or grandchildren those same stories and they more than likely did not write them down either. Now is your chance to do that. Write them down or ask the older generation for their stories and record them or write them down.

The stories I remember from my maternal grandmother was about the three Langley beauties.I have no idea how old I was when I heard it or what prompted the story. I always knew the Langley’s were from Warwickshire and I assumed there were three sisters. Their names are lost in my memories but I think grandma said Jane, Sara and Polly, It could just have easily been Elizabeth, Judy and Peggy. But what ever their names were I remember that one came to America and one went to Cuba , while the third stayed in England. It has been at least 60 years since I heard that story and I think I now may have the facts behind the story.

The first coming to this country was obvious It was Jane and she came as a young wife and mother of four children. She was my 3x great grandmother Jane Langley who married George Jones in London in 1836 and the whole family sailed from Liverpool in 1844 on the Franconia and arrived in New York 22 April 1844.

Jane had three other sisters Myra, Elizabeth and Mary. Myra Langley never married and died in Coleshill, Warwickshire, England. Elizabeth married John Plumbridge a London orange merchant and lived in London until her death and was buried in Greenwich, London in January 1870. Mary married James Farden and is also buried in Coleshill in January 1882.

So who went to Cuba? Well that was a good question for many years. Now Elizabeth being the wife of an orange merchant MAY have traveled to Cuba with her husband to procure oranges for his business. But another possibility arose when I was looking for what happened to George and Jane (Langley) Jones after they arrived in America. Their son George M. Jones became a Tobacco Merchant in New York City and had for a period of time a Tobacco plantation in Cuba. He had three daughters who could have lived for a short time in Cuba. His daughters were named Sarah, Maria, and Adila.

So who was Polly? Well, the nick name in England for Mary Ann is Polly. Could the Polly in grandma’s story be Mary who married James Farden? Maybe my memory is better then I thought.

So who do you think were the “Three Langley Beauties”?

It is to late to ask for clarification on my grandmother’s stories. But maybe not for you. And if you are the grandmother or grandfather write down those stories before they are lost.