Kiamata Long, "Kian," 18??-????
                  Slave, personal maid for Jane Long


Kiamata Long, also known by the names of ‘Kian’ or ‘Ki’, arrived in Texas from Natchez,
Mississippi as a 12-year-old slave girl in 1819 while accompanying her owners, Major James Long
and his wife, Jane Wilkinson Long. Jane Long was the niece of James Wilkinson, the first Governor
of the Louisiana Territory, and a Revolutionary War hero who was linked to the Aaron Burr
conspiracy to create an independent western nation in 1804-05.

James Long had arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas a year earlier in 1818 and was declared the President
of the Republic of Texas that year, a title which lasted for just one month before Spanish troops
overcame Long’s rule and he returned to Mississippi. At the time of Kian’s arrival in Texas, the non-
indigenous population of the territory was likely less than 2,000 people.

After her husband was imprisoned in Mexico City, Jane Long and Kian moved to the Bolivar
Peninsula, where Kian helped Jane deliver a baby girl, Mary James Long, on December 21, 1821.
Living in a fort at Bolivar Point, Kian and Jane Long held off attacks by the Karankawa Indians
before heading to Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1822 and then returning to Texas in 1824.  After Major
Long was killed in Mexico while trying to free Texas from Spanish domination, Kian continued to
serve as the personal maid of Jane Long until the latter’s death in 1880.

The Long family had moved to Richmond, Texas, where Jane Long was occasionally referred to as
“The Mother of Texas,” partially for being one of the first white women to give birth to a child in
Texas, and partially for her role in designing the flag for the Spanish province of Texas which has
remained virtually unchanged to the modern day.  

Kian helped Jane Long run a pair of boarding inns in Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties in Texas. She
was granted permission to get married while working for Jane Long, and had four children, including
a daughter Clarissa, whose son Henry C. Breed was one of the city of Houston’s first African-
American policemen. She and her children were granted their freedom following the Civil War.

Contributed by Craig Sanders, Sam Houston State University




Sources:

  • Arnoldo De León, "MEXICAN TEXAS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.
    org/handbook/online/articles/npm01), accessed August 04, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical
    Association.
  • Elizabeth J. E. Hardin, "KIAN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.
    org/handbook/online/articles/fki01), accessed August 04, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical
    Association.
  • Linda Reno, "Jane Long," St. Mary’s Families (http://userpages.umbc.
    edu/~pdavis2/Participants/dawsonm/smc/articles_files/march_long.htm), accessed August 04, 2011. Published by
    the St. Mary’s County (MD) Historical Association.
  • David A. Williams, Bricks without Straws – A Comprehensive History of African-Americans in Texas (1997).
Texas Black History Preservation Project
Documenting the Complete African American Experience in Texas -- "Know your history, know yourself"
Jane Long
(Drawing by Kathleen Howell)
Kian