Langley was born in Kansas and raised in Oklahoma. At the time of the 1900 United States Census, he was living with his parents, Franklin and Charlotte Langley, on the family's farm in Woods County, Oklahoma.[1] Before attending the University of Michigan, Lanley was a "critic teacher" in the preparatory department of Northwestern Oklahoma Normal School.[2]
Langley received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Michigan in 1908.[3] While attending Michigan, he played football for Fielding H. Yost's Michigan Wolverines football team from 1904 to 1907.
Langley was the head football coach at Texas Christian University from 1908 to 1909. He compiled a record of 11–5–1 in his two seasons as the head coach.[4]
After retiring from football, Langley became a patent attorney. In 1912, he was employed as an assistant examiner at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C.[3] Langley worked in the patent department at Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. for 14 years. He later accepted a similar position with Koppers Co., where he worked for six years.[5][6]
His career as a patent attorney was interrupted by military service during World War I. He served as a major in the infantry during the war and later held the rank of colonel in the Reserve Corps.[5] During combat at the Golfe de Malancourt in France, he suffered machine gun wounds in both of his legs.[7] According to one account, he had "both of his legs shattered by bullets from a German machine gun."[8]
^Census entry for Franklin Langley and family. Jesse R. Langley is listed as the oldest son, born July 1877 in Kansas. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Year: 1900; Census Place: Spring, Woods, Oklahoma; Roll: T623_1343; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 235.
^Biennial reports of Oklahoma educational institutions, 1902, p. 44.
^ abGeneral Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1837-1931, University of Michigan, 1912, p. 274.
^A machine gunner's notes, France 1918, by Charles M. DuPuy, pp. 86-87.
^To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918, by Edward G. Lengel, p. 100.
^Census entry for Jesse R. Langley, age 52, born in Kansas. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Year: 1930; Census Place: Wilkinsburg, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1993; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 871; Image: 177.0.
