Young, James (b. 1841)

YOUNG, DAVIDSON, WHITE, PRINCE

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 7/30/2013 at 15:30:34

James Young, an enterprising and progressive farmer of Madison township, Jones county, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of January, 1841, a son of David and Eliza (Davidson) Young, both natives of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the Young family having been founded in America about the middle of the eighteenth century by William and Mary (White) Young, natives of Scotland. They came to this country from the north of Ireland, where they were wealthy landowners and where his ancestors were said to have been baronets. In their religious faith they were Presbyterians and they came to the new world in order to escape the persecutions to which they were subjected by the Roman Catholics. Mr. and Mrs. David Young, the parents of our subject, were married in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and in 1843, after selling their farm, came west to Iowa, making their way down the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, and thence up the Mississippi to Bellevue, Jackson county, Iowa. Mr. Young found a mill site on Brush creek, where he erected a mill and built a log house, with puncheon floors and clapboard roof held in place by weight poles, no nails being used in the construction of the cabin. The mill had but one iron wheel, the others being made of wood, the wooden cogs for which were boiled in lard three of four days. The father continued the operation of the mill until his death, which occurred in 1846. The mother died at the home of our subject in 1889.

Coming to Iowa when but two years of age, James Young has therefore spent almost his entire life in this state and is indebted to the school system of Jackson county for the educational privileges enjoyed. Under the parental roof he was reared to manhood and he worked in the mill until 1867, in which year he was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Prince. In the spring of the following year he came to Jones county, locating in Scotch Grove township, where in company with a brother, David D. Young, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land and eighty acres of timber land. This they operated in conjunction until 1870, when they divided the property, and our subject continued to reside upon his portion of the land until 1882. In that year he removed to his present farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres on section 10, Madison township, and he later acquired one hundred and thirty acres in Scotch Grove and Madison townships, which he recently sold to his son, E. R. Young. He had since devoted his energies to the development of his home farm, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation, and in his agricultural pursuits has met with marked success, becoming one of the successful farmers of his locality.

With the passing of the years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Young has been blessed with seven children, namely: Eliza M., the wife of Rev. A. B. Fickle, of Shellsberg, Benton county; E. Ray of Madison township, mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume; Dr. J. M., practicing medicine in Center Junction; David L., an attorney of Boise City, Idaho; John Arthur, a Methodist Episcopal minister of Ridgeway, Iowa; William Harvey, who is attending Grinnell College; and T. Ross, who is still tinder the parental roof.

Mr. and Mrs. Young hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, on the official board of which, he has served for several years, while for many years he has been most active in Sunday-school work. He has served as justice of the peace for two terms, and in politics is strong in his advocacy of the principles of the prohibition party, for he fully realizes that the liquor traffic is one of the worst evils against which the country today has to contend. His entire career has been characterized by high ideals and noble principles and in every relation of life his record has ever measured up to a high standard of honorable manhood.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 408.