Biography - William Young
WILLIAM A. YOUNG. This gentleman is one of the representative agriculturists of Butler Grove Township, Montgomery County, where he was born August 20, 1836. His father, William Young, is a native of Tennessee, and his mother, Jane C. (Paisley) Young, a native of North Carolina. William Young, Sr., emigrated to Montgomery County in the year 1830, and in 1832 was married to Jane C. Paisley, of the same county. This union resulted in the birth of nine children, six of whom grew to mature years: James J., John W., William A., Harriet E., Sarah J. and Samuel. The mother of this family died in 1854. Mr. Young was again married, choosing as his second wife Miss Eva Brown, of Bond County, this State. This marriage has resulted in the birth of three children. For a number of years the father of our subject served as Justice of the Peace and was a member of the State Legislature of 1854. He served as a soldier in the Black Hawk War in 1832. He and his present wife are residing on his fine farm near Hillsboro, Ill.
Henry Young, the grandfather of our subject, was of Scotch descent, but a native of Pennsylvania. He was married in North Carolina to Miss Sally Fifer, a native of Germany. Nine children, four sons and five daughters, were born to this couple, three only of whom now survive. The maternal grandparents, were of Scotch descent.
Our subject was reared upon a farm near the town of Donnellson, Montgomery County, Ill., and attended such subscription schools as were taught in that day, previous to the adoption of the present free-school system. In 1855, at the age of nineteen years, he entered the Hillsboro Academy and remained until April of the following year. He then taught school for one year, and in April of 1858 entered McKendree College, from which he graduated two years later. In June, 1860, he returned to Hillsboro and read law one .year in the office of James M. Davis. July 7, 1861, he enlisted as Quartermaster-Sergeant in Company E, First Regiment of the Illinois Cavalry, and served in Fremont's campaign in Missouri until the surrender of Gen. Mulligan to Gen. Price at Lexington, Mo., September 20, 1861. Our subject was then paroled and sent home, and in December of the following year was appointed by the late Sheriff Harrison Brown Deputy Collector of Montgomery County. In 1864 he was elected Sheriff of the county, which office he filled to the entire satisfaction of all his constituents, until the expiration of his term in 1866.
William A. Young, of whom we write this brief history, was united in marriage November 28, 1866, to Miss Mary E. Ware, daughter of Obadiah Ware. The following summer the young couple moved to the farm where he at present resides. January 1, 1870, the wife and mother was called from this life, leaving two sons, viz: Anthony O., who was born December 25, 1868, and is now a student at Beaumont Medical College at St. Louis; and William A., Jr., born November 9, I860, who has had the degree of Doctor of Medicine conferred upon him by the medical department of Washington University at St. Louis and is now practicing his profession at Springfield, Ill. In September, 1871, our subject took as his second wife Miss Sarah Muenscher, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to whom four children have been born, who are named as follows: Frederica, Charles S., Cornelia and Eunice, all of whom are at home.
The large farm which Mr. Young operates consists of five hundred and forty acres and is well stocked and nicety embellished with first-class improvements. At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture held in Peoria in 1892, he was elected Vice-president of that society for the Seventeenth Congressional District. He is a thorough farmer, a scientific horticulturist, and is also well versed in fine stock, especially hogs, sheep and cattle. He has devoted his entire life to practical and scientific agriculture and is one of the best-informed farmers in Montgomery County.
Socially our subject is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and Royal Arch Chapter of Hillsboro, and in politics is a strong adherent of the Democratic doctrines. In religious matters he is a member of the Lutheran denomination.
Extracted 10 Jan 2017 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 396-397.
