John Wesley Younie was born in Montreal, Canada, on July 15, 1849, son of Louis and Jane (Maxwell) Younie, who were born in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland, respectively. Louis and Jane Younie were married in 1847 and were parents of Maggie; John Wesley; Mrs. Ellen Alby; Jeanette (Mrs. J.S. Bruce); William; Louis; Mrs. Ann Churchyard; Alexander; James; David; Richard; and Jane.
John Wesley Younie came to Sac County in 1873 and bought land in Clinton Township, later called Richland, for which he paid five dollars and a half an acre. In 1874, he came with a breaking team and broke seventy-five acres and planted forty acres of wheat and twelve acres sod corn. The first crop of wheat averaged twenty-three and a half bushels to the acre, which he hauled twenty-two miles and received fifty cents per bushel. When he first came to this county Mr. Younie brought his shack with him on the train and set up his twelve by fourteen home and used this for six years. Here he and his young wife started house-keeping, and during those first years there were times when things looked pretty discouraging, but they had brave hearts, stout hands and determined to stick to the land, and in six years they were able to build a new house which cost them nineteen hundred and fifty dollars. This was considered a large sum in those days.
In 1875 John Wesley Younie married Emma Messerole, born April 28, 1855, to Jacob and Mary Anna (Holcomb) Messerole. They were parents of Mrs. Jeanette Prussia: Louis, Mrs. Effie Ethel Weston; Roy W.; Guy Leslie married Minnie Johnson; and Marrion Abbott, Mr. Younie served as school director and was treasurer of school board of Richland Township.
Recollections of Mrs. Lucinda Younie