Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
History as given us by the daughter of Aaron Young, Louise (Mrs. J.A. Ikemire and the Mother of Miss Dr. Marjory Ikemire) which we quote, as follows:
Aaron Young was born August 16, 1830 in Horinson, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, and died on the homestead near Morea, Illinois, January 1, 1912. His ancestors were Scotch Convenanters, banished from Scotland in 1683, their title of nobility and property being confiscated by the British Crown. They came to Newark, N.J. and after the war of 1812 emigrated to Ohio and thence to Illinois. His father, Robert Young, a veteran of the War of 1812 and his Mother, Sarah Gogin, whose family came by ferry boat on the Ohio and Wabash rivers to what is now Crawford County.
When Aaron was 14 years old, his father died, leaving him the head of the family of six children. He carried out his father's plans to educate all of them, the sisters becoming teachers and his brother, Robert, also who was teaching at the Frog Pond School when the Civil War broke out, at which time he enlisted and marched away with the 98th Illinois Regiment. He was left behind his regiment at Scottsville, Ky. when he became ill. Aaron got thru the lines at great hazard and went to his brother, caring for him until his death and burying him with his own hands.
In 1865 he was married to Sarah Yates of Miami County, Ohio, and to them were born four daughters, Mrs. Cora Whitaker, Mrs. Ella Armstrong, Mrs. Louise Ikemire and Josie, a twin sister of Robert Young, the only son.
Having very limited schooling himself, he was determined to secure more advantages for coming generations. When a new school house was being built in what was the Morea District, he headed a movement to build a hall above the school room to be used for all worthy public meetings. For many years he Superintended a Union Sunday School in Morea Hall. Friday night debates were held there until 1903 drawing large audiences.
Years previous to the Civil War he organized Sunday Schools over Montgomery and Honey Creek Townships and many a church stands today from his efforts to institute Christian work. With his family, he was a member of the Methodist Church at Wesley Chapel.
The Pioneer Association of Montgomery Township was what endeared him to Old Settlers all over Crawford County. He was President of the Association from its origin in 1879 "till his death in 1912. The first Saturday in August was the date of the event, held in some grove around Morea and was known as "Uncle Aaron's Picnic". The pioneers present would relate their early experiences in Crawford County and sing their old loved hymns, probably "lining them out" two lines at a time as they had sung them before the day of the hymn books.
Aaron Young was a strong personality, a magnetic speaker, a rousing leader of song, able in prayer, apt in quotation from poems learned in boyhood and a leader for the best and highest. Crawford County owes him a lasting debt of respect and gratitude.