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- JOHN A. YOUNG, of Brodhead, Green county, is a dealer in
fresh-water
- pearls, raw furs and ginseng, and in these rather uncommon
lines of trade and barter has succeeded in amassing a very comfortable
competence. He has had little help from firends or fortune in
his life work, and may be written down a a thoroughly self-made
man, the architect of his own fortune. He is a man of good heart,
generous disposition and kindly feeling, who has combined keen
business sense with the utmost integrity of purpose, and is known
as a thoroughly honorable and reliable gentleman.
- Mr. YOUNG was born in Bern, Albany Co., N.Y., Aug. 5, 1832,
a son of
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- Peter and Rebecca (AUSTIN) YOUNG, natives of New York. They
had eleven children, nine of whom are now living: John A.; Charles
W., of Whitewater, Wis; William, of Voorheesville, N.Y.; Henry,
of Albayn, N.Y.; Govnier, of Whitewater, Wis.; Sarah VAN PATTEN,
of Centralia, Kans.; Louis VAN PATTEN of the same place; Maggie
GEMLICK of Albany, N.Y.; and Eliza SEVERSON, of Guilderland Center,
N.Y. The father was a carpenter and joiner, and in the latter
part of his life a farmer in New York, where he died at the age
of seventy-eight. His wife survived him dying when about seventy-seven.
They were Methodists. He belonged to the State militia. The paternal
and maternal grandfathers of John A. Young were of Dutch descent
folled farming, and lived to advanced ages. Both reared large
families. The latter John AUSTIN, came to Wisconsin in 1844 and
located in Rock county. He owned a tract of 1,100 acres.
- John A. YOUNG was reared in Albany county, N.Y. where he
obtained his early education. His
- father, though a man of limited means, gave him his time
from the age of ten. John A. learned the carpenter business with
his father, but spent his time principally in farming, beginning
work as a farm hand in New Yok state at the age of fifteen for
a many by the name of Thomas TYGART, with whom he remained something
over two years. His wages were $4 per month the first year; the
second year he received $8 per month, with the understanding
that he should deliver farm produce at Albany, twelve miles distant
by early daylight, on account of the cholera scourge in the city.
In the third year he was taken sick, and had to return to his
father's home for recuperation. In 1858, Mr. Young came to Wisconsin
and located on a farm in the town of Lima, Rock county. In 1861
he began the business of keeping hotel at Johnstown Center, Wis.,
where he spent the next two and one-half years, and in 1863 he
went to Brodhead and engaged in the hotel business. Here he has
since remained. Continuing the hotel business until 1895, since
which time he has given his entire attention to the business
of buying and selling fresh-water pearls and raw furs. He is
considered an expert in the business and has made it very profitable.
He built the “YOUNG House” at Brodhead in 1868-69,
a fine building in its day, which still attracts admiration;
it is a three-story brick structure 52x62 feet, its entire cost
being about $16,000 and in it Mr. YOUNG did a large and profitable
business.
- Mr. YOUNG and Miss Maria GROAT, daughter of Abraham and Julia
Ann (OSTRANDER)
- GROAT, were married June 28, 1852, and they have had nine
children. Julia A. A.; Rebecca; John F.; Teressa; Alice; Manley;
Mary J.; Maud and Florence. Julia A. A. died June 11, 1854, when
a child; Teressa died Oct. 20, 1839; John F., May 4, 1864; Rebecca,
July 18, 1864; Mary J. Feb. 1, 1867 and Manley, May 18, 1900.
The last named married Miss Anny SNYDER who survives him and
they had one son, Loyal, who is now five years old. Alice married
E. M. Lyons, of Brodhead, and is the mother of five children,
Maud, Eddie, Ray, Alice and Genevieve. Maud married F. K. VANCE,
of Brodhead. Florence is at home. Mr. and Mrs. YOUNG belong to
the Dutch Reformed Church, and he is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, in which fraternity he has taken high rank.
He has filled all the chairs of the subordinate lodge, is a member
of the Patriarch Militant, and has been a member of the grand
lodge for many years. Mr. YOUNG is a Republican, has served on
the county central committee of the party for several years,
and has been a delegate on several occasion to the Republican
State Convention. He was mayor of Brodhead two successive terms.
Mr. YOUNG is a member of the State municipal League, and believes
in public ownership of public utilities.
- Mr. YOUNG owns one of the finest residences in the village
of Brodhead, built in 1895, and
- thoroughly modern and up-to-date in every respect. He also
owns considerable residence and business property in the place.
There was not a foot of sidewalk in Brodhead when Mr. YOUNG settled
there and he has the honor of having taken the initiative in
this improvement of the city, having laid the first sidewalk
in the place in the spring of 1863.
- Mrs.YOUNG's parents were born in the town of Guilderland,
N.Y., where she was born in 1833.
- Her father always followed the life of a farmer though he
became noted throughout New England as the owner of two superior
racehorses, “Sorrel Pony” and “Black Maria.”
In their old age, Mr. and Mrs. GROAT moved to a new home in Guilderland
Center, where he died at the age of seventy-eight years. His
widow went to Albany, N.Y. to live with a daughter, and passed
away at the age of eighty-six. They belonged to the Dutch Reformed
Church. His father Simon GROAT, a soldier of the war of the Revolution,
died when seventy five. He was the father of nine children. Mrs.
YOUNG's maternal grandfather, John OSTRANDER, was a shoemaker
by trade but was keeping hotel at the time of his death. He had
eight children. He enlisted in the Rensselaer war. Both her grandparents
were of Holland-Dutch descent, natives of Albany county, N.Y.
and followed farming.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 496-498.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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