Charlevoix County MI Archives Photo Tombstone.....Young, Earl A. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marilyn King msmarly@yahoo.com September 26, 2016, 8:11 pm

Cemetery:           Brookside Cemetery
Name:               Earl A. Young

Date Of Photograph: September 23, 2016
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/charlevoix/photos/tombstones/brookside/young188882gph.jpg
Image file size: 102.4 Kb


Earl A. Young
1889-1975

Birth: 	Mar. 31, 1889
Death: 	May 24, 1975





American architect, realtor and insurance agent. Over a span of 52 years, he
designed and built 31 structures in Charlevoix, Michigan but was never a
registered architect. He worked mostly in stone, using limestone, fieldstone, &
boulders he found throughout Northern Michigan. The homes are commonly referred
to as gnome homes, mushroom houses, or Hobbit houses. His door, window, roof and
fireplace designs were very distinct because of his use of curved lines. Young's
goal was to show that a small stone house could be as impressive as a castle.

Earl Young was born in Mancelona, Michigan in 1889 to parents Adolf and Myrtie
Young. He moved to Charlevoix at 11 years old where his father set up an
insurance business. As a teenager, Young was interested in photo-graphy and
taught himself photofinishing. He took many photos in Charlevoix, of both the
city and the woods. In high school, he was on the skating team and the track
team. During his senior year, Young was coeditor of his school's newspaper with
Irene Harsha, who would later become his wife. In 1908, he enrolled in the
School of Architecture at the University of Michigan. He was influenced by Frank
Lloyd Wright's idea that buildings should respect their surroundings. Young was
discouraged by the classic Greek, Roman, and Victorian architecture he was
learning about and left school after only one year.

That was the last time Young would have any formal schooling. He joined his
family's insurance business, which soon expanded to include realty. For the rest
of his life, he would say he was a realtor and would tell people that he had
held his realtor's license for 60 years. In the same building as the insurance
agency, Young also ran a photofinishing business and sold bread. During this
time, he continued to learn about architecture and construction by reading books
and magazines and talking to construction workers and stonemasons. On February
14, 1914, Myrtie Young died and Earl was left alone in the family business.

On September 21, 1915, Young married Irene Harsha, his high school sweetheart.
He joked that he married her to "keep her on his staff." Over the next 11 years
their family grew to include 4 children: Drew, Marguerite, Louise, and Virginia.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/charlevoix/photos/tombstones/brookside/young188882gph.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/

File size: 3.1 Kb